" ^o' 






^°-nJ.. 















'.' .'^'"^ 



%^f.^:'c,^" V'^^^V "<.*-^^".c.^ -^^^^J^'.V^ %;':f.^"^V.^ 






^--^.^^ 










•_c«SS^,a'.. ^ 



-_.V ^'.^52^!,^ ■'-^t..^- oV'^Ma'- '»bv.-^' :'^^'' "-^-^0^' "^''^K-. -^bv^ 



>'''^*, 




"^-j 
















^.^;^.'^ 








^. -^^s ^^mi^^^, "-^^o<- °''^^'-. "^ov^' :^^.* ""-^^o^' oV^i^'- '-^-^^-^^ 



* .0 



^°''<^. . 















' .0 












• v*-/ .j^-.x^^^' .^.•. %-••••>... ..\^x. ..%•-••••■/ 




1 V'^^ 



















tl." ■<?„ e> * T^ 






.^^-^ 


















. « 



\. -^*- ^;^'% ^''vVA-oX 4.-^^^;^'% ^"►iVA-oX 



r/ ^^'% °-^^./\.'- 









*^o^ 












0' 

% *•" «f° . 



■> V • ' • " " " 









.^ 



.v-^ 






THE UNITED STATES 



BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY 



PORTRAIT GALLERY 



Eminent and Self-made } 



ILLINOIS VOLUME. 



CHICAGO AND NEW YORK: 

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
H. C. Cooper, Jr., & Co., PRorRiETORS. 

1883. 




T-' 



PREFACE. 



IN 1876, the American Biographical Publishing Company issued the first volume of the 
United States Biographical Dictionary for the state of Illinois. The success which attended 
that work, and the universal satisfaction which it gave, together with the rapid material devel- 
opment of our s.tate, and the large class of her successful, self-made men, who had grown up, 
decided the publishers in undertaking the preparation of a second volume. That the decision 
was a wise one, the result of their labors, they have reason to believe, has abundantly proved. 

While engaged in the preparation and publication of this volume, a constant and strong 
incentive has been the belief that theirs was a praiseworthy work, the fruits of which could 
not but supply a pressing need and command public commendation. Had it been otherwise, 
and had the only motive for their risk of capital and enormous expenditure of time and labor 
been the hope of pecuniary profit, they certainly could not have felt themselves justified in the 
undertaking. 

In some instances, sketches which appeared in the former volume, have been reproduced in 
this, with certain changes, but the great bulk of the present work comprises the biographies of 
men who have attained to prominence or success, that have not heretofore appeared in any state 
work. 

Until within a comparatively recent period, recording and preserving biographies has been 
confined to the few, the great or noted, while the history of that vast army of workers, whose life- 
struggles, whose defeats and whose successes have contributed so largely to our national growth, 
and become so intimately identified with our institutions, has been passed over without comment, 
unnoticed and unsung. That such should have been the case was but natural, as the outgrowth 
of that spirit of hero-worship, which in times past has so universally prevailed ; that spirit which 
could sacrifice the multitude in the elevation and adoration of the few. But ours is a practical 
age, an age in which every man, nerved by independence and inspired by freedom, may be a hero, 
and as a natural sequence, we find on every hand those, who, meeting the varied phases of life, 
struggling against adversity, or rejoicing in the calm repose of prosperity, have developed in 
themselves independent, sturdy manhood ; and to preserve a record of their lives, both that they 
may be kept in remembrance, and that others may be profited and inspired by their example, is 
paying them only a just and merited tribute. 

In selecting the men that are represented in this work, the publishers have carefully avoided 
confining them to any class, and endeavored to fairly represent the various professions and call- 



iv PREFACE. 

ings, without favoritism. Their aim has been to avoid proHxity, and abridge the sketches to a 
plain recital of tlie leading facts and characteristics in the lives of those whose biographies are 
recorded ; and while they have earnestly sought to bestow merited compliments, they have as 
scrupulously endeavored to eliminate all fulsome praise. 

The facts contained in the various sketches have been obtained by personally interviewing the 
parties, and by consulting records, and in order to secure correctness, each sketch has been sub- 
mitted for approval before publication. The portraits a.ve /ai- similes of approved photographs of 
the subjects, wrought in the highest style of the engraver's art. Every effort has been made by 
the publishers to render the work as perfect and complete as possible, and while they would not 
delude themselves with the thought that it is faultless, they yet have reason to hope for the com- 
mendation of their patrons, and feel content to abide by the impartial judgment of a reasonable 
and generous public. 



THE UNITED STATES 

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY 



ILLINOIS VOLUME. 



HON. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 

THE ancestry of Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States, is traced 
back to Samuel Lincoln, a native of Hingham, Norfolk county, England, he coming to this 
country in 1637, and settling in Hingham, Massachusetts. From this hardy New England stock 
came the great statesman who was to rule more than thirty millions of people, and finally die the 
death of a martyr in the cause of the federal union. 

Abraham Lincoln was a son of Thomas and Nancy (Hanks) Lincoln, and was born in Hardin 
county, Kentucky, February 12, 1809. When he was eight years of age, the family moved to 
Spencer county, Indiana, near the present town of Gentryville, and where the mother died two 
years afterward, a loss to our subject which he could not then fully realize. He was soon placed 
under the care of a step-mother. Before he had entered upon his teens he became quite helpful 
on his father's farm, and with alacrity addressed himself to any task assigned him. At the same 
time he began to exhibit a fondness for reading, and to this fact he owed his final and great 
exaltation in public life. At eighteen years of age he built a flat-boat, and made his first trip to a 
down-river market, and the next year he took a flat-boat to the New Orleans market, narrowly 
escaping death at the hand of men "whom his proclamation years afterward liberated from 
slavery." 

In March, 1830, the family moved to Macon county, Illinois, where Abraham earned his living 
for a short time by splitting rails and other farm labor. There his father died in January, 1831. 
In 1832 he was the captain of a company in the Black Hawk war. 

Subsequently he was a merchant's clerk, a merchant and postmaster of Salem, a village now 
extinct, two miles from Petersburgh, Menard county. This latter village he replatted, and did 
other surveying in that vicinity. 

While at Salem he served two or three terms in the legislature, which met at Vandalia, and he 
walked a hundred miles to attend each session. The man who kept the postoffice for Mr. Lincoln 
while the latter was taking his first lessons in the school of legislation is now a shoemaker at 
Petersburgh, and the writer of this sketch had an interview with him in the spring of 1883. This 
humble cordwainer, with whom Mr. Lincoln also boarded at one time, bears unqualified testimony 
to the lionesty, frankness and whole-souled cordiality of "Old Abe," although he did not expect, 
forty-five years ago, to ever see him reach the White House. 

In the legislature Mr, Lincoln met Mr. Douglas, the one a whig, the other a democrat, and 
they eventually became rivals for the United States senate and chief magistracy of the nation. 

During these years Mr. Lincoln gave more or less attention to the study of law, and in April, 
1837, moved to Springfield, and began practice with Hon. John T. Stewart. His career as a law- 
yer the world knows by heart. In 1838 he was again sent to the legislature, and took a very 
prominent part in the debates. He was returned to the same body in 1840. 



2 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

In 1842 he married Mary Todd, of Lexington, Kentucl<y, she dying in 1882. His son Robert 
is now secretary of war. 

In 1846 Mr. Lincoln was elected to congress, and served one term. In 1848 he was a delegate 
to the national whig convention which nominated General Taylor for president, and four years 
later was on the Scott electoral ticket. In the great struggle with the slave power, commencing 
in 1854 and ending in the introduction of Kansas and Nebraska in the Union as free states, Lin- 
coln began to loom up as a powerful controversialist and a champion of freedom. 

Under his leadership the republican party in Illinois was organized in May, 1856, and he was 
a delegate to the national convention which met that year and nominated Fremont and Dayton. 
In 1858 he competed with Mr. Douglas for a seat in the United States senate, and lost his election 
through an unfair apportionment of the legislative districts. The debates at that time between 
the two great party leaders in Illinois drew Mr. Lincoln out in his full strength, showing him to 
be a very close, candid and powerful logician, and led to his nomination for the presidenc)' in 
i860. The full life of Mr. Lincoln has been written by different persons, and is familiar to Amer- 
ican readers; hence it is needless to go into a detailed account of his election, its resOlts in the 
slave states, the civil war, his proclamation of emancipation, January i, 1863, and his reelection, 
in 1864, and his assassination on the night of April 14, 1865, by John Wilkes Booth. No event in 
the histor)' of the nation ever so thoroughh' thrilled with sorrow the heart of the nation. Lee had 
just surrendered, jubilant shouts were reverberating through the land, and all lovers of the Union 
were rejoicing in its salvation, when the news came that Lincoln had perished at the hand of an 
assassin, and at the same time an attempt had been made on the life of Mr. Seward, the secretary 
of state. Rejoicing was turned into lamentation, for the second savior of his country had died in 
her cause. Vengeance soon had its dues in the death of the assassin and his associates. April 19, 
1865, funeral services were held in Washington, and April 21 the funeral train started for Spring- 
field, the honored remains lying in state at nearly every city of the route. May 3, the remains 
were interred in Oak Ridge cemetery, two miles from the city, and a grand monument rises over 
his tomb, a tribute of the affection of the American people. 

Mr. Lincoln was a conscientious, high-minded, far-seeing statesman; a philanthropist in the 
broadest sense of the term, and an administrator of justice, of marvelous sagacity and heaven- 
born wisdom. 

W. IRVING CULVER. 

CHICA GO. 

WASHINGTON IRVING CULVER, of the firm of McCagg and Culver, is a New Hamp- 
shire man, who was born at New Market, Rockingham county, July 19, 1844. His father 
is Adna Bryant Culver, a retired railroad contractor and superintendent, now residing in Boston. 
His mother was Hannah H. Sanborn, a member of an old New Hampshire family, for which the 
town of Sanbornton was named more than a hundred years ago. The paternal grandfather of 
our subject, John Culver, was a farmer in northern Vermont. 

In 1852 Adna B. Culver removed to the West with his family. After completing his literary 
education, at the Tippecanoe Battle Ground Academy, near Lafayette, Indiana, Irving taught 
school one winter, being then seventeen years of age. He also worked for a brief time at rail- 
roading, and was subsequently in the general ticket office at New Albany, Indiana. 

In January, 1862, he commenced reading law in the office of Scammon, McCagg and Fuller, 
of Chicago; was admitted to practice in September, 1866, and has always remained with Mr. 
McCagg. into whose partnership he was taken in 1870. Their practice is exclusively civil. Mr. 
Culver is extremely careful in the examination of his cases, and is noted for the perspicuity and 
decision, and at the same time gentleness, with which he presses them. Unwearied and pains- 
taking in his researches, he is always prepared to meet his adversary, and to anticipate the argu- 
ments which that adversary will present. The perfect sincerity and modesty of Mr. Culver 
command the respect of the court, so that, in presenting his case, he has the closest attention, 



w 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 3 

Mr. Culver has been for several years treasurer of the Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirm- 
ary, and librarian of the Chicago Law Institute, and was at one time vice-president, and is now 
attorney and one of the trustees of the Northwestern Masonic Aid Association. He is past master 
of Landmark Lodge, No. 422, of that order, a Knight Templar, and a member of Fairview Chap- 
ter, No. 161, and of Apollo Commandery, No. i. 

In political sentiment Mr. Culver is a republican, but his love for his professional work pre- 
vents his taking any active part in political affairs. His leisure time is given almost entirely to 
reading, and to literary as well as legal study, he having always had a great love for books. In 
addition to the excellent law library of the firm, amounting to about 4,000 volumes, Mr. Culver 
has a well selected library of miscellaneous books, to which he is adding from year to year. He 
has written and lectured some, particularly on masonic matters, and among his lectures on that 
subject, delivered before Landmark Lodge, and published in the " Voice of Masonry," was one 
that was republished in the "Masonic Magazine," London, England. 

With his natural fondness for study, his untiring industry, and his careful and methodical 
division of labor, Mr. Culver cannot fail of success either in his profession or literary pursuits. 
He was married, February 24, 1869, to Miss Sarah T. Barnes, a daughter of Samuel Barnes, who 
in his lifetime was a prosperous farmer at Battle Ground, Indiana. 



EDWARD G. ASAY, 

CHICAGO. 

AS a criminal lawyer of eminence, perhaps no man for the last twenty years has enjoyed a 
. higher reputation than Edward G. Asay, while he is remarkably efficient in all branches of 
civil practice, into which he has drifted quite extensively. He is a man of great energy of char- 
acter, which is manifested in all his acts. He is logical, lucid and luminous, quick to catch a 
point, and fertile in resources, and is seldom surprised by any emergency, however sudden or 
unexpected. He is a polished gentleman, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a city noted 
for having produced many erudite scholars and professional gentlemen, whose ease and graceful 
deportment have adorned the legal profession in nearly every state in the Union. He was born 
September 17, 1825, and is the son of John Asay, a merchant of that city, where he still resides, at 
an advanced age, having long since retired from active business. He was educated in the private 
schools of Jacob Harpel and Rev. William B. Mann. His health was delicate in those days, but 
it has been recuperated, and he has since become strong and vigorous. In those schools he laid 
a solid foundation of knowledge, which after acquirements have developed into a cultivated and 
brilliant scholarship. He prepared for the ministry under Doctors Cooper and Kennedy, both 
Methodist ministers of culture and celebrity, and then entered into the ministry of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, preaching at Tamaqua and Tremont, in Pennsylvania, and Dover, Delaware, and 
Easton, Maryland. 

In the year 1849 he married Emma C. Oliver, daughter of James C. Oliver, of Pottsville 
Pennsylvania, who is still living, and actively engaged in many works of public character. After 
traveling south, and sojourning a short time in Tallahassee, Florida, he returned north in 1853 
and resigned the ministry, retaining the entire confidence and esteem of his colaborers in the 
church, who recognized fully, but with regret, the reasons rendering imperatively necessary the 
pursuance of his course, and he retained his parchments up to the year 1858, when, at his own 
request, they were canceled. 

In 1853 he commenced the study of the law, and also devoted a portion of his time to mercan- 
tile affairs in New York city, contributing meanwhile to many of the leading periodicals, and 
making many friends among the resident litterateurs. Early in 1856 he passed his examination, 
the examiners being J. T. Brady, Richard Burteed, and Mr. Whiting and Mr. Gerard, and was 
admitted to the bar. Removing to Chicago, in March of that year, he immediately commenced 
the practice of the law. 



4 UNITED STATES BIOGRA Pff/CAL DICTIONARY. 

During his first fifteen years of practice at Chicago, he defended over one hundred capital 
cases in different parts of the countr}', and not one of his clients suffered the extreme penalty of 
the law. He has a thorough knowledge of every department of the law, and his reputation for 
fairness and candor renders him potent before a jury. He is well known as a bibliophile in 
Europe and America, and his library is a rare collection of literature, especially rich in poetry, it 
being the collection of a lifetime, having been preserved from the conflagration of 187 1 by tlie 
kindness of his friend, the eminent bibliophilist, Joseph Sabin, of New York, who kept his books 
at his own house during the absence of Mr. Asay and his wife in Europe, which lasted about 
eighteen months, when he returned with his family, in the fall of 1872, to Chicago, where he has 
been engaged in the active practice of his profession ever since, except a tour of Russia and 
Spain, made by himself and wife in 1882, covering about one year. Mr. Asay has rare social 
qualities, and converses clearly and eloquently on all topics, and happily illustrates his ideas with 
epigrammatic utterances from noted authors. He is an excellent judge of human nature. 

Personally, he is prepossessing, being a little above the medium height, with a massive, well 
developed form. He has a fine intellectual development of brain; his eyes are kindly blue, his 
lips full, and his countenance extremely benevolent and genial. 



HON. .STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 

CHICAGO. 

STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS, statesman, and for many years a favorite lawyer and jurist 
of Illinois, was born in Brandon, Vermont, April 23, 1813, His father was a physician, of 
Puritan lineage, and died in the prime of life, and early in his profession, leaving his widow and 
son with very little means for their support. The latter had poor opportunities for mental disci- 
pline in his early youth, devoting most of his time to learning the cabinet maker's trade. The 
widow married again, and in 1831 he accompanied her and his stepfather to Canandaigua, New 
York, where he attended an academy until 1S33, in which year he came into this state, and taught 
a school at Winchester, near the seat of justice of Scott county. E. G. Miner, now a banker at 
Winchester, and whom we recently met at his home, aided Mr. Douglas in getting up his sub- 
scription school, and they slept together during the winter, Mr. Douglas devoting his evenings to 
the study of law. 

In 1834 he went to Jacksonville, and was admitted to the bar, and the next year was elected 
attorney general of the state, being only twenty-two years of age. That office he. soon resigned, 
to accept a seat in the legislature. At the expiration of his term in that body, he continued to 
practice law in Jacksonville until 1837, when President Van Buren appointed him register of the 
land office at Springfield, which now became his home. In 1839 he resigned; the next year, was 
made secretary of state; in 1841 was elected by the legislature to the bench, and two years after- 
ward resigned, to take his seat in the national house of representatives, to which his democratic 
constituents had elected him. He served in that body in the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth 
congresses, and in 1847 he was chosen to the United States senate, where he was kept until his 
death. With his career in the upper house at Washington the general reader must be familiar, he 
being for some years the northern leader of the democratic party. He was for a long time chair- 
man of the committee on territories; was an earnest and eloquent advocate of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill, the repeal of the Missouri Comprom.ise, and the doctrine of squatter sovereignty. 
In i860 the Douglas wing of the democracy nominated him for the presidency, he having been a 
candidate for nomination, also, in 1852 and 1856. In that memorable campaign (i860) there were 
four candidates for the presidency, and Abraham Lincoln, the republican nominee, was the suc- 
cessful one. Although Mr. Douglas received only twelve electoral votes, h« stood next to Mr. 
Lincoln in the popular vote, and had nearly as many votes as Breckenridge and Bell combined. 
When it was known that the republican party had triumphed, and the southern states began to 





(i^^^-'CU-c;^ 



UNITED S'1\4TP.S BIOGRAPHICAL DICIPONARY. J 

t 

talk of seceding. Mr. Douglas declared his intention to stand, by the government at every cost. 
Soon after the close of the extra session of the senate, held in April, 1861, Mr. Douglas started 
for his home at Chicago. On the way he was delayed by missing the connection, and was called 
upon to give his views of the situation, and never failed to declare his intention to stand by 
President Lincoln in his efforts to administer the affairs of the government. April 25, he addressed 
the Illinois legislature, then in session, and convinced his hearers that he was a true patriot, ready 
to sink party to save his country. He returned to Chicago, May i, and until near his death, 
which occurred June 3, he continued to speak or write in behalf of the cause of the Union, urging 
his democratic friends to stand by the old flag, and his sons to be true to their country. 

Several years before his demise, Mr. Douglas gave ten acres of land to the Baptist denomina- 
tion, on Cottage Grove avenue, between Thirty-third and Thirty-fifth streets, for a college, and 
the University of Chicago stands as a monument of his generosity, and his regard for the cause 
of education. 

Since the death of Mr. Douglas, a monument has been erected to his memory on the lake 
shore, directl}' north of Thirty-fifth street, or Douglas Place, and tens of thousands of people 
visit that spot every year to do reverence to the memory of the great jurist, statesman and patriot. 



GENERAL JOHN M. PALMER. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JOHN McAULEY PALMER, a major-general in the war of the rebellion, and ex-governor of 
J Illinois, was born in Scott county, Kentucky, September 13, 1817, his parents being Lewis and 
Ann (Tutt) Palmer, both natives of Virginia. When quite young, John moved'with the family to 
Christian county, in the same state, there remaining until 1831, when the family came to Illinois, 
and settled in Madison county. Two years later, the mother died, and the family became scat- 
tered. Up to that time, our subject had had but scanty school privileges; and the Upper Alton 
College, then in its infancy, being started on the manual labor plan, he spent one year in that 
school, paying his way by building fires, sweeping the floors, and doing other chores. 

Mr. Palmer commenced the study of law at Carlinville, in 1839, with John S. Greathouse; went 
to Springfield the next December for his license to practice, and by appointment of the court, was 
examined by Stephen A. Douglas and J. Y. Scammon; received his certificate on their recom- 
mendation; heard a man whom the crowd called Abe Lincoln speak that evening; and returned to 
Carlinville, where he soon built up a good practice. While a resident of Carlinville, he held the 
office of probate judge for the term of four years. 

Mr. Palmer early allied himself with the democracy; cast his first vote for president in 1840, 
for Martin Van Buren; was elected to the state senate in 1854; became an anti-Nebraska demo- 
crat in 1854; broke with his old friend, Stephen A. Douglas; nominated and aided in electing 
Lyman Trumbull to the United States senate; supported Fremont and Dayton in the presidential 
campaign of 1856, and four years later did good service in putting his old friend, Mr. Lincoln, in 
the presidential chair. 

When the war broke out, Mr. Palmer raised the 14th Illinois infantry, and for his gallant and 
heroic deeds was promoted eventually to major-general, and given command of an army corps. 
Subsequently, he had command of a department. He made a noble military record. The civil 
war being closed. General Palmer resumed the practice of his profession, settling in Springfield 
in 1867. The next year he was elected governor on the republican ticket, and served four years, 
making an able and efficient executive of this great commonwealth. 

Governor Palmer was dissatisfied with the administration of President Grant; became a liberal 

republican in 1872, and latterly has affiliated with his first love, the democratic party. He has 

frequently been spoken of as a suitable candidate for the presidency; but he is living a quiet, 

unobtrusive life, practicing his profession, being of the firm of Palmers, Robinson and Shutt. His 

2 



8 UNITED STATES B/OGR.I PH/CAL DICTIONARY. 

elder son, John Mayo Palmer, mentioned below, is a member of the firm. The governor's family 
consists of his wife, two sons, and four daughters, the latter being all married. His wife was 
Melinda Ann Neely, to whom he was joined in wedlock December 20, 1842. Tradition has it 
that they commenced housekeeping with a very moderate outlay, the sum of $50 covering the 
whole expense, furniture, bedding, etc. [See " History of Sangamon County," 1881, p. 132.] Mrs. 
Palmer is a benevolent woman, and a very active member of the Central Baptist Church, Spring- 
field. Mr. Palmer, we believe, has never taken his letter from the Carlinville Church. 



JOHN MAYO PALMER. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JOHN MAYO PALMER, son of General Palmer, whose sketch precedes this, was born at Car- 
linville, Macoupin county, March 10, 1848. He was educated in the public schools of his 
native city, Blackburn University, Carlinville, and Shurtleff College, Upper Alton, leaving the 
latter institution just before completing his college course, in order to be with his father, then at 
the head of an army corps. He never returned to Shurtleff, but read law with his father when 
the war was over, and was admitted to practice in the summer of 1867. Instead of opening an 
office then, he went to Cambridge, Massachusetts; entered the law department of Harvard Uni- 
versity, and was graduated with the degree of bachelor of laws, in June, 1868. Thus thoroughly 
equipped for law practice, Mr. Palmer returned to Carlinville, opened an office, had a fair amount 
of business, and while there, heW the office of city attorney for one term. 

In September, 1S72, he removed to Springfield, where his father had resided since 1867, and 
who was on his last year in the executive chair of the state. He formed a partnership with his 
father, and is now practicing in the firm of Palmers, Robinson and Shutt, one of the leading law 
firms in Sangamon county, and is a rising young mao. Mr. Palmer was a member of the city 
council from 1874 to 1877, ^nd a member of the state legislature for one term, being elected on 
the democratic ticket in 1876. 

Mr. Palmer married, July 7, 1869, Ellen, daughter of Doctor W. A. and Nannette (Holliday) 
Robertson, and a graduate of Monticello Seminary, Godfrey, Illinois, and they have three chil- 
dren, all sons: John McAuley, Robertson, and George Thomas. 



H 



HENRY S. MONROE. 

CHICAGO. 
ENRY STANTON MONROE, a prominent member of the Chicago bar, was born in Bal- 
timore, Maryland, February 9, 1829. His father. Dr. Henry Monroe, a native of the state 
of New York, was. from about one year preceding our subject's birth, an invalid, and was at that 
time in Baltimore, hoping to improve his health. He had acquired an honorable standing in the 
medical profession in Broome county. New York, when he had reached his twenty-sixth year, at 
which date he was obliged to seek a respite from his labors. The Monroe family were early set- 
tlers in this country. There were thirteen in all, near relatives, at the battle of Bunker Hill. 
Large numbers now reside in Virginia, Kentucky and New York. 

The mother of our subject was Sylvia Thomas, a relative of the Stantons cff Pennsylvania, and 
of the late Hon. Caleb Gushing, of Massachusetts, and her biographer states that she was "a lady 
of cultivated tastes, and many accomplishments." Her husband, in his later years, gave his 
attention to the opening of a farm which he purchased as wild land, in Broome county, and which 
he made one of the best farms in that county. On that farm Henry spent his early years, with 
an intelligent mother for his teacher, as well as guide, the first decade of his life. For a few 
years thereafter he assisted his father on the farm during seedtime, haying and harvest, and 



UNITEB STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. g 

attended a district school in tlie winter term. At the same time he gave such spare hours as he 
could command to reading, for which he early cultivated a taste, histor}' being a favorite study 
at that period. Mr. Monroe prepared for college at Oxford, Chenango county, New York, making 
rapid strides in his studies, for which he had a keen relish, and at the end of three years entered 
the junior class of Geneva College, New York, leaping half way through at the first bound. In 
compliance with the request of the college society to which he belonged, he became a competitor 
for the highest prizes, and won them. He was graduated in 1850, standing at the head of his 
class and taking the valedictory. 

Mr. Monroe studied law at Oxford with Henry R. Mygatt, and taught school a few terms 
while pursuing his legal studies. He was admitted to the bar in 1853, and purchasing a few law 
books with borrowed money, came directly to Chicago, where he had one acquaintance only, Hon. 
Stephen A. Douglas. Mr. Monroe has the capacity, however, as well as the disposition, to make 
acquaintances, and also fast and abiding friends; and opening an office early in the year 1854, he 
soon built up a good business, and canceled his debt for books. His first case of much note was 
that of Martin O. Walker vs. John Frink, two well known stage-coach proprietors, twenty or 
thirty years ago. A brief account of this trial may be found in a sketch of Mr. Monroe, published 
in "The Biographical Encyclopedia of Illinois," 1875. In that case our subject appeared alone 
for the defense, having a great array of talent against him, and won a signal triumph, at the same 
time establishing his reputation as a first-class advocate. The trial lasted a long time, and Mr. 
Monroe, who is somewhat of an athlete, physically we mean (and we might also add mentally), 
endured the great strain admirably, and came out ready for another tilt at the earliest notice. 

Another important case in which Mr. Monroe was engaged, and in which he greatly distin- 
guished himself, was that of Fisher vs. Stone, a case of malpractice, noticed in the work to which 
we have just referred, and which the reader may be glad to consult. It was a cause involving 
scientific problems, then unsolved, in which medical men were profoundly interested, and in which 
several of the leading men in that profession were summoned to testify. Mr. Monroe completely 
mastered the details of the matter, went to the bottom of the subject, and astonished everybody, 
and particularly the medical experts, with the breadth of his knowledge, and his masterly presen- 
tation and handling of the cause. 

The trial lasted a full month, and our subject came out of it with an elastic bound, and with 
the triumphant cheers of his friends, he winning for the defendant. It is stated on good author- 
ity that the result of this trial was to materially change the opinion of medical experts upon sci- 
entific questions, which had been debated and unsettled, such experts in Europe as well as in this 
country, with very few exceptions, siding with Mr. Monroe in the correctness of the theories and 
principles which he laid down. His success in a few such trials as these here mentioned, taking 
place during the early period of his practice in Chicago, gave him a wide and high reputation as 
a lawyer, and his business soon extended over a broad area. It is now spread over almost the 
whole country. He was not long ago engaged on the celebrated Reese will case in California, 
and in an important land case in New Hampshire, and has tried important cases in all the north- 
western states, as well as in New York. 

Mr. Monroe encourages no one to go to law unless he has a clear case, and, once enlisted 
labors with indefatigable zeal for the interests of his client. As leading counsel in many impor- 
tant corporation, commercial and insurance cases, and in defending prosecutions under the rev- 
enue laws, his great success has been specially conspicuous. As cross-examining counsel, and as 
an advocate before a jury, he has few peers at the Chicago bar. Lately Mr. Monroe has been 
largely engaged in real-estate litigation, being a leader in this line of the profession. As inti- 
mated in the early part of this sketch, Mr. Monroe has a fondness for literature as well as the law, 
and has never ceased to develop and improve his taste in that direction. In the great fire of 1871 
he lost one of the largest and most perfect law libraries in the Northwest, which has only in a 
measure been replaced, and he is constantly adding to his private library, which was noted years 
ago for its large size and the great value of the collection. It contains between five thousand and 



lO UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

six thousand volumes, nearly all in the richest binding, and embracing the French and German, 
as well as English and American classics. 

Mr. Monroe married, in 1856, Miss Mattie Mitchell, daughter of William B. Mitchell, of Akron, 
Ohio, and they have an interesting family of children, who are receiving an excellent education, 
and are the pride of their parents. In social as well as professional standing, Mr. Monroe holds 
a front rank, the purity of his life, as well as his integrity, being unquestioned. With mental he 
intermingles physical recreation; at one time with his spirited horse on our boulevards, at an- 
other with dog and gun; and thus he keeps up the elasticity of his body as well as mind, and bids 
fair to see an old age of life's "linked sweetness long drawn out." 



GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

GALENA. 

ULYSSES S. GRANT was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont county, Ohio, April 27, 1822, 
the son of a Scotch leather dealer. He entered the West Point Military Academy at the 
age of seventeen, and four years later graduated, with the commission of brevet second lieutenant. 
During the Mexican war he was twice brevetted for gallantry, He resigned his commission, hav- 
ing reached the rank of captain, in 1854. He was engaged in farming, with moderate success, for 
several years near Saint Louis. Missouri, and in 1S60 went into the leather trade at Galena, Illi- 
nois, with his father. April 15, 1861, President Lincoln made his first call for troops to put down 
the rebellion. Four days later Grant was drilling a company of volunteers at Galena, and soon 
afterward was appointed colonel «f the 21st regiment, Illinois infantry, and was assigned to duty 
under General Pope, in Missouri. Two months later he was commissioned brigadier-general of 
volunteers. September i, 1861, he took command of southeastern Missouri, with headquarters 
at Cairo, and on the sixth, captured Paducah. 

November 5, he was directed to proceed against Belmont, eighteen miles below Cairo, on the 
Mississippi, where he landed on the seventh with 3,000 troops, destroyed the confederate camp, 
and returned to Cairo, contending with and cutting his way through 7,000 confederate troops. 
His loss was less than 500 men ; the enemy's about 650. The government's first important suc- 
cess was the capture of Fort Donelson, a strong garrison numbering over 20,000 men. The 
assault was made by General Grant, February 12, 1862, with a force of 15,000 men, and on the 
sixteenth, after a most desperate resistance, the enemy surrendered, unconditionally. Sixty-five 
pieces of artillery, 17,600 stand of small arms and 14,600 prisoners were taken, while the confed- 
erate loss in killed and wounded was 2,500. The entire loss of Union troops was less than 2,000. 
The result of this battle was to open up the navigation of the Mississippi, the Tennessee and the 
Cumberland Rivers for hundreds of miles, and give the government control of the entire states 
of Kentucky and Tennessee. 

In March, having been promoted to the rank of major-general, and placed in command of 
west Tennessee, he moved toward Corinth with 38,000 troops, and, encamping at Shiloh, on the 
west bank of the Tennessee, awaited the arrival of General Buell with 40,000 men. April 6, the 
confederates, 50,000 strong, under General Beauregard, moved against him from Corinth, hoping 
to defeat him before the arrival of Buell. Although the Union forces were driven back to the 
river. Grant held out till the arrival of Buell, and, renewing the contest on the seventh, the con- 
federates were driven back to Corinth. On the ninth General Halleck arrived and assumed com- 
mand. In July Halleck was made general-in-chief, and Grant was placed in command of the 
department of the Tennessee. In September he fought the battle of luka, and subsequently 
directed the movements which resulted in driving the enemy from Corinth. His next important 
movement was against Vicksburg. The plan was for General Sherman to go down the Missis- 
sippi, with a force of 40,000 troops, while Grant was to come up in the rear with a force of 30,000. 
Owing to the surrender of Holly Springs, his chief base of supplies, by Colonel Murphy, the 
campaign was abandoned. 




/^/^^^ 



::zf^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 13 

In the following January, Grant assumed personal command of all the troops in the Missis- 
sippi Valley and moving to a point opposite Vicksburg, spent several months in fruitless attempts 
to get his forces below that place, and, finally, marched his army through the swamps on the 
western banks, while his gun-boats and transport fleet ran the batteries. He now had 43,00° 
men and had opposed to him two armies ; one under Pemberton, of 50,000, at Vicksburg, and 
another under Johnston, at Jackson, fifty miles to the east. May i, he defeated a portion of Pern- 
berton's command at Port Gibson, and on the fourteenth captured Jackson, and routed John- 
ston's army Turning westward, he scattered Pemberton's army at Champion's Hill, May 16, and 
the next day again beat him at Black River Bridge, and on the eighteenth drove him into Vicks- 
burg. Then began the regular siege, which lasted till July 4, when Pemberton surrendered, with 
31,600 men, and 170 cannon. The confederate loss during this campaign was some 60,000 men. 
Grant's loss was less than 9,000. 

This was the last important fighting in the Mississippi Valley. Grant was now made major- 
general in the regular army, and, October 16, was put in command of the armies of the Ohio, the 
Cumberland and Tennessee. October 27, he fought the battle of Lookout Valley, and rescued 
from imminent danger the Army of the Cumberland, which was defending Chattanooga. Octo- 
ber 24 and 25, he fought the battle of Chattanooga, defeating General Bragg, and thus opened 
the way for the Union forces into Georgia. In February, 1864, congress created for him the rank 
of lieutenant-general, and March 17, he took command of the armies of the United States. His 
next move was to disorganize and scatter the confederate forces, sending Sherman into Georgia, 
and Butler, with 30,000 men, against Richmond, and Sigel, with 7,000 troops, into Virginia, to 
fight Breckenridge. He himself, with 110,000 men, moved against Lee, whose army numbered 
75,000. In fighting his way from the Rapidan to the James River, 6,000 of his men were killed, 
26,000 wounded, while the missing numbered about 7,000. The confederate loss, supposed to 
have been equally large, was never known, as they destroyed their records. During this cam- 
paign were fought the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, each of which 
cost the Union forces dearly, but inflicted on Lee losses from which he never recovered. Butler 
having failed to capture Richmond, he was joined by Grant's army, and in June the siege of the 
city began. Sigel, being unsuccessful in the Valley of Virginia, was succeeded by Hunter, and 
Sherman, meanwhile, was fighting his way toward Atlanta, whence he afterward made his famous 
march to the sea. Hunter being repulsed, Sheridan was placed in command of a force, which 
drove the confederates out of the Valley of Virginia, and defeated them wherever he met them. 
Thomas routed the enemy at Nashville, Schofield at Franklin, and Sherman, having reached 
Savannah, was ordered into the interior and northward. Thus disposing his armies, and striking 
the enemy at the most vital points. Grant was prepared for the final stroke. Lee now had about 
75,000 men at Richmond, and Grant, in conjunction with Sheridan, commanded 110,000 before 
that city and Petersburgh. The enemy fought bravely and resisted stubbornly, but, April 2, 
Petersburgh was captured, and on the following day, Lee, closely pursued by Grant, fled toward 
Lynchburgh, and April 9. finding that resistance was longer useless, surrendered what remained 
of his army, 27,000 men, at Appomattox court house. His surrender was immediately followed 
by the surrender of all the confederate forces, and the great civil war was ended. 

Grant now became the object of universal admiration, and a popularity such as no American 
had ever won. His name was spoken with praise everywhere ; honors were heaped upon him, 
and congress created for him the grade of general. He was the most conspicuous figure in pub- 
lic life, after the assassination of President Lincoln, and when Andrew Johnson, who succeeded 
Mr. Lincoln as president, was thought by many to be plotting the return of the confederates to 
power, the people turned anxiously to Grant. Congress conferred upon him unusual powers, 
and Johnson, with a view to strengthening and popularizing his policy, suspended the secretary 
of war and placed Grant in the cabinet. The relation was not a happy one, and the soldier, in 
obedience to his sense of duty and obligations to the laws, found that he must break with the 
president, from which time Johnson became his political and personal enemy. His popularity 



H 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



with the people, however, remained unshaken, and in 1868, he was elected president of the United 
States by a large majority. 

His administration was distinguished by a cessation of sectional strifes, resulting from the 
war, and a settlement by the Geneva arbitration, of the difficulties between the United States and 
England, on account of injuries which that country had occasioned. During the latter part of 
this administration, a great disaffection occurred in his own party, in spite of which, however, he 
was renominated in 1872, and elected by the largest vote that any president had ever received 
After the close of his second term, President Grant retired to private life, and in 1879 made an 
extended trip around the world, during which he was made the recipient of every honor that it 
was in' the power of royalty to bestow. His course through England, Europe and the Orient was 
a continuation of fetes, banquets and ovations, and upon his return in i88o, his own people 
received him with popular demonstrations and welcomes, surpassing in splendor and enthusiasm, 
anything ever before witnessed in America. Man}^ of his admirers, who desired his return to the 
presidential chair, urged his claims with such ardor that he became one of the most prominent 
candidates in the republican convention at Chicago, in 1880, but after a long and tedious struggle, 
during which his friends never faltered, the honor was conferred upon James A. Garfield, of 
Ohio. 

General Grant, during recent years, has been connected with various corporations and rail- 
road enterprises, having his home in the city of New York, where, as throughout the nation, he is 
respected, esteemed and honored as a military hero, and a great man. 



JAMES McCartney. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

THE attorney general of the state of Illinois, whose name we have placed at the head of this 
sketch, is of Scotch-Irish extraction, both parents, Irvine and Margaret (Fyffe) McCartney, 
being born near Enniskellen, in the North of Ireland. To that country members of the family on 
both sides moved from Scotland about the time of Cromwell, hut of their record, farther than 
that, we have no reliable data. 

James McCartney was born in Perry county, Pennsylvania, February 14, 1835, and when he 
was a child the family pushed westward as far as Greene township, Trumbull county, Ohio. He 
was raised on a farm, finishing his literary studies at the Western Reserve Seminary at Farming- 
ton, in that county. He commenced reading law with Judge Matthew Burchard, of Warren, Ohio, 
finished with Harding and Reed, of Monmouth, Illinois, and was admitted to the bar in 1858. 
After practicing for one short year in company with his preceptors, in the autumn of 1859 Mr. 
McCartney removed to Galva, where he was in practice when the civil war burst upon the country. 
April 19, 1861, the day that the first blood for the Union was shed in the streets of Baltimore, 
Maryland, and just ninety-six years after the first martyrs fell in the cause of freedom at Lexing- 
ton, Massachusetts, our subject enlisted as a private soldier in the 17th Illinois infantry. He was 
immediately made first lieutenant, company D, and served in that position till April, 1862, when 
his health broke down and he resigned. His regiment was in the Army of the Tennessee. 
. Lieutenant McCartney spent the summer of 1862 at Lake Superior, and recovering his health 
he returned to Galva, and in September enlisted in the 112th Illinois infantry, which was in the 
23d corps, the Army of the Ohio, and served until after the rebels had laid down their arms, being 
mustered out in July, 1865. He went in as first lieutenant, company G, was promoted to captain 
in February, 1863, and came out holding that rank. He was in twenty-seven general engage- 
ments, and one hundred and thirteen skirmishes, being under fire in all of them, yet, strange to 
say, although hit a few times, he never received a serious wound. 

On sheathing his sword, Captain McCartney settled at Fairfield, Wayne county, where he con- 
tinued the practice of his profession until elected, by the republican party, to his present state 
office in November, 1880. • 



UNII'ED STATE f; HIOGRA I'lUCAL DICTIONARY. I C 

We have the very best authority for stating that Attorney General McCartney's standing as a 
lawyer in his part of the state is second to none. " He is a diligent student, prudent counselor, 
and energetic advocate. He is remarkable for the courage, force and indomitable will with which 
he carries on his legal combats, and clings to the cause of his client. No obstacle turns him 
aside, but he presses on toward victory, if it can be won by honorable means and earnest labor, 
and never accepts defeat until it is unavoidable." 

Our subject was joined in marriage, in 1859, with Miss Eunice A. Lindsley, of Trumbull county, 
Ohio, and they have one daughter and two sons. 



HON. JOHN M. HAMILTON. 

BLOOMIiVGTO.V. 

JOHN MARSHALL HAMILTON, governor of Illinois, dates his birth at Richwood, Union 
county, Ohio, May 28, 1847, being a son of Samuel and Nancy (McMorris) Hamilton. His 
grandfather, Rev. William Hamilton, and a brother of that grandsire, Rev. Samuel Hamilton, 
were among the pioneer Methodist preachers in what is now the great state of Ohio, going there 
when it was little more than an unbroken wilderness, and beginning their preaching in log houses. 

The grandmother of our subject was a Ewing, and related to General Thomas Ewing, once a 
conspicuous figure among the magnates of the Buckeye State. The McMorrises were Scotch-Irish, 
from the North of Ireland, and early settlers in Virginia, being related by' marriage to General 
Turner Ashby, the noted rebel, the Youngs and other prominent Virginians, and to Humphrey 
Marshall, of Kentucky, the middle name of our subject coming from the last named family. 

In 1854 Samuel Hamilton moved with his family to this state, settling on a farm, in Marshall 
county, where he still lives, his wife being dead. John was reared on his father's farm, and 
attended a country school during the winter terms until sixteen years old; in 1864 he enlisted as 
a private in company I, 141st Illinois infantry, and served about seven months. 

Leaving the army and returning to Illinois he attended an academy at Henry, Marshall county, 
one year, and then entered the Ohio Weslej^an University, at Delaware, and was graduated in 
1868, standing third in his class. He taught during the next year in the academy at Henrv; was 
then appointed to the Latin chair in the Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, and while 
thus engaged in teaching, took up the study of law with Weldon, Tipton and Benjamin. 

Mr. Hamilton was admitted to the bar in May, 1870, and after being in the office of his precep- 
tors a few jnonths, formed a partnership with Jonathan H. Rowell, and the firm of Rowell and 
Hamilton still continues, being one of the leading law firms of McLean county. Their business 
extends into all the courts of the state and of the United States. A Will county paper thus 
speaks of Mr. Hamilton as a lawj'er and public speaker: 

" Mr. Hamilton stands in the highest rank in the legal profession of this state, having enjoyed 
for a number of years a good practice in both civil and criminal cases in McLean and adjoining 
counties. Although still a young man. his dignified bearing and manly presence, united with 
broad and comprehensive qualities of mind and sound judgment, have gained for him an enviable 
reputation among the leading men of the state. Senator Hamilton is a natural born orator, and 
his speeches are characterized by a depth of learning, breadth of research, and comprehensive 
understanding of the subject matter, which shows strength of mind and earnest cultivation, while 
his command of language, and ready simile and metaphor, and graceful gestures, make it a pleas- 
ure to listen to him. Mentally, morally, socially, financially and physically, Mr. Hamilton is 
sound." 

Governor Hamilton was vice-president of the State Bar Association for two terms, and was 
elected to the state senate for the 28th senatorial district in 1876, and served the full term of four 
years, being president pro tern, during the last two. He was also chairman of the committee on 
miscellaneous business and geology and science; was second on the judiciary committee, and 



1 6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

likewise was on the committees on education, appropriations, state charitable institutions, etc. 
A local journal thus spoke of his work in the senate: 

"Mr. Hamilton's public career began in 1876, when he was elected to the senate by a majority 
of 1,640 over the combined democratic and greenback vote. From the time he took his seat in 
the senate, Mr. Hamilton addressed himself to his duties with an earnestness and industry that 
soon won for him the confidence and respect of his constituents, and made him an influential and 
prominent member of the senate. He introduced and procured the passage of the bill establish- 
ing the appellate courts, and was the author of the bill establishing the state board of health, both 
of which institutions have proven to be of great benefit to the state. The bill providing for the 
organization of the state militia owes much to his skill and ability as a parliamentarian during the 
terrible struggle in the senate over its passage in the winter of 1877. Upon the assembling of the 
31st general assembly, Mr. Hamilton was the recipient of an honor that seldom falls upon any 
man, in being unanimously chosen by the republican caucus as candidate for president, //v; tern., 
of the senate, to which position he was elected, receiving the entire party strength. In this posi- 
tion Mr. Hamilton displa3red rare qualifications as a presiding officer, and by his thorough knowl- 
edge of parliamentary law, his strict impartiality and uniform courtesy, he won the highest 
commendations from his fellow senators, without regard to political differences." 

Mr. Hamilton made such a good record in the state senate, and so distinguished himself, that 
in 1880 he was put upon the republican state ticket for lieutenant-governor, and made a gallant 
fight and successful canvass. As president of the senate he is prompt, impartial, and alert; just 
the man for the place. In January, 1883, upon the election of Governor Cullom to the United 
States senate, Mr. Hamilton succeeded him to the governorship of the state. For the duties of 
this honorable position he was amply fitted, bringing to it a rich and varied experience, and his 
official acts have uniformly been characterized by wisdom, prudence and foresight. 

Mr. Hamilton has taken the scarlet degree in Odd-Fellowship, and is a member of the Knights 
of Pythias, and a trustee of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, Bloomington. 

He married in July, 187 1, Miss Helen M. Williams, daughter of Professor W. G. Williams, of 
the Ohio Wesleyan University, and they have three children. 



D 



HON. DAVID DAVIS. 

BLOOMING TON. 

A\' ID DAVIS, Bloomington, Illinois, is descended from Welsh ancestors, who bad resided 
in this country more than a century at the time of his birth, March 19, 1815. The home of 
his childhood was in Cecil county, Maryland, where he pursued his early education until he went 
to an academy in Delaware to prepare for a regular classical course. 

Mr. Davis went from the academic school in Delaware to Kenyon College, Ohio, entering that 
institution in the autumn of 1828. Ohio was then a comparative wilderness, and for a boy student 
only thirteen years of age, without a relative to welcome him, the prospect was lonely and unin- 
viting. But there was something of the heroic in the native energy of character and firmness of 
purpose which revealed the man of after life. In 1832, when seventeen, he graduated, and soon 
afterward chose the law for his profession. The advantages for his study were few in the West 
at that time, and he started on a long and difficult journey east, reaching at length the old town 
of Lenox, Massachusetts, to prosecute his studies in the office of the distinguished lawyer, Judge 
H. W. Bishop. After two years spent in that office he went to the law school at New Haven, 
Connecticut, then under the direction of Judges Daggett and Hitchcock, both of whom were 
known as eminent jurists. Here Mr. Davis enjoyed the excellent legal discipline which had the 
effect to mold his character into that of a lawyer of clear and accurate knowledge of legal prin- 
ciples and precedents which has since given him his merited prominence. Upon his admission to 
practice he turned his face again toward the Great West, settling in Pekin, Illinois. This was in 





oajIJ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 1 9 

the fall of 1835. The prevalence of fever and ague there compelled him to leave the place at the 
end of a year, and he removed to the town which is now the pleasant city of Bloomington, his 
present residence. Here he began in earnest to lay the foundation of his future success by hard 
work, which he ever regarded as a better dependence than genius. Shortly after his settlement 
in Bloomington he married Miss Sarah Walker, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, who died in Novem- 
ber, 1879. Mrs. Davis was a fit companion for him, and left many pleasant memories of charity 
and kindness. 

The proceeds of a considerable fortune were devoted by her to the alleviation of human suffer- 
ing, and she contributed very much to the success of her husband's life. Mr. Davis was an ardent 
whig of the Henry Clay school, but had no taste for political life. Without solicitation he was 
nominated for the legislature of Illinois, and elected, in 1844, and to the constitutional convention 
in 1847. In both positions, especially the latter, he took a leading part. Upon the adoption of 
the new constitution, in 1848, a new judiciary had to be elected in the entire state. The circuit in 
which he lived was largely democratic, but Mr. Davis was not a bitter partisan, and by the com- 
mon consent of the bar and people of his circuit he was chosen judge. Abraham Lincoln was 
then in the full tide of successful practice, and visited Judge Davis' circuit, forming with him a 
life-long friendship. The judge saw from the beginning evidence of inborn greatness in his 
afterward famous friend. Judge Davis' circuit embraced fourteen of the largest and most wealthy 
counties of the state. It was before the day of railroads, yet neither rough traveling nor bad 
weather prevented him from always being in his place ready to proceed with the public business. 
Soon after his settlement in Illinois he began investing in prairie lands, and laid the foundation 
of that fortune which he now dispenses in acts ol unostentatious charity. In 1858, when Abraham 
Lincoln was a candidate against Stephen A. Douglas for the United States senate. Judge Davis 
supported Mr. Lincoln with great earnestness. Recognized as Lincoln's confidential friend, he 
was selected delegate at large to the republican national convention at Chicago, in i860, where 
his management as a leader was very successful. In i860 and 1861 he counseled a moderate and 
conservative course, in the hope that war might be averted. He formed one of the presidential 
party to Washington, but after the inauguration resumed his duties on the bench which he per- 
formed until selected with General Holt and Mr. Campbell, of Saint Louis, to investigate the ad- 
ministration of the department of Saint Louis, then under the command of General Fremont 
and Major McKinstry, during a period of the war of the rebellion. In the summer of 1862 a 
vacancy occurred on the bench of the supreme court of the United States, and Judge Davis was 
selected in the fall of 1862 associate justice. At that time Judge Taney was chief justice, and 
between the two there commenced a friendship which continued until the latter's death. Judge 
Davis served on the bench of the supreme court until February, 1877, when he resigned to accept 
the office of United States senator from the State of Illinois. 

He met with no opposition to his reelection as judge of the state court, the bar and people 
both being satisfied with the prompt, impartial and honest discharge of his duty. His labors in 
the federal and state courts extended through a period of twenty-nine years, during which time 
he adjudicated questions of the highest importance affecting life, liberty and property. His 
opinion in the celebrated Milligan case is regarded by the profession as one of the ablest exposi- 
tions of the rights of civil liberty ever announced by a court. It was criticised unfavorably by 
some, but by the lawyer and the jurist it will ever be regarded as a sound constitutional recogni- 
tion of the personal and individual rights of the citizen. During the first four years of President 
Grant's administration much dissatisfaction arose in the republican party, and, as an outgrowth, 
the liberal movement was organized which assumed form in the CincinQjati convention. A con- 
siderable portion of the democratic party and a large number in the liberal cause regarded Judge 
Davis as a proper candidate for the presidency, he having been nominated by the labor reform 
party in January, 1872. His friends presented his name at Cincinnati, but, owing to certain 
combinations, he was defeated, and Mr. Greeley became the nominee in the remarkable campaign 
of 1872. In the Illinois senatorial campaign of 1876 the balance of power was with the indepen- 
3 



20 UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHICAL DrCTIONARY. 

dent party, friendly to Judge Davis; and, after a protracted contest, by a combination of the 
democratic party with the independents he received a majority and was elected. His term as 
senator commenced March 4, 1877, writh President Hayes' administration. 

Elected by a combination of parties, he has identified himself with none, but has maintained 
independence, voting for or against measures without reference to party lines. On account of 
his ability as judge he was selected member of the judiciary committee, in which for more than 
four years he has been a great worker in the advancement of the public interests. His speech on 
the Geneva Award bill reported by the committee was regarded as a very able exposition of the 
law in favor of the underwriters. Judge Davis is not a speech maker, but does a great deal of 
work in the committee room and in the business detail of the senate. His disposition is to deal 
with practical questions of legislation, leaving the discussion of mere party politics to others. Upon 
the reconstruction of the senate at the inauguration of President Garfield's administration, he was 
tendered the chairmanship of the judiciary committee, which he declined, giving his reasons in a 
speech worthy the better days of the republic. After the death of President Garfield, Judge Davis 
was elected president of the senate, without having in any way sought that high honor. In ac- 
cepting it he informed the senate that if the least party obligation had been made a condition, 
directly or indirectly, he would have declined the compliment. 

Independent in thought and in action. Judge Davis has never favored the arts of the politician, 
nor sought to gain any object by devious courses. Upright and straightforward, he has always 
moved openly on a given line of conduct, and boldly proclaimed his convictions on public ques- 
tions ; hence the universal confidence in his integrity of character. Although now over sixty 
years of age, his mind and body are unimpaired in vigor and health. He resides on one of the 
most highly cultivated farms of the state, adjoining the city of Bloomington, in a mansion of 
great elegance and taste. His life has been a great success, financially and officially. 

" How blest is he who crowns in shades like these, 
A youth of labor with an age of ease." 



T 



HON. WILLIAM K. McALLISTER. 

IVAUKEGAN. 

HE subject of this sketch is a profound lawyer and able jurist, a native of Salem, Washing- 
ton county, New York. He was born in 1818. He labored on his father's farm until eigh- 
teen years of age, and then entered college. He commenced the study of the law at the age of 
twenty-one years, with a Mr. Henry, in Wayne county, and afterward completed his legal course 
in Yates county; thence he removed to Albion, where he remained in the successful practice of 
the law ten years, and gained a high reputation as a lawyer, and was acknowledged the peer of 
some of the ablest lawyers in the state of New York. In 1854 he removed to Chicago, where he 
has since resided, practicing law, until his elevation to the bench. He was a candidate for judge 
of the superior court against Judge Jameson in 1866, and was defeated. In 1868 he was elected 
judge of the recorder's court by a large vote. In 1870 he was elected to the supreme court; 
resigned in 1873. Later he was elected to the circuit bench of Cook county, and still later, one 
of the judges of the appellate court for the northern district, a position which he still holds to the 
utmost satisfaction of all. His examination of a subject is very exhaustive and thorough, the 
authorities are weighed and compared, and principles are traced to their source. His power of 
analysis is very great, being one of the few men who are able to select leading cases almost intui- 
tively. Although he gives due credit to adjudicated cases, he has a broad philosophy and power 
of comprehension, and a refinement in his perceptions that enables him to go deeper than any 
other has ventured into the mysteries of legal science, and bring to light new truths and establish 
principles not before illuminated, having the faculty of exploring new ground in the field of juris- 
prudence, without departing from well authenticated rules and maxims. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPirrCAI. DlC IIOIVARY. 21 

His motives are never questioned, and all confide in his judgment. Chief-justice John Mar- 
shall in his best days was never more revered and admired by all who knew him than Judge Mc- 
Allister is to-day by his associates on the bench, the members of the bar who appear before him, 
and the public whose servant he is, and whose interest he never forgets. He modestly wears the 
laurels he has won, is never austere or unapproachable; while he observes and maintains proper 
dignity, he at once puts at ease the humblest individual who comes before him. 

In general appearance Judge McAllister is very prepossessing. He is of medium height, and 
well proportioned, has a high, broad forehead, large blue eyes, a small and sensitive mouth 
lighted by an expression of kindness and benevolence. As a lawyer he was noted for his industry, 
great knowledge of the law, and accuracy, a logican of the highest order, extremely conscientious, 
with the utmost candor, his power before a court or jury, was almost unlimited, always conform- 
ing to a high standard of professional ethics. His sincerity, kindness and honesty have become 
proverbial, and so high is his moral character that no man dare attack it. He unbends himself 
from official strain, with great facility and elasticity. He is a lover of music, poetry and fine arts, 
and is well versed in general literature. Aside from his seen qualifications professionally, he is a 
profound scholar. No man is more loved, or more highly respected than Judge McAllister in 
the communitv where he moves. 



HON. HENRY D. DEMENT. 

SPRING EI ELD. 

HENRY DODGK DEMENT, secretary of state, was born at Galena, Illinois, October lo, 
1840. He is a son of John Dement, a native of Tennessee, and Mary L, Dement, a native 
of Missouri, and grandson of Hon. Henry Dodge, one of the early territorial governors of Wis- 
consin. The subject of this sketch was educated at Rock River Seminary, Mount Morris, this 
state, at a Catholic college at Sinsinawa Mound, Grant county, Wisconsin, and at a Presbyterian 
college at Dixon. Civil war breaking out in icS6i, he did not quite finish his college course, but 
volunteered his services to save the ITnion. In April, 1861, he enlisted in company A of the 13th 
Illinois infantry; was commissioned second lieutenant on the 20th of that month, and two or 
three months later was promoted to first lieutenant. We learn from the History of .Sangamon 
County, 1881, that he was with Generals Fremont and Curtiss in their campaigns west of the 
Mississippi ; with General Sherman in his defeat at Chickasaw Bayou ; with General Grant 
in his march to and assaults upon the strongholds of Vicksburg, and with General Sher- 
man's corps in the engagements which resulted in the capture of Jackson, Mississippi. Feb- 
ruary 3, 1863, for his gallantry at Arkansas Post and Vicksburg, Lieutenant Dement received 
a complimentary commission as captain, which he held at the time he left the service in August, 
1863. 

In the autumn of 1872, Mr. Dement was elected to the lower house of the general assembly 
for the twelfth district, and after serving two terms in that body was transferred to the upper 
house, in which he represented Lee and Ogle counties, constituting the twelfth senatorial district, 
for two terms. During the first session in which he was in the lower house, Mr. Dement was 
chairman of the committee on labor and manufactures. In the next session the democrats and 
grangers were in power, and he held subordinate positions. During all the time that he was a 
member of the general assembly, whenever the republicans had control, his abilities were hand- 
somely recognixed. He was, during one or two sessions, chairman of the committee on penal and 
reformatory institutions; also on the committee on appropriations and military affairs. He 
served on the revenue committee nearly all the time he was in the legislature. In 1880, the 
republican party nominated Mr. Dement for his present state office, and he was elected by the 
usual majority. That post he is filling with eminent satisfaction. 

The year after leaving the army, .Secretary Dement engaged in the manufacture of plows at 



22 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



Dixon, and continued that business, in company with William Todd, until 1870, when he began 
the manufacture of flax bagging for covering cotton bales. In that branch of business he is still 
largely engaged. 

He married, at Dixon, October 20, 1864, Mary F., daughter of Hon. Hezekiah and Eliza (Pat- 
terson) Williams, the former a native of Vermont, the latter of Maine; and they have had five 
children, only three of them, all daughters, now living, their names being Gertrude May, Lucia 
W. and Nonie E. The family reside at Dixon, where the children are being educated. Mr. and 
Mrs. Dement are members of the Presbyterian church. 



T 



HON. THOMAS DRUMMOND. 

CHIC A GO. 

HOMAS DRUMMOND was born at Bristol Mills, Lincoln county, Maine, October 16, 1809. 
His paternal grandfather emigrated from Scotland about the year 1760, and settled in 
Bristol before the breaking .out of the revolutionary war. The mother of Thomas Drummond 
was a daughter of Henry Little, of New Castle, Maine, who descended from the early settlers of 
New England. His father was James Drummond, who was a farmer, but followed the sea for a 
considerable period of his life, and for some years represented his native town and county in the 
legislature of Maine. 

Living on the sea coast, the son of a seaman, surrounded by maritime associations, it is not 
wonderful that the subject of this sketch early wished to become a sailor. His father was per- 
emptory in his refusal to gratify the boyish longing, and the son was several times sorely tempted 
to run away as so many lads had done before him. His sense of filial duty, however, was 
stronger than his love of adventure; but those mental experiences left their furrows in his heart, 
implanting a never-failing attachment to the profession, which has since shown itself in his com- 
plete mastery of all the leading points involved in maritime law, and caused his decisions in 
admiralty to be regarded as indisputable, and seldom appealed from or reversed. 

He received his first instruction in the little school house of his native village, and the structure 
is still standing on the same spot as that on which he learned his alphabet, more than sixty years 
since. During his boyhood, he attended academies in Maine, at New Castle, Monmouth, Farm- 
ington, and Gorham. He entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Maine, in 1826, and graduated 
in regular course at the institution in 1830. His business training commenced immediately 
thereafter. Leaving Maine in September, 1830, for Philadelphia, he commenced the study of law 
in that city in the office of W. T. Dwight, who was a son of President Dwight, of Yale College, 
and subsequently he was in the office of T. Bradford, in the same city, where he remained 
until March, 1833. 

In May, 1835, Mr. Drummond left Philadelphia to come to Illinois, and settled in Galena, 
where he was soon recognized as a lawyer of unusual and solid attainments, great perseverance, 
and untiring industry. For fifteen years he practiced his profession at Galena with success, and 
was engaged in many important causes. 

On the death of Judge Pope, he was appointed, in February, 1850, by President Taylor, to 
succeed him in the office of judge of the- United States district court for the district of Illinois, 
In 1854, Judge Drummond removed to Chicago, and held the office of district judge of the United 
States for the northern district of Illinois until December 22, 1869, when he was appointed judge 
of the seventh circuit of the United States, which comprises the states of Illinois, Indiana, and 
Wisconsin. 

Judge Drummond has not mingled to any great extent in party politics, and has held political 
office but once. Formerly a whig, he subsequently became a republican, to which party affilia- 
tion he still adheres. The office above alluded to was that of member of the United States house 
of representatives for 1840 and 1841, representing the counties of northern Illinois, comprising 
what has been known as the Galena district. 




OJUOn^J^ ^0yiyi^^i4^^X/i'^^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 25 

He was married at Willow Springs, La Fayette county, Wisconsin, to Delia A., second daugh- 
ter of J P. Sheldon, of that place, and has two sons and four daughters. Judge Drummond, 
together with his family, belongs to the congregation of Saint James' Episcopal Church, Chicago. 

By a long and laborious career on the federal bench. Judge Drummond's fame as a jurist is 
completely established. None know him but to respect him for his learning, and to love him for 
his noble qualities of mind and heart. For over thirty years he has held a place on the bench. 
Throughout that long period, his career has been signalized by unremitting and arduous labor. 
His ambition and aim have been to conscientiously and justly perform the duties of his high 
position- and that he has attained the rank of a great and good judge is the tribute universally 
paid to him by the bar. His judicial opinions have always been distinguished for their strength 
of expression, and vigor of reasoning, and are part of the jurisprudence of the country. Endowed 
with a vigorous and rugged intellect, prompted always in his judicial and personal action by the 
strongest convictions of duty, Judge Drummond has never failed to put the stamp of his individ- 
uality upon whatever work he has had to do. His expositions of the law in all its branches are 
universally accepted as learned, able and authoritative, and by the bench and bar of the country 
he is recognized as one of the veterans in the federal judiciary. His inherent sense of justice is 
one of his strongest characteristics. When dealing with legal questions, in words that are always 
significant and weighty, he summarily brushes away the chaff that may have accumulated in dis- 
cussion, and grasps the great or essential point upon which a decision of the question or case 
must tu'rn. Every litigant is assured of impartial and patient consideration of his case when he 
enters Judge Drummond's court. Patience and kindness and courtesy characterize his demeanor 
on the bench, and the most painstaking care and deliberation characterize his investigation of 
every cause brought before him for judgment. Fearless in the discharge of every duty, upright 
in every act and purpose, he has maintained inflexibly the judicial character in its highest dignity 
and purest qualitv. Venerated by the bar, and beloved by his brethren of the bench, it is their 
hope and wish that many years of health and happiness may yet be added to his long and honor- 
able life. 

HON. SHELBY M. CULLOM. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

THE late governor of the state, and now United States senator, is a native of Kentucky, born 
November 22, 1829, and is the son of Richard Northcraft Cullom, and Elizabeth (Coffey) 
Cullom. His father's life was spent in public service. He was a member of the Illinois legisla- 
ture for a number of terms, twice before the state capitol was removed to Springfield; and was a 
member of the senate during the first session after the removal. He was a prominent whig, and 
an intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln and John T. Stuart. Shelby M. received his early educa- 
tion in the common schools, studying during the winter months, and passing the summers in 
farm work. Later he spent two years at school in the Rock River Seminary, at Mount Morns, 
Illinois, and thus gained, in addition to his knowledge of the common branches, a fair knowledge 
of Greek, Latin, higher mathematics, natural philosophy, and political economy. But not being 
of a sufficiently robust constitution to endure the toils of farm life, he early decided to enter the 
legal profession, and being compelled to close his studies in school, on account of severe illness 
and want of means, as soon as he recovered sufficiently he went to Springfield, intending to study 
law with Mr. Lincoln. As that gentleman was seldom at home he advised Mr. Cullom to enter 
the office of Stuart and Edwards, which he did in the fall of 1853. In July, 1854, he was obliged 
to discontinue his studies by reason of protracted illness, and was advised to give up the law. 
He had determined, however, that he would succeed, and, remaining on the farm until he had 
recovered his health and accumulated a little money, he returned to Springfield, and in the spring 
of 1855 was admitted to the bar and elected city attorney. In 1856 he was one of the presiden- 
tial electors on the Fillmore or whig ticket, and was also elected to the legislature, receiving both 



26 UNITED STATES BfOGRAPHICA I. DICTIONARY. 

the whig and free-soil votes of his county. In i860 he was again elected to the legislature on the 
republican ticket, and was chosen speaker of the house. In 1862 he was a candidate for the state 
senate, but was defeated. In 1864 he was elected to congress, over his old preceptor, Hon John 
T. Stuart, the vote of the district changing from a majority of one thousand seven hundred dem- 
ocratic to about that number of republican. He was again elected in ,866 by an increased maior 
ity over Doctor E. S. Fowler, and in 1868 defeated Hon. B. S. Edwards, of the firm with which he 
had previously studied. At the organization of this congress he was chosen as chairman of the 
committee on territories, in the house, and at once prepared a bill known as the Cullom bill pro 
viding for the uprooting of Mormonism. This bill brought upon him the severe calumny of the 
Mormon leaders, and caused him to be burnt in effigy at Beaver City, where Lee has recently been 
tried for participation in the Mountain Meadow Massacre. During his service in congress he was 
prominently mentioned in connection with the speakership, and would undoubtedly have gained 
the position had he remained in congress a little longer. In 1872 he was again elected to the 
state legislature, and chosen speaker. He was returned in 1874, and, though unanimously nom- 
inated by the republicans for speaker, he was defeated by a combination between the democrats 
and independents, but was the recognized leader of the republican side of the house during the 
.session " ^ 



session. 



_ He made one of the most popular speakers that Illinois has ever had, and in that class of men 
IS included several veiy brilliant political lights. His splendid record in the house prepared the 
way for his nomination for the office of governor, and-his election in 1S76. He was reelected in 
1880, by a greatly increased majority. 

A copy of his first inaugural message, delivered January 8, 1879, is before the writer and is a 
plain statement of the condition of the affairs of the state, with such recommendations as he 
thought advisable. The only episode from this line of thought, is his reference to the centennial 
year of the nation, and the efforts of the slave power to destrov the Union. This part of the m s 
sage we reproduce; ' ^ tiuicmcb 

Atlantic coast, and composed thirteen feeble rolnnips ir,,.„i„„^- j u , , ' "^> ™='^'= ^^^atterea along the 

fu. nation in the world. Soon after the «"r ndetin the triur h '"f \ ''™^^''^ '"^ '"'''""• ^^''' "'^ "°^' P"""" 

Constitution was adopted, the confederZn o 't e av ^ a^ltTursh^r^ f'", ^'""'"" f^'''^ ''^ ^"'°"^' 
the efficiency of a national government. ^' '"" '"'^""■" "^ P""" "^^"''^' '° 

For centuries human slaverv, with all its horrors had pvUto.i ;„ 1 . 

lioi :::3^= ";:::::-;r^re:"Th":::::::7.;f ^^°^^" " ■r-r-" '- '^-^ -"-- - ^--^ -■- 

in the valley of the Mississioni Am ^ ^ h k government had forsaken the sea coast, and was seated 

of ourhisti; th:ct:::r:as ^:^i^:;iz:^^Tr'-^ -1°"^'- "'^"'°^"^- ^''''-'---' 

years of war and devastation with horror. Th^tTon paLed thr^.^th T V'" 7"- '"' '°''' '''^' "P"" "^°^^ 
at great cost of treasure and blood -treasure and b"od whfch reor s ^'^ H^^ ■ "^'"'^'"■^'^ "^ '"''^^"'y' '"-8^ 

bondage four miHions of human souls, and to ^^t:^::^:^:^:!^:-^'^^::::^'^ '^ ''"''' "°'" 

which has left the count'ry in an e.xcited cond.t r": ing L th unpreceZtd'c'r^'' ' T\ T' ''T"°" °"""^' 

;=;: -t: t^r'""^ ^t"^ '- '" -'— --- ofT :::^r::-^r [h:'^ :^ ;:^i:^: 

.led by reason and not by violence. The people of the nation mTst IL^ Z ^ ce of" hi ::i7"s; f L^t ,^1 ^ 



UNITED STATES- BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 2 J 

can people in another war. One attempt has been made to destroy this country and dissolve the Union, by a portion 
of the people when they were dissatisfied with the result as declared at the polls. That struggle cost the country ten 
thousand millions of dollars in property and labor, and a million men in battle, a fearful price for refusal to abide the 
decision of the ballot. 

As citizens of the state of Illinois, we claim the right to hold our elections in our own way; giving all our people a 
fair and equal chance to cast their votes. We claim the right to prescribe the manner in which our polls shall be 
purged of fraudulent votes, and how and by whom the result of our elections shall be ascertained and announced. All 
these things we regulate by the laws made by our state legislature, and when the result is so ascertained and announced 
we expect it to be respected, as well by our own citizens as by others. While we claim these rights for our own state, 
we concede the same to every other state in the Union; and insist that when the people of any state have held an elec- 
tion, and the result has been ascertained and announced by the persons and in the manner provided by the laws of such 
state, that result shall be respected everywhere as the will of the people of that state. The people, without regard to 
party, owe it to themselves and the country to purify the ballot box, and protect it from fraud; the people owe it to 
themselves, in the interest of good government, to favor all lawful means, the object of which is to secure a free and 
honest ballot and the protection of the citizen in his right to cast it. Fraudulent voting is worse than no voting, and 
unless a man is allowed to vote his sentiments his vote is a falsehood and a fraud. 

All the messages of the Governor show that he has a vigilant eye to the wants and welfare of 
the great state, at the head of which he stands, and that he possesses in a large measure, the pro- 
gressive spirit of the age. He seems to fully understand that the stability of our free institutions 
rests upon the intelligence of the people; hence, in public addresses made on more than one occa- 
sion, he has strongly advocated the system of compulsory education. These views he is fearless 
in expressing, and in them no doubt has the sympathy of the larger class of right-minded, reflect- 
ing citizens of the state. 

What is now being done for the cause of education, may be inferred from a fact stated by the 
governor, in an address made at the State Dairy Association, in December, 1881. The last legis- 
lature, he said, appropriated $6,140,272 for the fiscal years 1881 and 1882. "At the very outset," 
added the governor, "$2,175,000 of the 6,000,000, go to the support of the common and normal 
schools of the state." Happy is the commonwealth that can expend that sum in free schools 
without feeling it. Illinois can do it, and add another hundred thousand if necessary, to estab- 
lish and enforce the system of compulsory education. 

I noticed, a few days ago, that our worthy commissioners of internal revenue report that Illinois pays an internal 
revenue tax of nearly twenty-six millions of dollars for 1S81, which is six and a half millions more than is paid by any 
other state, and which is one-fifth of the whole amount collected in the United States, while our population is only 
about one-sixteenth. The industries of any country, in order to be profitable, must be diversified, and in our state thev 
are becoming more and more so. The time is coming soon when our state will not be so distinctively an agricultural 
state in contrast with other interests. It will not be long before it will be a great manufacturing state. Our soil is 
rich almost beyond comparison, and because we have the soil and can produce the food in abundance, your towns will 
become manufacturing towns, and your beautiful streams in this portion of the state will be utilized, and great mechani- 
cal industries will spring up all over this country, and you will have a market at your doors fcr your products, and your 
lands will, in a short time, be doubled in value. 

The farmers' interests are closely identified with all the great business interests of the country. The people of this 
great country cannot all engage in the same business and expect to prosper. They cannot all raise corn or make butter 
and find a market for either. The world is made up of all sorts of people, and they must carry forward all sorts of 
honest business if they would prosper and be happy, and the man engaged in any one kind of business is, in some 
degree, interested in every other. We have in this country the cotton, the wool, t'le iron, the copper and lead, and, 
in fact, all the raw material in the greatest abundance, out of which to manufacture every article of use known to 
human life, and it is the policy of this country to encourage our own home industries. By so doing we develop our 
own resources, and create a home market for our surplus products. Protection to American industry does not mean 
protection to the mechanic and artisan alone, or to the capitalist engaged in manufacturing, but it means protection to 
the common laborer, in fair wages, and to the agriculturist by giving him a home demand for his products. But diver- 
sified labor and pursuits will not enable us to reach our highest possible plane of prosperity unless our facilities for 
transportation and the extension of our commercial relations are also perfected. It is now a conceded fact, in the dis- 
cussion of the transportation question, that water navigation, in a measure, regulates and controls the rates for carry- 
ing freights, and therefore, it is our duty to protect and improve our rivers, lakes and canals. They are of late claiming 
the attention of our best business men and ablest statesmen. 



28 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Governor Cullom is an impassioned speaker, and when the occasion and the cause demand it, 
can be decidedly eloquent. We have before us a speech of his made at Mount Vernon, Illinois, 
in 1868, at a reunion of soldiers of Illinois, who had participated in any of the struggles in 
which the state or the nation had been engaged. After referring to the soldiers of the revolution 
whose honored forms are seen no more, he thus alluded to the soldiers of 1812, and the later 
Indian campaigns: 

Of another class, a few scattered and honored remnants still remain among us, and I am glad to see a few repre- 
sentatives here to-day. I mean the soldiers of the war of 1S12. They, too, are passing away; but the memory of the 
deeds which they performed in resisting the encroachments of an arrogant foreign power, will never pass away. They 
are a part of history, and have left their stamp indelibly impressed upon the memory and in the gratitude of the nation. 
As they go down the declivity of life, their evening sun shines upon them with renewed splendor, while the bow of 
promise, reflected from the dark clouds of civil war that so recently spanned all our heavens, overarches their honored 
heads. 

In larger numbers and in more vigorous presence we meet, face to face, with those who participated in the Winne. 
bago campaign of 1827, and in the three Black Hawk campaigns of 1831-2. But death has thinned your ranks during 
these latter years. Whereare Duncan and VVhitesides, Reynolds, Mills, DeWitt, Fry, Thomas, Casey, Anderson, Breese. 
Ford and others? All gone to that " undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns." There, too, was that 
grand figure, now grown to be the grandest in modern history, who with ever youthful spirit, shared to the utmost the 
dangers, excitements and amusements of the frontier camp, the genial friend, the popular and high-minded citizen, the 
persuasive and convincing orator, the earnest and incorruptible statesman, the man who took upon his shoulders the 
burdens of a nation in the most perilous period of its history, the martyred president, Abraham Lincoln. 

In January, 1883, Governor Cullom was elected to the United States senate, and is about to 
enter upon a new field of intellectual labor, where his statesmanship will have a fine opportunity 
to test its powers. 

The parents of Senator Cullom were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he 
is strongly attached, but with his family he attends the Presbyterian church, of which his wife is a 
member. He has been twice married: first, December 12, 1855, to Miss Hannah Fisher, by whom 
he has two daughters; and the second time. May 5, 1863, to Julia Fisher; they have had two chil- 
dren, neither of whom is now living. 

JAMES B. WALLER. 

CHICAGO. 

THE Waller family of Virginia were descended from, the English family of that name, of 
which Sir William Waller, the distinguished parliamentary general in the time of Crom- 
well, and the poet, Edmund Waller, were members. 

A member of the English family immigrated to America about the time of the restoration, and 
settled in Spottsylvania county, Virginia. Two of his descendants, John and William Edmund 
Waller, became eminent in that county as Baptist preachers. John was a man of great eloquence, 
and during the persecution of Dissenters by the Church of England in the latter part of the last 
century, he was imprisoned by reason of the excitement produced by his efforts. This did not 
silence him, however. He persisted in his holy work, and preached through prison bars to large 
and enthusiastic crowds, so that his persecutors found it best to release him. 

His younger brother, William Edmund, remained in the ministry over fifty years, and was 
very highly esteemed. He was the father of five sons, two of whom were also Baptist ministers, 
and all of whom resided in Kentucky. One of them, named Richard, was the father of C. S. 
Waller, who was assistant auditor of Kentucky for a number of years, and recently a commis- 
sioner of public works for Chicago, an office he is well known to have filled with distinguished 
ability and success. 

The youngest son, William S. Waller, was cashier of the Bank of Kentucky, at Frankfort, and 
at Lexington, for upwards of forty years, and died in 1855. His four sons removed many years 
ago to Chicago. One of them, William, died in 1880, and the others, Henry, James B. and 




/. 



(Ji--'V->-T-<--#' 



^ ^ouJ/^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA PIllCA I. DIC J lONARY. . 31 

Edward Waller, are still residents of this city. The latter, the youngest, was from 1853 to 1866 
an active member of the late firm of Lees and Waller, of New York, who ranked high among the 
first merchants of that city, and who acted there as agents of the Bank of California, when it 
was most successful and prosperous. 

The second son of William S. Waller was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, January 20, 181 7. 
His boyhood was spent in that city, and on his father's farm in the suburbs. His early edu- 
cation was under the personal supervision of his mother, by whom he was taught the English 
branches. At the age of eleven he entered the classical school at Frankfort of Keen O'Harra, a 
teacher of large reputation in Kentucky and adjoining states, and afterward, in 1830, entered the 
preparatory department of Center College, at Danville, Kentucky, where he remained until 1834. 
In 1835 he entered the junior class of Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, where he graduated in 
the fall of 1836, at the age of nineteen. His parents having designed him for the law, upon his 
return from Oxford he entered at once upon its study in the law department of Transylvania 
University, in Lexington, and received his diploma from that institution in 1838. He was admitted 
to the bar the same year, and began the practice of the law at Bowling Green, Kentucky, where 
he remained for several years, in partnership with Warner L. Underwood, who became a member 
of congress from that district, and whose brother, Judge Underwood, was for many years a mem- 
ber of the United States senate from Kentucky. In 1842, while in successful practice at Bowling 
Green, he received a proposal from Hon. Thomas F. Marshall, then in congress as a representa- 
tive from the Ashland District, of a law partnership at Lexington. He accepted the offer, and 
for about two years they practiced together at the same bar with Hon. Henry Clay, Chief -Justice 
Robertson, and other distinguished lawyers. Thomas F. Marshall was at that time the most 
brilliant member of the Kentucky bar, and one of the most celebrated orators of America, and 
the influence of his brilliant genius over his young law partner was marked, and did much to 
fashion and develop his natural gifts as a public speaker. A personal acquaintance also with 
Henry Clay, and an enthusiastic admiration of the genius of that great man, was not without its 
formative influence upon him. With the natural gifts with which nature had endowed him, 
heightened by the favorable associations of his early life, and developed by a thorough education, 
Mr. Waller was prepared for a brilliant career in his chosen profession. He was, however, of a 
retiring disposition, domestic in his tastes, and studious in his habits, added to which he lacked 
the inspiration which is born of poverty and necessity. Hence he became eminent as a counsel- 
or rather than brilliant as an advocate, and for twenty years he stood high in his native state as 
an attorney and counselor at law. But at length an event took place which, by adding largely 
to his fortune, and also demanding the larger portion of his time, curbed his ambition for forensic 
or political honors, and finally caused his entire withdrawal from the bar. This was the sudden 
death of his brother-in-law, R. S. C. A. Alexander, a gentleman of great wealth, owner of the 
celebrated farm of Woodburn, Kentucky, and the fine old estate of Airdrie, Scotland. 

Mr. Waller became united in marriage in February, 1847, to Miss Lucy Alexander, the daugh- 
ter of Robert Alexander, formerly in the private office of Benjamin Franklin at the court of 
France, and for many years subsequently president of the Bank of Kentucky at Frankfort, Ken- 
tucky, of which Mr. Waller's father was for over forty years cashier. He was a man of fine lite- 
rary attainments, and very elevated character, and the union of the two families by this marriage 
was looked upon as a very fortunate and happy event. Upon the death of his brother-in-law, 
which occurred in December, 1867, Mr. Waller and a brother of his wife, A. J. Alexander, 
entered as executors upon the administration of his immense estate in trust for the heirs. Mr. 
Alexander died a bachelor, and his property was left by will to his brother John and his two sis- 
ters and their children. To the management of this estate the later years of Mr. Waller's life 
have been mainly devoted. Withdrawing entirely from the practice of his profession, he spent 
the time unused in the care of his estate, in the rearing and education of his large family of chil- 
dren, in the congenial pursuit of learning, and the pleasing pastime of literary effort. 

In 1849 Mr. Waller visited Chicago for the first time, bringing with him a considerable sum of 
4 



^2 . UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

money for investment in real estate. This lie did so satisfactorily that his own fortune is quite 
competent for any probable strain upon it. He brought with him letters of introduction from 
Henry Clay and other prominent Kentuckians, which insured him a most flattering reception 
among the foremost men of the city, and gave him the " inside track " in his intended invest- 
ments. He did not, however, settle here at that time, but returned again to Kentucky and to the 
practice of his profession. 

In 1851 and 1852, with his family, he visited Airdrie, Scotland, making the tour of England, 
also, and spending some time at the home of Mrs. Waller's uncle, in London, Thomson Han- 
key, the then governor of the Bank of England. On his return he again resumed his practice, 
and it was not till six years later, in 1858, that he removed to Chicago with his family. After 
becoming finally settled here, he entered into a copartnership with his brother Edward, and 
brother-in-law, James Lees, who were commission merchants in New York city, to open a 
general commission business, under the firm name in Chicago of Waller and Company, and of 
Lees and Waller in New York. This firm continued in business for several years, during which 
the partners had made money, and Mr. Waller's fortune was considerably increased. But it was 
thought prudent during the dark days of the war in 1863 to dissolve, and avoid the immense risk 
of the future. Mr. Waller accordingly withdrew from the firm. , 

Mr. Waller was reared in the Presbyterian faith, and has always been prominent in its coun- 
cils and a foremost man in Bible and Sunday-school work. His present church connection is 
with the Fullerton Avenue Church, Rev. H. N. Collison, past<ir. It is not, however, as a Presby- 
terian that Mr. Waller ranks high. He is a man of much reading, deep thought, and independent 
in his opinions. He is very tamiliar with his Bible, and will not receive any doctrine he does not 
believe to be plainly taught in it. 

In politics Mr. Waller was in early life a staunch whig, as his friendship for Henry Clay would 
indicate; but about 1858 he became a supporter of Stephen A. Douglas, and still remains a con- 
servative democrat, or, as he is wont to term it, a democrat of the Jeffersonian school. A tariff 
for revenue only, and the reserved rights of the states as opposed to the centralizing tendency of 
the times, are two of the most important planks in his platform. Although often solicited to take 
active part in politics, and the nomination tendered him of some of the most important offices in 
the gift of the people of the state, he invariably declines, and prefers the substantial joys of pri- 
vate life to the doubtful and short lived honors of a public career. A number of his large family 
of two sons and seven daughters are now married and well settled in life, and there remains for 
the parents only the quiet enjoyment of a well earned competence and its generous distribution 
to the needy and suffering, who have learned to expect it at their hands. 

Nothing serves so clearly to show the true character of a man as the treatment of his depend- 
ents and inferiors; and it is important in this direction to note Mr. Waller's conduct toward the 
slaves that came to him by inheritance. His conduct was so fatherly and truly Christian that, 
although he gave them full liberty at any time to leave him and secure their freedom by emigrat- 
ing to the states of Ohio or Indiana, which lay just across the river, and taking wife and children 
along, yet he never could persuade them to do so, but they remained with him, contented and 
happy, as long as he resided in Kentucky. And to this day his former slaves look to him for 
counsel and assistance in all their troubles. He frequently receives letters couched in the old 
language of the slave, saying, " Massa, please send me forty dollars; my craps turned out bad dis 
yeah," or something similar. And it is not too much to say that the sweetest pleasures of his 
later years come of his ability to minister to their needs, who were his playmates in childhood 
and his willing servants in early manhood. 

In any biographical sketch of Mr. Waller there are three productions of his pen which neces- 
sarily claim our notice, and by which his ability must be judged as a writer. These productions 
are entitled, "The True Doctrine of State Rights, with an Examination of the Records of the 
Democratic and Republican Parties in Connection with Slavery," published in 1880; "Reminis- 
cences of Benjamin Franklin as a Diplomatist," published in 1879; "The Right of Eminent 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 33 

Domain and the Police Power of the State," published in 1871. It is not intended, indeed it is 
impossible, in a sketch so brief as this, to review by a critical examination any one of these pro- 
ductions. In it, however, it is but just to the author of such of a work as "The True Doctrine of 
State Rights," that some at least of the testimonials he has received in its favor from every part 
of the country should be given to the public. At the earnest request, therefore, of the writer he 
is permitted to insert in this sketch the following extracts from a correspondence extending 
through all the states: 

Hon. E. J. Phelps, of Burlington, Vermont: "I have read with much interest and satisfaction 
'The True Doctrine of State Rights.' You have treated the subject, as appears to me, with great 
fullness, clearness and ability. If you can oblige me with two more copies each of ' The State 
Rights' and 'The Reminiscences of Benjamin Franklin,' I shall be glad to place them in the Ver- 
mont State Library and in the Free Library of Burlington, of both of which I am a trustee." 

Hon. George B. Loring, of Salem, Massachusetts: "'The True Doctrine of State Rights' is a 
valuable sketch of the history of the matters of which it treats." 

Professor Francis Wharton, of Cambridge, Massachusetts: "I think you have thrown much 
light on Doctor Franklin's history, and your views on state rights, although a little ahead of mine, 
are still entitled to grave weight. I only wonder that in agricultural communities, such as Illi- 
nois, the tariff and centralization school should have such sway." 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, of Boston: "I can thank you, and I do thank you, for your work on 
state rights, though, when I find time to read it more thoroughly, I may find things I disagree 
with. I am very sorry that poor old Edom London had such hard treatment in Massachu- 
setts, etc." 

A. M. Robinson, of the bar of Dover, Maine: "'The True Doctrine of State Rights' impresses 
me as being elaborate in research, concise in statement, and logical in conclusion. It should 
have a wide circulation. The current of political power seems to be setting with irresistible force 
to centralization." 

William Parsons, of New Haven, Connecticut, (editor of the '"Register"): "I have read your 
book with great pleasure as well as edification, and take this occasion to thank you for your mas- 
terly handling of a badly misunderstood issue. I am one of those who believe that in the true 
doctrine of state rights lies the permanence of our political institutions." 

B. M. Hughes, of the Denver bar, Colorado: "I have at last completed your work on state 
rights, and I can say that it is valuable for its historical facts, and its incontrovertible truth. It 
is a compilation of great merit, and I wonder that the task has not been undertaken many years 
ago. However, it could never have fallen into better or abler hands, and I shall not fail to indorse 
it as authority and quote it as the best history of the great state rights warfare. I regret that it 
is not to be published in quantities enough to scatter its tenets all over this country, so befogged 
as to state rights. I feel that the people sustain a great loss, unless this can be done." 

C. J. Walker, of the bar of Detroit, Michigan: " I can give you my cordial thanks for ' The 
True Doctrine of State Rights,' which I have looked over, but which I have not yet carefully 
examined. I am clearly of opinion that the greatest danger that threatens the future of our 
republic arises from the increased concentration of power in the genei'al government, and the con- 
stant invasion upon the rights of the states, which will necessarily follow; and I think that any one 
who intelligently discusses the question is a public benefactor. The question which you have 
discussed with much ability, is one of the most important ones before the American people." 

Professors Woolsey of Yale, and Cooley of Ann Arbor wrote to the author that they had taken 
the liberty of presenting his work on state rights to their respective universities. 

H. F. Austin, of Michigan, in a letter applying for a copy, said: "Wishing to get a work on 
state rights, I am referred by Judge Coolev to your ' True Doctrine of State Rights.' " On receiving 
which he replied: " To say that I am greatly pleased with it is but faintly to express my feelings." 

Senator Pendleton, of Ohio, referring to the same work, says: " The accuracy of your research, 
the judicial temper of your observation, and the purity of your style, will necessarily commend it 



34 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



to all thoughtful students of our political history. I wish I could hope it would exert an influence 
equal to its merits. But thinkers and students like yourself must be content to do their utmost 
and hope the leaven may leaven the whole mass." 

Hon. Charles Anderson, formerly and during the war the republican governor of Ohio, in his 
comments on the work says: "It is one of the ablest, most learned, most searching and profound 
arguments I have ever read on the subject. This is not flattery. I mean what I say." 

Hon. C. M. Clay, of Kentucky, speaking of " The True Doctrine of State Rights " as an argu- 
ment on that subject, writes: " It is the most exhaustive and the ablest I have ever seen from any 
source." 

Ex-Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky: " I regard ' The True Doctrine of State Rights,' after a 
careful perusal, as the most correct, exhaustive and unanswerable production upon this most dif- 
ficult question, I have ever read. It places the democratic party upon an imperishable basis, 
according to the interpretation of the constitution by Jefferson and Madison, and the men who 
made it, and sets at rest the doctrine of secession and nullification." 

James O. Harrison, of the bar of Lexington, Kentucky, the executor of Henry Clay: " It gives 
me great pleasure to say, not only that your exposition of the true doctrine of state rights is 
admirable, but that in my opinion no attempt in modern times approaches it, sed lorigo intervallo, 
in completeness and in power. You have shown with great clearness, not only the true doctrine 
in its origin, but have drawn the line with such distinctness between the federal powers on the 
one side, and state rights on the other, that all thoughtful and patriotic men are sure to see and 
follow it." 

T. W. Wilkinson, of Louisiana: "To my mind it is decidedly the most conclusive, exhaustive 
and masterly e.xposition ever published on the subject, and will be an addition of great value to 
the library of every one fortunate enough to possess it, who takes a proper interest in the true 
principles of our government. It will, besides, help to correct the too common error that is so 
often heard, that the doctrine of state rights has been overthrown by the war." 

Senator Morgan, of Alabama: " It is a most admirable presentation of the very important sub- 
ject you have taken up. Please send 133 copies by express at my expense, to me, at this place 
(Washington city). I will find great pleasure in laying before the members of the Alabama legis- 
lature so instructive a paper." 

Similar comments to the above are scattered throughout the extensive correspondence the 
author awakened by his book, which if published would fill several volumes. But the specimens 
given by the above extracts form most appropriately a part of this sketch; not only to show the 
opinion entertained by some of the most enlightened statesmen and jurists of the merits of " The 
True Doctrine of State Rights," but, what is of far more interest to the public, to show how 
important in their estimation is the revival and perpetuation of those rights to the very existence 
of our government and the welfare of the nation. 

The " Reminiscences of Benjamin Franklin as a Diplomatist," has met with a most flattering 
reception. Among the first evidences of this only a few specimens will be here mentioned. 

On its receipt by the Chicago Historical Society, its president, Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, wrote to 
its author as follows: "I received to-day, for the Historical Society, your very interesting little 
book, 'Reminiscences of Benjamin Franklin as a Diplomatist,' and shall place it among our col- 
lection. It is quite new to me and of great historic value, and I want to thank you, not only for 
the donation, but for writing the book." 

From the Library Company, of Philadelphia, the author received the following acknoivl- 
edgment: "Please accept the thanks of the trustees of the Ridgway branch of the Philadelphia 
Library for a copy of your valuable ' Reminiscences of Benjamin Franklin as a Diplomatist." It 
is highly appropriate as a part of the library now safely housed in the magnificent building 
erected by Henry J. Williams, executor of Doctor Benjamin Rush, and presented to the city of 
Philadelphia. 

Judge C. B. Lawrence, of Chicago, wrote: "I iiave read your ' Reminiscences of Franklin as a 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 35 

Diplomatist,' with great pleasure and interest, and am much obliged to you for your courtesy in 
sending it. It is those undercurrents of history that occasionally come to the surface through 
the medium of family papers and correspondence that are most interesting. All lovers of history 
must be obliged to you for this publication." 

The following is a copy of an autograph letter from the distinguished poet, Longfellow: 

"Cambridge, March 23, 1880. 
''Dear Sir. — Please accept my sincere thanks for your kindness in sending me a copy of your 
'Reminiscences of Benjamin Franklin as a Diplomatist.' It is an interesting and valuable sketch 
of the great American philosopher in his life abroad, and I am much obliged to you for it. 

I am, dear sir, yours very truly, Henry W. Longfellow." 

The treatise entitled, "The Right of Eminent Domain and the Police Power of the State," is 
said not to be surpassed by anything the author has ever given to the public. It was written in 
the interest of the people living in the immediate suburbs of Chicago, and especially those of 
Lake View, against the establishment or extension of cemeteries in their midst. One, with its 
walls and monuments, was just then being removed to make way for Lincoln Park, The town of 
Lake View, lying immediately north of the park and of the city, with the shore of Lake Michigan 
for its eastern boundary, with its undulating grounds, its garden lands, its salubrious atmosphere, 
and its streets and avenues intersecting its surface in ever varying vistas and views of the lake, 
forms the most attractive and beautiful suburb around Chicago. Just here, with Graceland cem- 
etery the issue was made by an ordinance of the town, forbidding the extension of its burial 
grounds, although allowed by its charter. 

The town of Lake View unanimously adopted a resolution of thanks to the author, and ordered 
1000 copies of it to be published for circulation. Afterward the company abandoned the idea of 
extending its burial limits, and entered into a contract with the town to that effect. We shall 
conclude the present sketch by giving a brief extract from the beginning of this argument, and one 
from its close. No just idea, however, can thus be formed of the combined effect of the whole 
production. 

"In the heaving and swelling tide of population now rapidly advancing upon us from that 
wonderful city by our side, and of which we are already almost a part, is clearly to be seen the 
necessity for the exercise, at no distant day, against the Graceland cemetery, of the right of emi- 
nent domain which we have expounded, and which unquestionably exists. But it is the rightful 
exercise of that other great attribute of sovereignty on which the validity of our ordinance 
depends, and that is the right to regulate the use of property in executing the police power of the 
state. The term public police is applied by Blackstone to signify the due regulation and domestic 
order of the kingdom. Fully to comprehend the true nature and importance of this power in the 
government, and the necessities for its exercise, we must look to its development in the densely 
crowded cities and their suburbs of the old world. Colquhoun, in his able treatise on the police of 
London, says that ' the metropolis, having by degrees been extended so far beyond its ancient 
limits, every parish, hamlet, liberty or precinct, now contiguous to the cities of London and West- 
minster may be considered as a separate municipality where the inhabitants regulate the police of 
their respective districts, the principles of whose police organizations relate to watching, cleansing 
and removing nuisances and annoyances, the mode of building houses, the system established 
for extinguishing fires, etc., with a variety of other useful improvements tending to the comfort 
and convenience of the inhabitants.' The enumeration of all the different subjects which come 
under the operation of the police power by Colquhoun, and other writers on the subject, would 
611 a volume. Its care and protection extend to almost every public interest, and reach through 
all the ramifications of society. Indeed, neither government nor society could exist without it. It 
is the conservator of all peace, the custodian of the public health, and of the public morals. While 
these are some of its regulations, as the author just referred to says, which relate only to the 
comfort and convenience of the public, there are others of more vital importance, which are neces- 



36 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

sary to protect the public welfare. Among the latter are those which are intended to guard the 
health and life of the citizen, and to preserve his property from injury and loss. Under the head 
of this latter class is the right of the government to regulate the interment of the dead, the right 
to destroy property by pulling down or blowing up private buildings to prevent the spread of fire 
in time of conflagration, and the right to prevent and remove nuisances. The power to exercise 
these rights is inherent in every sovereign state, and belongs to every municipal organization 
under its jurisdiction, by virtue of the general statute creating it, unless by some extraordinary 
provision it is excluded; because it is the right to accomplish that which is implied in the very 
existence of such an organization. It is not a power of aggression, but of self-defense, not of 
appropriating or destroying private property or a vested right, to be used by the public for its own 
profit or gain, where a compensation is made, for that would be the exercise of the right of emi- 
nent domain. * * * But on the contrary, this is a power to protect the public against injury 
or loss, to shield it from threatened danger. As we have argued, in accordance with the ruling 
of the Supreme Court of the United States, all contracts must be construed to be made under the 
implied and reserved powerof the government to exercise over them the right of eminent domain; 
and therefore, however they may be affected by it, their obligation cannot be considered as 
impaired in the sense of the constitution, so all property and franchises, either of individuals or 
corporations, are held also under the reserved right of the state, either directly or through its 
municipal organization, to exercise this police power of protecting the public from injury, and 
therefore, when exerted for that end, in regulating the use of property or vested rights, even to 
their destruction, it does not, in any sense, either of the state or federal constitution, impair the 
obligation of contracts. * * * Xhe offal of a city has always been the subject of its police 
regulations, not only in ordering its removal, but in regulating the place of its deposit. By virtue 
of this police power the interment of such offal has been forbidden in Lake View. The owner of 
land in this township has no longer, as formerly, the right, under his title from the government, 
to enrich his soil by interring beneath its surface such manure, because the state, under its 
reserved right, has, through its municipal government of the township, forbidden its use to pre- 
vent injury to the public. The interment of the dead, for like reasons, has, under all governments, 
and in every community, been considered as a proper subject for police regulation, not only because 
their continued presence mars the enjoyments of the living, but because it is pernicious to health 
and life itself. Suppose, from any cause, the removal and burial of the dead should be neglected 
beyond a reasonable and proper time; would not the police power be certainly called in requisi- 
tion to prevent a far greater injury to the public than would result from the neglect to remove a 
like quantity of the ordinary offal of a city? Both the one and the other being interred with the 
same care and precaution, there can be no question but the enlightened opinion of the medical 
profession would be that the proximity of the buried dead would be far more hurtful to the living 
than of the buried offal. The conclusion necessarily follows that if the removal and disposition of 
the latter is properly under the police power, that of the former is also, from a necessity equally 
inexorable." 

As in the pages preceding this extract principles are discussed and authorities cited, so in 
those which follow the discussions and citations are continued at length, at the close of which 
the author indulges in these reflections: 

"In thus endeavoring to settle the question under discussion, we have appealed to the laws of 
the country and the decisions of courts. But there is a power beyond them all, which must ulti- 
mately decide it, and which no resistance of the company can defeat. Providence, who rules the 
nations of the earth, and the destinies of its mighty cities, indicates the development and growth 
of Chicago to an extent in the future which will demand as a necessity the ultimate removal of 
Graceland Cemetery. In 1840 the population of this city was about 5,000; in 1850, 30,000; in 
i860, 109,000, and in 1870 300,000. Commencing this wonderful growth in the first decade of 
these thirty years by the force merely of her geographical position, without a single railroad or 
canal, and even at the commencement of the second decade, in 1S50, having but one railroad, 



UNITED STATES BlOGRAPfUCAL DICTIONARY. ^7 

fifty miles in lengtli, what now (1871), are we to expect oi the future growth of Chicago, with her 
railroads branching in every direction, and extending to the shores of both oceans ? Look at the 
end of the next thirty years, at what will be the dimensions of this wonderful city, and see this 
township of Lake View as it will then be, — a densely populated part of the city, with avenues 
running parallel with the lake from its southern to its northern limits, traversed by cross streets 
innumerable from the lake to the river, all paved and built up by a crowded population. Where 
then will be Graceland Cemetery? If you wish to see its inevitable fate written in the history of 
Chicago, read it now as you look at the crumbling walls of yonder cemetery, on this same lake 
shore, giving way before that irresistible providence which demands its sacrifice in the growth of 
our great city. So must it be with Graceland. Let not the company, therefore, seek to include 
in their burial grounds another acre, where the sacred remains of the dead are to rest in their 
graves but for a season. Next to the death of the living, no sight is so sad as to see the dead 
disturbed ; no greater obligation we owe them than to see them borne to some sequestered spot, 
far from the busy scenes of life, where the hand of affection may adorn their graves, and where 
they may sleep in peace the long sleep of death, with naught to disturb their dust till their Maker 
bids them rise." 



B 



ISAAC L. ELLWOOD. 

DE KAI.B. 
ARB fencing is an invention of very recent origin. The first patents for it were taken out 
by William D. Hunt, of New York, and L. B. Smith, of Ohio, no longer ago than 1867. 
Shortly afterward a patent was issued to Michael Kelley, of New York. The barb wire manu- 
factured under these several patents met with some degree of success in certain localities, but 
was very much restricted, because there were serious objections to all the styles of fencing made 
under these patents. At length Joseph F. Glidden, a practical farmer, living in a prairie 
country, where timber is scarce, after studying carefully the subject of barb fencing, invented a 
style which was a great improvement on anything of the kind in the market. The western farm- 
ers saw at once its great merits, and it soon became very popular. Among the parties who 
were prompt to discover the superior w-orth of the Glidden style is the gentleman whose name 
heads this sketch. 

Isaac Leonard Ellwood is a son of Abraham and Sarah (Delong) Ellwood, and was born in 
Cherry Valley, New York, August 23, 1833. Isaac's mental drill in youth was limited to a dis- 
trict school, and mainly to the rudimentary branches. He was a clerk in a store until eighteen 
years of age, when he went to California, where he remained between three and four years, min- 
ing the first year, and filling a clerkship at Sacramento the rest of the time. His trip to the 
Pacific slope was not fruitless, and on his return in 1855 he opened a store in De Kalb, and was 
engaged in selling hardware, stoves, etc., for about twenty years, being a successful merchant. 
In 1874 he formed a partnership with Mr. Glidden, and the firm of Glidden and Ellwood com- 
menced the manufacture of steel barb fencing, beginning on a very moderate scale. Their style 
of fencing met with great public favor, and their business increased rapidly. 

A few years ago there was a demand for a size of wire not previously in much demand, and 
this led the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company, of Worcester, Massachusetts, to 
inquire into the cause, and catching a glimpse of the future, they purchased, in 1876, Mr. Glid- 
den's interests in his business and patents, and formed a partnership with the subject of this 
sketch, who had already a half interest in the patents as well as the business, the new firm taking 
the name of I. L. Ellwood and Company. In 1880 this company put up its brick factory, sixtv 
by three hundred and eighty feet, and two stories high, being now filled with workman, who are 
turning out an article which meets with the promptest sales all over prairie land, and which is 
uneclipsed for excellence on this continent. The warehouse is ninety by one hundred and sixtv 
feet, office forty by fifty, and every building, including engine and boiler house, is built of brick. 



38 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

It is the largest barb-wire factory in the world. And this immense enterprise has been built up 
solely on the merits of its brand of barb wire. The article made is just what the manufacturers 
promise to make. Nothing but new ingot steel wire is used, and every yard of the wire put in 
the market is an advertisement of the merits of the work. 

The senior member of the firm of I. L Ellwood and Company is a man of great business tact 
and energy, yet quite modest and unpretentious, never pushing himself forward. We believe he 
has held no civil office, and although a Royal Arch Mason, he accepts no post in the order. He 
votes the republican ticket, and leaves the honors of political preferment to parties whose ambi- 
tion lies in that direction. He is one of the best business men in De Kalb county, being self- 
educated, always self-reliant, and has paddled his own canoe until he has made a landing on the 
shore of the Fortunate Isles. He married a daughter of William A. Miller, of De Kalb, in 1859, 
and has five children living, and lost one son in early youth. 



HON. JOHN M. SCOTT, 

BLOOM INGTON. 

JOHN MILTON SCOTT, one of the judges of the supreme court, and now chief-justice of the 
same, is a son of Samuel and Nancy (Briggs) Scott, and was born near Belleville, Saint Clair 
county, Illinois, August 21, 1823. His parents, who were of Scotch-Irish extraction, immigrated 
from Virginia to Illinois, while this state was a part of the northwestern territory, and settled in 
Saint Clair county. He finished his education under a private tutor, acquiring a fair knowledge 
of the Latin language, and becoming quite proficient in the higher mathematics, toward which his 
taste seemed to incline. With the profession of law early in view he commenced teaching a 
school in order to supply himself with funds. At length he entered the office of Kinney and Bis- 
sell, Belleville, then among the leading lawyers in southern Illinois, paying at first particular 
attention to the elementary books of the science, and learning from them that system of sound 
legal philosophy which later characterized his practice and teachings. Being admitted to the 
bar in 1848, he settled in McLean county, at the bar of which were then practicing such distin- 
guished legal lights as Judge David Davis, Abraham Lincoln, John T. Stuart and General Gridley; 
and in a very short time, as is often the case with active and brilliant young lawyers in growing 
western towns, he had a highly remunerative practice. 

In 1849 he was elected school commissioner of the county, serving in that position with energy 
and great efficiency until 1852, at which date he was elected judge of the county court, having 
meantime been elected also city attorney for the city of Bloomington. 

We learn from the "Biographical Encyclopedia of Illinois " (Philadelphia, 1875), that from 
his early youth Mr. Scott had been an ardent politician, he being at that time of the whig school; 
that on the demise of that party he joined the republican, and from natural impulse was an active 
worker in its interests, when it had neither favor to expect nor patronage to bestow. In the 
exciting canvass of 1856, when the young republican party put its first presidential candidate in 
the field, the gallant Colonel John C. Fremont, Mr. Scott was the candidate of his party for state 
senator, and although in a then strongly democratic district, he made a brave fight, fearlessly 
avowing his anti-slavery sentiments, and greatly reducing the usual democratic majority. 

When, in 1862, Judge Davis was appointed by President Lincoln to the supreme bench of the 
United States, our subject, with unexpected unanimity on the part of the bar of the circuit, was 
invited to become a candidate for the seat thus made vacant. The sentiment of the bar proved to 
be but a reflex of the will of the people, and he was elected without opposition. After serving out 
the unexpired term of the eminent jurist, now acting vice-president of the LTnited States, Mr. 
Scott was reelected without opposition, and he discharged the duties of circuit judge until August 
1870. According to the new constitution adopted the month before (July 2), the state was now 
divided into seven judicial districts; the supreme court was increased from three to seven judges; 





^yL^ L^-d J/C-^M^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 4I 

and this change made it necessary to elect four persons, living in the districts not having a repre- 
sentation in the supreme court, as organized under the old constitution. The district in which 
Judge Scott resided was very large, extending from the Illinois River on the west, to the Wabash 
on the east, and as far north as Liv'Vigston, and as far south as Coles county, having in it many 
lawyers distinguished for their great legal attainments and integrity of character ; but our sub- 
je,Ct,was.'2r,foi'iue" earliest mentioned for the office of judge of the supreme court, and being 
warmly seconded by the bar, when the election came off in August, 1870, he was chosen for the 
third district, for the term of nine years. So creditably has he filled that high office that at the 
end of his first term he was reelected with great unanimity. Both as a lawyer and jurist he has 
distinguished himself, and was the first native of Illinois who was honored with a seat on the 
supreme bench of the state. His name, according to the "Encyclopedia," first appears in the "3d 
Gilman," and his published opinions commencing with the "54th Illinois,'' continue down to the 
present time. By allotment made by the judges, his term as chief-justice commenced at the June 
term, 1875, and his first term ended with the June term, 1876, and he is now chief-justice. 

His administration has been uniformly marked by commendable dignity, and the most scru- 
pulous regard to justice. "He looks upon the law as a system of social and political philosophy, 
and not as a collection of arbitrary rules founded on technical distinction. His style as a judge 
is clear, accurate and concise, and in reading his opinions no doubt is left on the mind as to the 
point decided. His language is chaste and forcible, while his composition is a model of judicial 
statement." 

REV. NATHAN A. REED, D.D. 

SAND IVICII. 

NATHAN ADAMS REED, pastor of the Baptist Church at Sandwich, De Kalb county, is a 
son of Nathan and Nancy (Humphries) Reed, dating his birth at Lynn, Massachusetts, Jan- 
uary 20, 1S15. He is of English descent on his father's side, and Scotch on his mother's. Although 
a messenger of peace, he belongs to a fighting family. Something like a dozen of his branch of 
the Reeds in the old country, were in Cromwell's army ; in this country a few of them went in the 
French and Indian war ; his grandfather, Samuel Reed, was in the revolutionary army ; all the 
sons of Samuel Reed were in the second war with the mother country, and our subject had four 
sons in the civil war. 

Mr. Reed prepared for college at Andover, Massachusetts, and was a graduate of Brown Uni- 
versity, Providence, Rhode Island, in 1838. Among his classmates were Rev. E. G. Robinson, 
D.D., now president of Brown University, Alexander Burgess, now bishop of Ouincy, and sev- 
eral persons who have since occupied seats on the bench, and others who have been in congress. 
Mr. Reed was ordained at Wakefield, Rhode Island, September, 1838 ; married Sarah B., daughter 
of Rev. B. C. Grafton, of Wickford, Rhode Island, the same month, and was settled at Wakefield 
the next week, remaining there as pastor of the First South Kingston Baptist Church one year. 
His pastorates since that time have been in succession, at Suffield, Connecticut ; Bedford and 
Wappinger's Falls, New York ; Winchester, near Boston, Massachusetts ; Wakefield (again) ; Bris- 
tol, Rhode Island ; Middletown, Orange county. New York ; Zanesville, Ohio (eight years); Grand 
Rapids, Michigan ; Hamilton, Ohio ; Muscatine, Iowa, and Centralia, Amboy and Sandwich, Illi- 
nois. While pastor at Muscatine, to his great surprise, he had con-ferred upon him the honorary 
degree of doctor of divinity, by the state university of Iowa, an institution decidedly chary in its 
distribution of such titles. In this case there was no harm done, as Doctor Reed never had any 
airs to put on, and is equally cordial with the high and low, if there is any such distinction among 
Christian people. He has a fine flow of animal spirits, a whole-souled sociality which includes 
everybody, and he is well calculated to make friends, and then lead them to Christ. Revivals 
have attended his preaching in many places where he has been pastor, and he has led tuindreds 
of rejoicing young converts down into the baptismal waters, 
5 



4- UNITED STATES BTOGRA PIIICAL DICTIONARY. 

The doctor has a good knowledge of the languages in which the Bible was written, and while 
scholarly, he is also a plain, practical and instructive preacher. His expository sermons are very 
instructive; and his pulpit efforts generally are caiculated to awaken the conscience, as well as 
enlighten the understanding. By his marriage, already mei1tk)ned, Doctor Reed has had eight 
chddren, only four of whom are now living. Among the deceased &v^twsi sons who were in the 
civil war. Major Benjamin C. G. Reed was killed while gallantly leading his regTOieu; 'n q rharoe 
at Murfreesborough, Tennessee? Lieutenant Edward O. G. Reed was wounded, but recoVered and 
was government store keeper in Cincinnati for fifteen years, holding that post at the time of his 
death in June 1881. The eldest son of all, Colonel N. A. Reed, Jr., is managing editor of the Chi- 
cago Morning News f Samuel O. K. is at Fort Collins, Colorado, improving his soldier's claim ■ 
Joseph F. O. IS a commercial traveler, with headquarters at Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Mary 

MinonV"llLo'is ''''"^' '' '^' ""'^^ "^ ^''- ^'"''' ^^ ^^"""^' ^^''°' °^ ''^" ^^P''^' Church at 

Doctor Reed was for ten .years a trustee of the Dennison University, Granville, Ohio, and held 
the same relation for a few years to the Central University of Iowa, located at Pella He has 
.■■crved as moderator of a great many associations, and other religious meetings, and has had all 
the. blushing honors of that kind which any one need crave, and more, we veifture to say, t.um he 

HON. LEVI NORTH. 

KEU'ANEE. 
^HE gentleman whose name we have placed at the head „f this sketch is one of the oldest 

nineteen vears of ^P-e H. 1 f u .' ^ '"°''^ °'' ^^^^ '^^'^h season until he was 

obt d Tfa r Engl sh educ "or'Nlr n"'" "'°°' ''"^ "'"^^^^' ^"^' ^^^^^ ^'^ -" -'--' 
undertook to acqie a know d^e of p rifor;' "^t" "r' ''' " ^'°" ^'^'"^^" >'^^^^ "^ ''■^^' 
aid of instruction, for at that Um'e none -to'bhal wU^: r^' T'' ''" '^' ^^^''"" '''' 

means to e.xpend on traveling and tuitio He M u "^ '^"'^"'^"- ^"^ ^^ ^^^ "° 

by slow degLs acquired cofsrderab .Tp ofict. Tn tl^t^' ^^^ ''^T '' '^ '''"'' ^"'^ 
for about five years as an artist. Within this time he found "^ "^""^ ''" ''^'' 

many of the most intelligent people and had n ^h f • oPP°>-tun.ty to be in the society of 

time he turned his atteuLn to study"' law think ■;" '^iT''- °"""^ "^^ '""^'" P^" °^ 'h^ 
P.ine his mind, but with no thoug fof fv^r prac tcinfl' J" F J' '^ '■'' '"""'^^"'^^ ^"^ ^•^'^'- 
he read law with John W. Cotton and fin dlv tn T^^ ^^^ ^"^ '"' ''''^' '"'° ^°""' V*^™""' 

ted to the bar. ' '"• ' '" ''^5, ^vhen twenty-four years old, he was admit- 

Mr. North practiced a short time at Mount Vernon- came f„Tir ■■ o 
year in Peoria, and then settled in Princeton r °" ' ^'^'"'^ '" ^"'"^'s ,n 1847 ; resided nearly a 

several local offices. In i860 he moved tK "'" T""'"'' ''''''''' '" '"^ '«"- P'^^^ ^e held 
for a do.en or more years, h was quTt uct^^ult; Ts )'' '''"'' "^^^^ '''' '''-'' ^"^ -'--' 
" North's Probate Practic;," the first work of thU ^^ P^-^^^^^-"- Here, in 1874, he completed 
Illinois. °'^ "^ '^' '^'"d having any value adapted to the laws of 

Mr. North never subordinates the man tr^ tu 1 

his neighbors for the sake of businesT He s a n7" \ ""'"' ''"^^'' '° '"' "P ^'"^^ ^-°"g 
litigation, and thinks the lawyer should .'' ^.P^^'^7^'^^'' "'here justice can be done without 

yer Should honor his profession rather than the profession honor 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION/IKY. 43 

him. He is of a judicial turn of mind, and considers justice the true aim rather than successful 
advocacy. 

In the autumn of 1870 he was elected to the lower house of the general assembly, and during 
the next two vears he represented Henry county in that body. It was a very important period in 
the legislative history of the state, it being necessary to adapt the statutes to the new constitution, 
and make many important changes in other respects, and to call an extra session on account of 
the Chicago fire, October, 187 i. The consequence was that Mr. North had to attend the regular 
session, an adjourned session, and two extra sessions, and his legislative labors kept him from 
attending courts a year and a half. He is one of the few who held that no one could honestly 
accept an office whose duties he was unwilling, even at a sacrifice, to perform. The best work of 
Mr. North in the legislature was done in the bill establishing the house of correction in Chicago, 
and the penitentiary bill, he being one of the penitentiary committee and one of the foremost 
members in defeating " ring " measures. In 1867 the Buckmaster and Casey crowd refused to 
proceed any further under former arrangements with them for maintaining the penitentiary, so 
at an extra session, a law was passed establishing a system of working the convicts under the 
supervision and for the benefit of the state. At no former time had the penitentiary been self- 
supporting, and great brutality had been practiced upon the prisoners. The new plan was 
humane, but was run at great loss to the state. Politicians were, therefore, growing uneasy about 
republican extravagance. The present plan was devised by the joint committee of the two 
houses, and at once passed by the senate; but party lines were drawn in the house, and other 
schemes were presented, two of which were embodied in the Hough and the Buckmaster bills 
which were substantially alike. Each was intended to catch a few republican votes and all the 
opposition support. And it was discovered that the authors of these plans had agreed that which- 
ever plan, if either, was adopted, they were to be partners in the job. Mr. North figured the 
probable expense of the 1,439 prisoners, with probable increase, at Joliet, would not be less than 
$58,000 each year, and would probably reach $75,000 if either of these two bills were adopted. 
The friends of the respective measures were active, and nearly equal in numbers. The time came 
for the house committee to report. Two republicans had gone over to the opposition, and two 
were attending sick families at home, and the opposition had the majority, and were determined 
to report Buckmaster's bill. And here Mr. North and his fellow republican members of the com- 
mittee refused to go into committee for several days, notwithstanding the house ordered a report. 
At last, after much censure, he made a statement showing the facts, and the matter was laid over 
till the other members arrived, and the senate bill was reported, and at an extra session passed by 
three majority. The saving to the state in ten years he estimated at $1,000,000. He also led suc- 
cessfully in the fight against proposed high salaries, about twenty per cent above the present for 
state officers. His speech on that occasion gave him a large influence with those in favor of mod- 
erate but just expenditures. He zealously advocated the law requiring saloon keepers to give 
bonds to pay damages caused by selling or giving away intoxicating liquors, and making them 
liable to wives, children, etc., of persons made drunk by them, for all injuries to persons, property or 
means of support. He also caused an amendment to be made in the statute relating to testamen- 
tary guardians, providing that wills of fathers creating such guardians could not operate to 
deprive the mother during her life of the custody and tuition of their children, without her consent. 

Mr. North was originally a democrat; joined the liberty party in 1843; voted for James G. 
Birney in 1844, and was a free soiler in 1848 and 1854, and has been a republican since there was 
such a party. While in Ohio he sometimes took the stump, and did valiant service for the cause 
of the downtrodden slave, but of late years has resorted to the press through which to express his 
political sentiments. Mr. North is a firm republican, yet independent enough to refuse to vote 
for an unworthy nominee of his party. He is an independent thinker on all subjects, and asks 
no man to furnish him with opinions. He is a member of no social organization or sect, and will 
not be responsible for the acts of others, nor allow others to dictate his conduct. 

The first wife of Mr. North was Miss Laura Johnson, of Monroe county, Ohio, to whom he 



, , UNITED STATES BrOGRAPIlICAL DICTIONARV. 

was married September i8, 1848. She died in 1S52. By her he had one daughter, now the wife 
of Datican L. Murchison, of Wethersfield. He married his second wife, whose maiden name was 
Charlotte C. Strong, in 1853. They have had four sons, all now living but the eldest, Milo, who 
died at twenty-four years of age. Foster and Arthur Tappan are students in the Illinois Indus- 
trial University, Champaign, and Charles Kelsey is at home. 



HON. THOMPSON W. McNEELY. 

PETERSBURGH. 

THOMPSON WARE McNEELY, a prominent member of the bar in central Illinois, is a son 
of Robert T. McNeely, a native of Kentucky, and Ann Maria (Ware) McNeely, of the same 
state. The progenitor of the McNeely family in this country was from the North of Ireland, and 
was of Scotch-Irish blood. The Wares were of English descent. Thompson was born in Jack- 
sonville, Illinois, October 5, 1835. He lost his mother in 1839, and soon afterward the family 
came to Menard county. Robert McNeely was a carpenter in early life, and afterward a mer- 
chant. He is still living, being in his seventy-eighth year, and is a substantia], much-respected 
citizen, living with his son in the city of Petersburgh. 

The subject of this sketch spent one year at Jubilee College, Peoria ; four years at Lombard 
University, Galesburgh ; was graduated with the degree of bachelor of arts in 1856, and received 
the degree of master of arts three years later. He studied law in Petersburgh ; was admitted to 
the bar in 1857, teaching school one term while studying his profession ; attended the law depart- 
ment of the University of Kentucky, Louisville, and was graduated in March, 1859. He soon 
rose to the front rank at the county bar, and has been steadily growing for more than a score of 
years. He has a great deal of criminal practice, in which he has been quite successful. 

In 1861 Mr. McNeely represented Menard and Cass counties in the constitutional convention, 
and although then a young man, he took an honorable position among the legal minds in that body. 

In 1868 his democratic constituents in the old ninth district, composed of Menard, Cass, Mason, 
Fulton, McDonough, Schuyler, Brown and Pike counties, sent him to the national house of rep- 
resentatives, and returned him in 1870, he serving from March 4, 1869 to March 4, 1873. He was 
on the committees on education, labor and weights and measures. In 1879 he was chairman of 
the democratic state central commit'.ee. 



HON. GEORGE H. LOCEY. 

LA SALLE. 

GEORGE HARVEY LOCEY, lawyer and ex-judge of the city court of La Salle, is a native 
of Tioga county, New York, and was born in the town of Candor, June 29, 1834. His parents 
are Isaac V. Locey, farmer and bank director, and Susan (Hart) Locey, both still living in Tioga 
county. George was educated mainly at Lima, New York, where he prepared for and went 
through Genesee College, being a graduate of the class of 1856. While pursuing his college course, 
he taught some in the Wesleyan Seminary, an older institution than the college; and on receiving 
the degree of bachelor of arts, he went to Tennessee, and taught in the literary department of 
the University of Nashville. A year or two later he became principal of the male and female 
academy at Goodletsville, same state, holding that position when the civil war began. In 186 1 he 
returned to the North. While teaching in Tennessee he gave his leisure time to the study of the 
law, and was admitted to practice at Nashville in i860. On reaching Illinois, he opened an office 
at Dixon, where he practiced between one and two years, and in 1863 settled in La Salle, continu- 
ing the practice of his profession. He was elected judge of the city court; held that office about 
two years, and then resigned. Latterly he has given considerable attention to mining, having 



United statRs biographical dictionarw 45 

a mine of his own on the Rock Island road, ten miles west of La Salle, with which his office is 
connected by telephone, by which medium of communication he works the mine. His legal busi- 
ness is limited to office work, and is largely consultation. 

Mr. Locey is a well read and sound lawyer, and while in full practice, made a success in his 
profession; but as in La Salle more money can be made by mining than in the law, and as Mr. 
Locey is very much like the rest of mankind, he gives the most attention to that calling which 
yields the largest returns in mint drops, as one of Dickens' characters calls the yellow boys. 

Our subject is not so fully absorbed in money making as not to leave any time to devote to 
the interests of his adopted home. At one period he served for three years as president of the 
board of education, and did all he could to raise the standard of the public schools. He is a man 
of culture, and of a progressive disposition, and if he was backed up in his efforts to elevate the 
tone of education, he must have been successful. He has also been mayor of the city, and is one 
of the leading men. 

Mr. Locey is a Knight Templar, and held at one time the office of high priest of St. John's 
Chapter. He was joined in marriage, September i, 1859, with Miss Jennie Ogden, daughter of 
General Isaac B. Ogden, of Tioga county, New York, and they have one son, Edmund T., aged 
seventeen years. He is being educated mainly under the eye of his father. 



T 



HON. THOMAS B. CABEEN. 

KEITHSBURG. 

HOMAS BOYD CABEEN, banker and land owner, is a grandson of Thomas Cabeen. of 
Ireland, who had seven sons and two daughters, all of whom came to America, and settled 
in different states. One of these sons was Samuel Cabeen, the father of our subject, who was 
born in Antrim, Ireland, in 1788; crossed the ocean in 1808; was a clerk for an older brother in 
Bristol, Pennsylvania; married, February 14, 1815, Elizabeth P. Wright, a native of Bucks county, 
Pennsylvania; moved that year to Muskingum county, Ohio; immigrated to Mercer county, Illi- 
nois, in 1836, and lived in Ohio Grove township until his death, in 1S56, His widow died in 
1874, aged eighty-four years. 

Thomas B. Cabeen was born in Union township, Muskingum county, Ohio, December 15, 
1815; received an ordinary English education in Ohio, mainly in private schools; came with the 
family to Mercer county; learned the carpenter's trade, and worked at it for several years, doing 
some of the first work of the kind in Keithsburg, in 1845. The first court house in Mercer county 
was built in 1839, by Mr. Cabeen and Abram B. Sheriff, they receiving $1,400 for the job. It was 
located at Millersburgh, then the county seat. During this period our subject was also opening, 
in Ohio Grove township, a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which he sold in 1858 to his 
uncle, Richard Cabeen, who still owns it. 

Since 1845 our subject has been a resident of Keithsburg, and a year or two later became a 
clerk for Noble and Gayle, general merchants, and was holding that post when, in 1848, he was 
elected clerk of the circuit court, an office which he held until 1856. In 1862 his constituents in 
Mercer and Henderson counties elected him to the legislature, where he served one term, being 
chairman of the committee on miscellaneous business, and a member of two or three other com- 
mittees. For a long period Mr. Cabeen has been largely interested in real estate, and wild as 
well as improved lands, of which he has between three thousand and four thousand acres, situ- 
ated in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. He is one of the most reliable, straightforward and success- 
ful business men in the village. He helped to organize the Farmers' National Bank of Keithsburg, 
in the spring of 1871, and from that date has held the office of vice president. Since January i, 
1880, when the bank surrendered its charter, it has been a private corporation. It is a stanch 
institution, with a capital of $100,000. Its president is William Drury, who has a sketch in this 
book. It is now called the Farmers' Bank of Keithsburg. 



46 



IKVrTED STATES BrOGRAPHICAl DICTIONARY. 



Mr. Cabeen has alwavs voted the democratic ticket; is a Universalist in religious belief, and 
is a member of Robert Burns Lodge, Number 113, of the Illinois Chapter, Number 17, and of the 
Galesburgh Commandery, Number 8. His wife was Miss Lucy Wilson, daughter of William and 
Sarah (McHerron) Wilson, she being a native of Danville, Pennsylvania. They were married 
June 26, 1849, and have had three children: William S., merchant, married to Miss Lou Demp- 
ster; Sarah E., wife of Tom A. Marshall, druggist, Keithsburgh, and Boyd W., who died in 
infancy. 

MAURICE J. CHASE, M.D. 

GALESBURGH. 

MAURICE JAMES CHASE, thirty-two years a medical practitioner, belongs to the old New 
Hampshire family of Chases. The town of Cornish, where he was born, March 4, 1826, 
was ceded to his great-great-grandfather some time during the first half of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, when what is now Sullivan county was little more than a wilderness, inhabited by Indians 
and wild beasts. Benjamin C. Chase, the father of our subject, was a second cousin of the late 
Salmon P. Chase, chief-justice of the supreme court of" the United States, and a native of Cornish. 
Benjamin C. Chase married Eliza Royce, a native of Claremont, New Hampshire, and Maurice 
was the fourth child in a family of five children. He was educated at Kimball Union Academy, 
Plainville, New Hampshire; studied medicine at Franklin, same state, with Doctor L. M. Knight; 
attended two courses of lectures at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, one course at 
Woodstock, Vermont, and received his diploma from the latter institution in 1850. Doctor Chase 
practiced the allopathic system one year in Boston, Massachusetts, two years in Truro, same state, 
and one year at Newport, Indiana, and then changed to the homoeopathic method of treatment. 
He practiced one year in Muncie, Indiana, three years in Macomb, Illinois, and in 1859 settled in 
Galesburgh, where he is meeting with marked success. He loves his profession, is thoroughly 
wedded to it, and ignores everything likely to distract the attention or absorb valuable time. He 
has nothing to do with politics except to vote, being a republican; accepts no civil offices, and 
connects himself with no secret societies. Being of a studious turn of mind, he gives his leisure 
time to fresh medical works and periodicals. He uses neither tea nor coffee, and in his practice 
makes no use of alcoholic liquors. His manners are those of a polished gentleman. 

Doctor Chase was married March 15, 1849, to Miss Lucy F. Crocker, of Falmouth, Massachu- 
setts, and they buried two children in infancy, one being killed by a fall, and have two living. 
Ella is the wife of Arthur Conger, post trader at Fort Union, New Mexico, and Henry M. is a 
clerk for his brother-in-law. Doctor and Mrs. Chase are members of the First Church of Christ 
(Congregational), and prominent factors in Galesburgh social circles. 



SAMUEL W, RAYMOND. 

OTTAWA. 



O AMUEL WARD RAYMOND, treasurer of La Salle county, and a resident here for fifty-five 
O years, was born in Woodstock, Vermont, May 8, 1815, his parents being Barnabas and Mary 
(Mayo) Raymond. His father, a carpenter by trade, and a soldier in the second war with the 
mother country, was born in Middleborough, Massachusetts, and his grandfather, John Raymond, 
a soldier in the French and Indian war, was of Huguenot blood, the family fleeing from France 
to England, and thence to the United States. The Mayos are of Welsh lineage. 

Young Raymond was educated in the district schools of his native town; was on a farm until 
fifteen years of age, and subsequently spent seven years in a store at Morrisville, Vermont. He 
came into this county June i, 1837, making his home at first in Peru, and for two years was 
engaged with an engineering party on different roads under the old internal improvement svstem. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 47 

Afterward he ran a ferry part of the time, and was keeping a hotel in 1847 when he was elected 
recorder of the county, and moved from Peru to Ottawa. He held that office two years (1847 to 
1849), and was then county clerk for eight years. After being out four years he was elected to the 
same county office, holding it four years more, when he retired and went into the grain business. 
In 1 87 1 he was elected county treasurer, and has held that office for twelve years. No safer, better 
man could be trusted with the finances of the county, and for aught we know Mr. Raymond may 
die in that office. During the forty-five years that he has been in the county he has been in public 
life more than half of them, and has discharged the duties of the several offices which he has held 
to the satisfaction of his constituents. He is a democrat, of independent proclivities, and very 
popular, as his history would indicate, with all parties, La Salle being of late years a republican 
county. 

Mr. Raymond is an Odd-Fellow, past noble grand, and was at one time chief patriarch of 
the encampment. 

July 24, 1849, Mr. Raymond married, at Peru, Miss Floretta Lewis, a native of Dryden, 
Tompkins county. New York, and they have eleven children, having never had a death in the 
family. William, the eldest son, is married and living in Ottawa; Frances is the wife of A. M. 
Hoffman, Ottawa; Susan E. is the wife of John A. Carton, banker, Ackley, Iowa, and Eliza C. is 
the wife of Samuel A. Reed, attorney-at-law, Eldora, Iowa. The others, Mary H., Charles H., 
Emma, Samuel W., Jr., Floretta, Carrie and Walter, are at home or living in Ottawa. Mr. Ray- 
mond, as is here seen, has reared a large family, and he has given all his children a fair education, 
two or three of the youngest still pursuing their studies. He has stock in the First National Bank 
of Ottawa, and is in comfortable circumstances, his accumulations being the result of his own 
industry. The rectitude of his public life, his social qualities and his neighborly kindnesses have 
greatly endeared him to the citizens of Ottawa and tu the people generally of La Salle county. 



JOHN I. SMITH, M.D. 

SHANNON. 

JOHN ISAAC SMITH, son of Rev. John Smith, and Margaret (Blackburn) Smith, was born 
near Chatham, county of Kent, Canada West, now Ontario, June 29, 1843. His father and 
mother were also natives of that province. When he was two years old the family came to Illinois, 
and settled in Stephenson county, where the mother died in 1859. His father died in October, 
1879, after having been a Methodist preacher between thirty and forty years. John was taught to 
read and write by a younger sister, and was kept on his father's farm until nineteen years of age, 
when, in August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in the 92d regiment, Illinois infantry, and served 
three years. He was shot in the left elbow at the capture of Atlanta, Georgia, leaving him with 
an anchylosed joint. While laid up he read medicine, and as soon as he could be of service, he 
was placed in charge of three wards of the Mound City, Illinois, Hospital, remaining there until 
mustered out in the autumn of 1865. 

The next year he entered the college at Fulton, Whiteside county, and studied for two years; 
subsequently read medicine with Doctor F. W. Byers, of Lena, Stephenson county; attended lec- 
tures at Rush Medical College, Chicago; lost his little library and his apparatus in the great fire 
of October, 187 1, and received his diploma from Rush in January, 1872. Early in the following 
month he settled at Shannon, Carroll county; entered at once upon a liberal practice, and has 
made a brilliant success in his profession, his rides not unfrequently extending from fifteen to 
twenty miles, and sometimes even thirty from his home, and that too, in a thickly settled country, 
with half a dozen villages and small cities within twelve or fourteen miles of Shannon. The doc- 
tor has an unusually choice medical library, of which he makes the best of use, and consequently 
is a growing man. He pays a great deal of attention to the study of surgery, of which he seems 
to be very fond and in which he excels, although he makes a specialty of no one branch of medi- 



.g UNITED STATES RIOGRArHICAL DICTIONARY. 

cal science. He has repeatedly operated with complete success in strangulated hernia, hare lip, 
talipes, tracheotomy, lithotomy, and other ditficult cases of surgery, and his uniform success has 
extended his reputation over a wide district. The doctor has more business than any one man 
should think of attending to, and will be obliged, at no distant day, to lessen his rides or they 
will lessen his days. He never has less than five horses, and usually keeps from seven to nine. 

Doctor Smith married in June, 1877, Miss Wealthy Ann Taber, daughter of Oliver P. Taber, 
of Lanark, Illinois, and we believe they have no issue. 



EDWIN C. ALLEN. 

OTTAWA. 

EDWIN CUTLER ALLEN, banker, and mayor of the city of Ottawa, is a son of Asa K. and 
Lucy (Cutler) Allen, and was born in the city of Rochester, New York, in November, 1820. 
His grandfather, Philip Allen, a revolutionary soldier, was a native of Vermont. The Cutlers 
were a Massachusetts family. Edwin received a high school or academic education in his native 
city; came thence as far west as Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he was a clerk in a bank. From 
Michigan he pushed westward into Wisconsin, and was in mercantile life at Allen's Grove (named 
for his father and uncles) until 1852, when he came into La Salle county, and was cashier of a 
bank at Peru for three or four years. 

In 1856 Mr. Allen settled in Ottawa and commenced the banking business in the firm of 
Eames, Allen and Company. In 1865 the National City Bank of Ottawa was organized and 
opened, and he is the vice president and principal manager of that stanch institution. He is one 
of the best financiers of the city. 

Mr. Allen was city treasurer for several years, and is now (18S2) at the head of the municipal- 
ity, making a public-spirited and efficient chief magistrate. He is a republican, and a man of a 
good deal of influence in his party. Many years ago he was an active and prominent Odd-Fellow, 
but since coming to Ottawa has rarely attended a meeting of the order. 

The wife of Mayor Allen was Mary C. Champion, a native of Providence, Rhode Island, their 
marriage bearing date July 20, 1845. They have four children, Katie, Edith C, Emma and Edwin 
C, Jr. The family attend the Conj'regational Church, of which the parents are members and 
liberal supporters. 

HON. REUBEN ELLWOOD. 

SYCAMORE. 

THE subject of this biographical notice is one of the most enterprising citizens of Sycamore, 
and was born in Minden, Montgomery county, New York, February 17, 182 1, his parents 
being Abraham and Sarah Ellwood. Reuben finished his education at the Cherry Valley Acad- 
emy, and in early life engaged extensively in raising broom corn and in the manufacture of 
brooms at Glenville, Schenectady county, where he remained for eight or nine years. 

In 1857 Mr. Ellwood came to Illinois, and settled at Sycamore, De Kalb county, engaging in 
the hardware trade, dealing also, at the same time, in real estate. About 1S70 he engaged in the 
manufacture of agricultural implements, believing that such industries would aid in the devel- 
opment of the city of Sycamore as well as arerue to his own pecuniary interests. In 1S75 he 
commenced to build what is now known as the factory of the R. Ellwood Manufacturing Com- 
pany, in which he invested $50,000, and which was completed in October, 1875, and gives employ- 
ment to about one hundred and twenty workmen. 

Mr. Ellwood was a prominent politician of the republican stripe while a resident of the Empire 
State, being a member of the board of supervisors while living at Glenville, a member of the 
legislature in 1851, and a presidential elector in 1856 on the Fremont and Dayton ticket. Since 



UNITED STATES BIOGKATinCAL DICTIONARY. 5 I 

coming to this state tie has been equally as active as a politician, and his republican friends in 
De Kalb county have not been slow to recognize his fitness for high official positions, he being in 
1868 their unanimous choice for representative to congress. In 1882 he was nominated for that 
office and carried every county in his district by a large majority. He is a practical business man 
and will make a valuable member of congress. 

He was appointed United States assessor in 1866, and held that post till the office was abol- 
ished. He was the first mayor of Sycamore, and has been a foremost citizen in various public 
works and projects for the advancemajit of the city. Says a writer who has long known Mr. 
Ellwood: 

" He is a man of great enterprise, of positive traits of character, indomitable energy, strict 
integrity and liberal views, thoroughly identified in feelings and acts with the growth and pros- 
perity ot the town, county and state." 

The wife of Mr. Ellwood was Miss Eleanor Vedder, of Schenectady county, New York, they 
being married August 8, 1850. They have had six children, three sons and three daughters. 



D. HENRY SHELDON. 

CHICAGO. 

D HENRY SHELDON'S forefathers were stanch Puritans, and mostly settled about Massa- 
. chusetts Bay before 1634, but holding Baptist sentiments. They, with others, were ban- 
ished, and followed Roger Williams. Among the earliest proprietors, settlers and civil officials of 
Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and contiguous Rhode Island, were Governor Brenton, Shear- 
man, James, Rogers and Sheldon, ancestors of the subject of this sketch. It is remarkable 
that Mr. Sheldon's family claims direct descent from John Rogers, the first English martyr, who 
was burned in 1555, and kindred with the last one, John James, a Baptist clergyman, who was 
hanged in 1660. It is not surprising that the descendants of such stock should push into the 
Canaan of which their forefathers were defrauded. On leaving Leyden, the Pilgrims purposed 
to pass the colony at Manhattan, sail up the Hudson, beyond the Dutch authority, and locate 
around and beyond that outmost trading post, since called Albany; but not wishing a distinct- 
ively English colony in a country which they hoped to control, the Dutch bribed the pilot to land 
his precious charge on a distant, inhospitable shore. A hundred years later, the progenitors of 
our subject spied out the promised land, and in 1767 the Rhode Island Baptists raised the stand- 
ard of the Gospel on the Bottenkill, New York. 

In 1777 Samuel Sheldon's ample homestead on the Hudson was sheltered by the cannon of 
Fort Saratoga, which, from an eminence in the rear, aided the American troops on the opposite 
bank to force the surrender of Burgoyne. In those revolutionary struggles both the grandfathers 
of our subject were officially engaged. That was more than a hundred years ago. Fort Sara- 
toga, or Fort Clinton, as it was also called, has long since disappeared. The family still occupy 
the estate on which the old proprietor, though an extensive landholder, was among the first to 
free his slaves, and to refuse intoxicating drinks to those in his employ. 

Here the grandparents of our subject, Samuel Sheldon and Tabitha Rogers, his wife, reared a 
thrifty family. One of the sons, Caleb, married Mary, daughter of David Tefft and Ruhamah 
James, and our subject is their youngest child. John, a major of artillerv, married Jane, daughter 
of General DeRydder of the old Dutch colony. The sons occupy not only the Sheldon but the 
adjoining estate, which has been in the DeRydder family since 1685. The old Dutch and Eng- 
lish blood are merged and forgotten. Elizabeth married Moses Cowan, and their sons are mer- 
chants in New York city and Chicago. Susan became the wife of Doctor Hiram Corliss, a Nestor 
in the profession. Their daughter, Elizabeth, married Rev. Sabin McKinney. Their son. Rev. 
Albert H. Corliss, is father of Sheldon Corliss, a distinguished lawyer. William and George are 
inventors, and enjoy a more than national reputation. When the latter, George H. Corliss, of 
6 



-2 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Providence, had placed the gigantic motive power in the centennial machinery hall, at Philadel- 
phia, 1876, he affirmed, " that engine shall not move on the Lord's day." 

Of Mr. Sheldon's family are Henry A. Tefft, justice of the supreme court of California; Charles 
R. Ingalls, justice of the supreme court of New York; Lieutenant-Colonel E. F. Norton, killed in 
the battle of Chancellorsville; Lieutenant H. S. Taber, of the engineer corps. United States 
military academy, at West Point; Rev. J. A. Tefft, missionary to Africa, etc. 

D. Henry Sheldon was born March 12, 1830. An accident in boyhood rendered his father 
almost totally deaf; yet, despite the misfortune, he acquy-ed a competency. But his kind heart 
could never refuse a favor. He became surety for several friends; the financial crisis of 1837 
followed, and other men's debts swept away a fortune he could never restore. The loss of his 
wife proved a crowning calamity. 

The church in Union village, New York, was one of the oldest in the state. Its historian says: 
"Bottskill Baptist Church has never shrunk from the performance of a disagreeable duty. Here 
Rev. Nathaniel Colver, D.D., led to advanced ground on the questions of slavery and temperance. 
Rev. William Arthur, D,D., followed, and was greatly blessed. In March, 1844, he led a rejoicing 
band through the broken ice, and, without stopping, baptized more than sixty persons in the 
warmer flood beneath." Among them was the lad of whom we write. At fifteen he undertook 
to support and educate himself. He resided with his uncle. Doctor Corliss; collected accounts, 
looked after help, rose from bed at midnight to care for the physician's horses, and otherwise 
provided for board, clothing, tuition and books, while attending the academy in Union village. 
Among his school fellows was his pastor's brilliant, genial, true-hearted son, Chester A. Arthur, 
since President of the United States. 

Through a kinsman who had been a professor there, Henr\- hoped to obtain a place in the 
military academy at West Point; but the needs of home compelled him to abandon the project, 
and aid in the care of and marketing for a large farm. At seventeen he accepted a position with 
a gentleman whose extensive business included a general store. Soon becoming disgusted with 
the petty routine of the counter, he was transferred to outside duties. Discovering how most of 
the profits were made, at the end of his trial month he threw up his situation, and commenced 
some independent operations, which were successful from the first. That success w-as his misfor- 
tune, for it developed a taste for speculation. The year 1849 found him on the shores of Lake 
Michigan, where he selected and developed land with good returns, and on the death of his father 
he turned over his accumulations for the use of others, and again commenced empty-handed. 

From this time he began a new life, under the influence of one of the truest and noblest of 
Christian characters, of rare attainments and culture. March 12, 1854. he married Augusta, 
daughter of Rev. David Searle and granddaughter of Hon. James McCall, all of New York state. 
In a few months Mr. Sheldon passed an examination and entered the sophomore class of the Uni- 
versity of Rochester, and thus came under President M. B. Anderson, LL.D., so renowned for his 
marvelous power to draw out a young man's better self, and arouse him to earnest endeavor. Mr. 
Sheldon loved him as a father, spending three years in the institution, and graduating in 1S57 
with the degree of bachelor of science. 

Having prepared himself for a civil engineer, our subject went upon the Saint Paul, Minnesota 
and Pacific railroad survey, under Colonel Dale, member of congress for Delaware. The only 
vacant position on the corps, when he reached Saint Paul, was axeman, which Mr. Sheldon 
accepted, and soon rose through five grades to a position next to the colonel's. The panic of 
1857 stopped the work, and when two years later, it was resumed, Mr. Sheldon was tendered his 
previous position, but declined, as he had become a real-estate dealer in Saint Louis. 

While in Rochester Mr. Sheldon discovered much of the workings of the beneficiary system, 
l)uth in the university and the theological seminary. One painful incident suggested a future 
course. In the university was a brilliant, high-spirited, consecrated young man from the West, 
with great self reliance and perseverance, but no available friends. His funds being exhausted, 
through over e.xertion and privations nature gave way, and he crept back to die. A timely loan, 
to be paid back in after years, would have saved a man of great promise. 



UNITED STATES B/OGRAPff/CAL DICTIOXARY. 53 

This painful incident led Mr. Sheldon to consider whether he could not be of slight service tc 
this class of persons, and having some funds at his command, he lent them to empty-pursed 
promising young men. As soon as the money was returned by one, it went to another. The 
loans were at a small per cent, and without security, yet not a dollar of principal or interest was 
ever lost. Most of those thus aided are now very prominent as clergymen and educators. 

While a resident of Saint Louis, Mr. Sheldon was pressed to become interested in a neighbor- 
ing university, to which a small theological class was attached. He appreciated the need of a 
well equipped school for ministers in the Mississippi Valley, but felt that for many reasons a more 
northern locality would be desirable, and, though intending to remain in Saint Louis, in 1859 he 
made a will bequeathing $10,000 to a Baptist theological seminary for the Northwest, probably 
to be located in Chicago; and at that time, if any others entertained such a project he was not 
aware of it. 

At the breaking out. of the war, in 1861, he removed to this city. He became interested in the 
Baptist Theological Seminary, located at Chicago, which was chartered in 1865, and has been a 
member of the board of trustees and executive committee to the present time. Rev. Nathaniel 
Colyer, D.D., his father's old friend and pastor, who had done able service in Philadelphia and 
Boston, gathered, and, assisted by Professor J, C, C. Clarke, for two years instructed the first 
classes of this theological seminary. 

Mr. Sheldon executed his own will by paying over his bequest, largely augmented, and also his 
loan fund, to the infant institution. In 1867 he made his home among the groves of Kenwood, 
south of Chicago, a location very retired then, but now having all the advantages and convenien- 
ces of the citv, besides being surrounded by over a thousand acres of parks and boulevards. 

Mr. Sheldon's business has been mainly real estate. His only child, Verna Evangeline, is in 
Wellesley College, Massachusetts. 



JO.SEPH STOUT, M.D. 

OTTAWA. 

ONE of the oldest and most reputable physicians and surgeons in La .Salle county, is Joseph 
Stout, a native of Morris county, New Jersey. He was born on Suckasunny Plains, January 
30, r8i8, being a son of Charles and Margaret (McCord) Stout. Both parents were also born in 
that state, his mother on the same plains. The Stouts were originally from Holland. Joseph 
fitted for college at Springfield, Ohio, and is a graduate of Miami University, Oxford, that state, 
class of 1842. He studied medicine at Springfield, with Doctor Rodgers, and at Cincinnati with 
Professor Mussey; attended the Medical College of Ohio, Cincinnati; received the degree of doc- 
tor of medicine in 1845; came directly to Ottawa, and has been in regular practice here thirty- 
seven years. Physicians were few and far between in those early days, and Doctor Stout had all 
the surgical cases in this part of the state, and all the medical practice any young man, however 
ambitious and however robust, could reasonably desire, his rides in some directions often extend- 
ing fifteen and twenty, and sometimes thirty miles. He had an excellent opportunity to study 
the geography of this part of the valley of the Illinois, and to fathom the depths of most of its 
quagmires, being obliged on three occasions to lie out over night. There are very few old settlers 
of La Salle county, living within twenty miles of the seat of justice, that do not know Doctor 
Stout, know him and esteem him for his arduous and self-sacrificing labors in behalf of the sick 
or the disabled. Most physicians ought to retire from any but consulting practice by the time 
they are sixty or sixty-five years old, and no doubt our subject would be glad to, but he has too 
many old patrons, who will call nobody else, to completely abandon the field. His practice, how- 
ever, is mostly in and near the city of Ottawa, except in cases of consultation, when he is some- 
times called out of the county, which is the largest in the state. 

Doctor Stout was for years a member of the American Medical Association, and met with that 



:^^ UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. 

body a few times, forming a pleasant acquaintance with some of the leading members of the fra- 
ternity in the country, but latterly has enjoyed no such privilege. He has written a few articles 
for medical periodicals, reporting cases of especial interest to the medical brotherhood. 

The-doctor was a county coroner, and a member of the city council a period of four years 
each, and has held the office of school director, he being willing to bear such a share of that class 
of burdens as would be consistent with the exacting character of his professional duties. 

His political views were alwaA's anti-slavery, and in 1859, when a slave was taken to Ottawa 
under a habeas corpus, and Judge Caton decided that the fugitive must be sent back to his master, 
Doctor Stout aided in running him off. For that act he was arrested and imprisoned in jail at 
Chicago. At the end of the five months he was tried and sentenced to pay a fine of one thousand 
dollars, and confined ten days more. He went to jail January i, i860, and during that winter, 
while the Chicago Medical College was in session, he had permission to attend lectures during 
the day, returning nightly to durance vile, so doing until the close of the session of the college in 
March. 

He was an active Odd-Fellow years ago, and passed all the chairs. He is a warden of Christ 
Episcopal Church, and a man of unblemished record in all the spheres of life. The doctor has a 
third wife. The first was Catharine Fowler, married in 1847, and dying in child-bed in 1848. 
The second, was Adelia E. Fowler, married in 185 1, and dying of cholera in 1853, leaving one son, 
[ohn Stout, now a physician in Peoria, this state, and his present wife was Mrs. Mary E. (Bacon) 
Cotton, married in 1858. By her he has had three children, losing one of them, Mary, the first- 
born. The living are Josephine and Margaret. 



COLONEL BENJAMIN. F. SHEETS. 

OREGON. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SHEETS, a leading merchant of the town, was born in Wattsburgh, 
Erie county, Pennsylvania, October, 6, 1832, his parents being David F. and Lucy (Macom- 
ber) Sheets. His father was born in Dansville, Livingston county. New York, and his grand- 
father, Jacob Sheets, in Germany. David Sheets moved to Pennsylvania in early life, and was 
engaged in tanning, and running a boot and shoe factory at Wattsburgh for many years. 

Our subject came to Illinois in 1844, and settled at first at Blackberry, Kane county, where he 
was engaged in farming until 1852, when he went to Mount Morris, Ogle county, and took a 
course of studies in the Rock River Seminary, being graduated in 1855, the valedictorian of his 
class. During that period he taught a public school a short time, and also in the seminary while 
a student. 

He then became a merchant and miller at that "place, remaining there until January 1, 1861, 
when he removed to Oregon, the county seat, to serve as deputy circuit clerk. He filled that post 
until Ma\^, 1862, when he was elected sheriff of the county. In the summer of that year the 
demands of his country were too urgent for him to think of remaining at home. When the call 
for six hundred thousand men was made, he promptly enlisted, and was mustered in as lieutenant- 
colonel of the 92d Illinois infantry, September 4. His regiment was in General Thomas' corps. 
Colonel Sheets resigned April 21, 1864, and was brevetted brigadier-general. He is a member of 
the Grand Army of the Republic, and colonel and aide on the staff of the commander in-chief of 
the Illinois national guard. 

In December, 1872, General Sheets was appointed postmaster at Oregon, which office he still 
holds. In 1881 he built a brick block forty-four by eighty feet, and two stories above the base- 
ment, and moved the postoffice to his new quarters, corner Main and Fourth streets. He occu- 
pies three fronts, carries the largest stock of merchandise in town, consisting of hardware, hollow 
ware, agricultural implements, etc., and is one of the most active and enterprising business men 
in Ogle county. 



UNrriiD STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 55 

General Sheets is a member and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been 
superintendent of the Sunday school for twenty-one consecutive years. He is, and has long been 
quite active in the temperance reform, and is a man of ths most humane and noble impulses. 

He has been twice married, first at Mount Morris, June 25, 1855, to Alice V. Hill, daughter of 
Mrs. F. G. Petrie, she dying December 8, 1870, leaving two children, Frank D. and Frederick H.; 
the second time, at Oregon, April 16, 1872, to Kate Gale, daughter of Lewis Hormell, she being 
a native of Dayton, Ohio. He has had b\' her five children: George Benjamin, Carrie Maud, 
Kate Alice (now dead), and Horace and Homer. 

At the time that this sketch is prepared (May, 1882), the name of Mr. Sheets is prominently 
before the public as a nominee for congress, and a republican paper in Oregon thus speaks of him; 

"The people of this community, we believe, heartily indorse him as a man well qualified for 
the position, and as their choice as a congressman to represent this district. He is a man of more 
than average education and unexceptionable habits. For years he has identified himself with 
every good work. Possessing fine business abilities, he is at the same time an eloquent speaker. 
We think he possesses all the needed qualifications for the position. Colonel Sheets has always 
been an earnest and active republican. He has done good service in every campaign since the 
organization of the party, and tiie position would be but a fair reward to him for his past services." 

A democratic paper, also published in Ogle county, thus honorably speaks of General Sheets 
as a possible nominee: 

"The newspapers of this county are engaged in a heated discussion over the congressional 
question. The office of course is almost certain to be filled by a republican, and we do not see 
why Ogle county should not be entitled to the position, having quietly acceded to the claims of 
other counties for a long term of years. Several names have been suggested, but none possess 
more real merit 'for the position than Colonel B. F. Sheets, of Oregon. A gentleman of scholarly 
attainments and an eloquent speaker, we are sure that he would carry more ability into our con- 
gressional halls than has been the case since the days of Baker, Turner or Campbell. As one of 
the most aggressive republicans of our county, every voter in his party should enlist himself in a 
hearty demand for his nomination. This is a democratic suggestion which republicans will do 
well to profit by, and is offered only with a knowledge of the almost hopeless minority in which 
as democrats we find ourselves in this district." 



HON. JAMES H. STEWART. 

MONMOUTH. 

TAMES HARVEY STEWART, judge of Warren county, and one of the oldest lawyers in this 
.' part of the state, dates his birth at Elkton, Kentucky, January 5, tSiS, his parents being Rev. 
William K. Stewart, a Presbyterian minister, and Lucretia (Moore) Stewart. His father was born 
in Rowan county. North Carolina, and his mother in South Carolina. Her father, William Moore, 
was a revolutionary soldier. When James was twelve years old the family moved into this state, 
settling at Vandalia, then the capital, where his mother died many years ago. His father died at 
Macomb, after preaching more than forty years. Our subject was educated at Hanover College, 
Hanover, Indiana, taking a partial course, and taught schools in Illinois and Kentucky. He read 
law at Macomb, in this state, with Cyrus Walker, and was admitted to the bar January i, 1840. 

Mr. Stewart practiced one year at Lewistown, Fulton county; four years at Millersburgh, Mercer 
county; fifteen at (Jquawka, Henderson county; between one and two years at Knoxville, Knox 
county, and in 1861 settled in Monmouth. While at Oquawka he held the office of state's attorney 
for one term, for the 15th circuit, and at Knoxville and Monmouth was for eight years state's 
attorney for the loth circuit. He was elected to his present office of county judge in 1881. 

As a lawyer Judge Stewart has stood for many years among the prominent men in this part of 
Illinois, and has preserved an untarnished record, both professional and personal. As a judge he 



r5 UNfTED STATES BfOGRA PHICAL DICTrONARY. 

is very retjular at his post of duty, and attends faithfully to probate and other matters pertaining 
to his office. His politics are democratic, and he usually takes much interest in pending elections. 
He was a delegate in 1880 to the Cincinnati convention, which nominated Hancock and English 
as candidates for president and vice president. 

Judge Stewart was married in 1842 to Miss Isabella C. McKarney, of McDonough county, this 
state, and of ten children, the fruit of this union, only three are living. William R. is an attor- 
ney-at-law in partnership with his father. Isabella S. is the wife of D. M. Hammack, lawyer, 
Burlino-ton, Iowa, and Mary M. is at home. The family attend the Presbyterian Church, of which 
most of them are members. 

JOHN W. SWANBROUGH. 

IVA UKEGAN. 

THE sheriff of Lake county, whose name heads this sketch, was a brave young soldier during 
the civil war, and is. making a good record as a county officer, and merits mention in a work 
like this. He dates his birth at Ithaca, New York, November 13, 1843, being a son of Henry and 
Ann (Brewster) Swanbrough, both natives of the Empire State. The family immigrated to this 
state in 1855, and settled on a farm in Lake county, both parents still living. The son received 
an academic education in Waukegan, and at eighteen years of age, August, 1862, enlisted as a 
private in company G, 96th Illinois infantry, being soon afterward appointed color sergeant. He 
carried the colors at Chickamauga and Lookout Mountain, and was slightly wounded in both 
battles; was also in several other engagements in the Atlanta campaign, and shortly afterward 
was promoted to second lieutenant; was subsequently in the battle of Nashville, where he re- 
ceived his third wound, and was mustered out with his regiment in July, 1865. An officer under 
whom our subject fought, states that he was the only color bearer out of nine who did not come 
out of the battle at Lookout Mountain either killed or severely wounded, and that he was one of 
the bravest members of the regiment, always at his post, and ready for duty. 

Mr. Swanbrough farmed for a few years after coming out of the army, and has been for some 
years engaged in speculating and breeding line horses at Waukegan, and in 1876 was elected to 
his present county office. He was reelected in 1878 and again in 1880, and was reelected again in 
1882 for a term of four years, and is discharging the duties of his office to the satisfaction of all 
parties except criminals. He is a republican and a third-degree Mason. 

The subject of this notice married, in 1866, Mary, daughter of J. L. Williams, at that time a 
resident and prominent lawyer in Waukegan, and they have had three children, losing two of them. 



REV. CHESTER COVELL. 

BUDA. 

THE gentleman whose name heads this sketch is pastor of the Union Church at Buda, and in 
early life was a teacher in western New York, and later in Marshall county, this state. H 
is largely self-educated in the sciences, and wholly in theology, and is a man of a good deal of 
mental culture and social refinement. He was born in the town of Ogden, west of Rochester, 
New York, June 18, 1817, being a son of Edward' and Polly (Gilman) Cov'ell, members of the 
farming community. He lost his mother when he was only five years old. His father is still liv- 
ing in western New York, being in his ninety-third year' Most of the school drill which our 
subject received was at the Middlebury Academy and Whitesboro Manual Labor School, one of the 
oldest schools of the kind in the country. The means of attending these institutions were earned 
by Mr. Covell in teaching. Ten years of his life at different periods were devoted to this work, 
and while thus engaged he took a course of studies in theology, being his own tutor, and was 
ordained in Orleans county in 1842. Among the places where he taught and preached was 



e 



UNITED STATES BIOGKAPIUCAL DICTIONARY. 57 

Freehold, Greene county, where he filled the pulpit for five years. In 185 1 he was married to 
Miss Harriet Morrison, daughter of Rev. A. C. Morrison, of western New York, she being a grad- 
uate of the Le Roy Seminary. 

In 1852 he came to this state, opened a select school at Henry, Marshall county, and con- 
ducted it for one year, being assisted by his wife, preaching at the same time in the Christian 
Church. While there, during part of the time he was also city superintendent of schools. In 
1855, Mr. Covell moved to Mineral township, in Bureau county, where he spent two years in farm- 
ing, preaching at the same time, every other Sunday, at Buda. In the autumn of 1857 he was 
persuaded to return to Henry, where he and his wife taught a few more terms, and in 1859 he 
settled in Buda as pastor of the Union Church, which he organized, and which now numbers 
about fifty families in its society. It is entirely independent of all ecclesiastical bodies, Unitarian 
in faith, and is having a healthy growth. Mr. Covell has also a charge at Sheffield, to which he 
preaches regularly on Sunday afternoons. It is almost needless to say that he is a busy man on 
Sundays, and a hard student the rest of the week. Since becoming a resident of Buda, our sub- 
ject has served his community as a member of the board of supervisors, as school director, and 
as county school superintendent. Latterly his time has been given exclusively to his calling as a 
minister. He has a good deal of power in the pulpit and out of it; gives his whole time to the 
enlightenment and* social and moral elevation of the people, and he and his accomplished wife 
are very important factors in Buda society. 



HON. GEORGE VV. ARMSTRONG. 

SENECA, 

GEORGE WASHINGTON ARMSTRONG, a prominent farmer, is a son of Joseph and 
Elsie (Strawn) Armstrong, and dates his birth in McKane township. Licking county, Ohio, 
December 11, 1813. His grandfather, John Armstrong, came from Fermanagh county, Ireland, 
with his family, in 1789, and settled in Somerset county, Pennsylvania. Before coming to this 
country he was a flax and linen dealer, and in this country a merchant and general business man. 
Joseph Armstrong was a farmer, merchant and woolen manufacturer, and at a very early age 
George was put to splicing rolls and winding bobbins in the factory, having no schooling after 
that age until he had reached his majority, and then only one month. He went through all the 
rooms in the factory but the spinning, and became an expert weaver, thoroughly mastering the 
trade. 

In April, 1S31, Mr. Armstrong came to Putnam, now Marshall county, this state, and in the 
following July settled in La Salle county, where he has lived since that date. He was the second 
son in the family, which accompanied him, all but the father, who remained behind to adjust 
business. The oldest son soon went back, and our subject had charge of the family, the father 
dying not long afterward, before leaving Ohio. The family settled in the township of South Otta- 
wa, where the widowed motherlived until 1851. She moved to Ottawa and died in Morris, June, 1871. 

In 1832, Mr. Armstrong shouldered his musket, and had a little taste of the Black Hawk war. 
In the autumn of 1833 he bought a claim in congress lands, in Brookfield township, and in 
November of that year commenced building a log house. He was in the woods with two work- 
men early in the morning of the 13th of that month, when the stars commenced falling, and the 
two hired men were very much frightened But Mr. Armstrong had read Humboldt's travels, 
and having learned that most of stars were very much fixed, and that the capers of other heavenly 
bodies were innocent and usually harmless, was more calm. 

In December, 1834, Mr. Armstrong attended a canal meeting at Ottawa, acted as its secretary, 
carried its proceedings to Vandalia, then the seat of government, and spent the winter there, aid- 
ing to get a canal bill through the legislature, having his newly formed friend, Stephen A Douglas, 
to assist him. Before returning to La Salle county, Mr. Armstrong spent a short month at school 



• 



rg UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

in Jacksonville, paying most special devotions to Pike's arithmetic. He was also, about that 
period, paying his devotions to Miss Anna Green, whom he married at that place, March 15, 
1835, and they went to housekeeping at Brookfield. In 1836 Mr. Armstrong built a saw mill in 
the eastern part of the county, and in 1837 took a contract on the Illinois and Michigan canal at 
Utica, La Salle county, and moved thither. There he remained until 1S41, when he returned to 
his home, and resumed farming. 

Mr. Armstrong has always been a politician, and was of the Douglas school while that great 
statesman and his life-long friend was on the stage of action; was elected to the legislature in 
1844, and to the convention for the revision of the constitution in 1847, and was the Douglas 
democratic candidate for congress in 1S58, and received more than 15,000 votes, there being also 
a Buchanan democrat on the course. Hon. Owen Lovejoy, the republican nominee, distanced 
both. Mr. Armstrong was a nominee, with Judge Caton, to revise the constitution in 1870, but 
was defeated. He was a member of the 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th general assemblies, serving 
eight consecutive years, and was an eminently useful member of that body. 

He has served as a member of the county board of supervisors for twenty-two years, and was 
its chairman for fourteen of them. He is now (summer of 1882) chairman of the La Salle county 
court house and jail building committee, and the people of the county have most implicit confi- 
dence in his judgment in such matters. Mr. Armstrong was one of the five directors who built 
the Kankakee and Seneca railroad, a track forty-three miles in length, built on a capital stock of 
$10,000, requiring the expending of over $500,000, without a mortgage or lien on anything. 

Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong have raised a family of nine children, and given them a good educa- 
tion, and all but two are married and settled in life. John Green, the eldest son, is a journalist 
in Ottawa; William was a captain in the army, a provost marshal under General Sherman on the 
march to the sea, and is now in Colorado; Julius C. was also a soldier, carrying his Greek and 
Latin grammar in his knapsack, pursuing his studies when not pursuing the enemy, and is now 
a Congregational minister at Western Springs, Cook county, near Chicago; Elisa P. is the wife 
of William Crotty, a large cattle dealer in Kansas; Marshall Ney is an attorney-at-law, Ottawa; 
Joseph is at home; Susan Ida is the wife of L. B. Laughlin, farmer, Grundy county, this state; 
James E. is a graduate of the Industrial University, Champaign, and a teacher in that institution, 
and Charles G. is a graduate of the same school, and a druggist in Ottawa. 



w 



HON. WILLIAM ALDRICH. 

CHICAGO. 
ILLIAM ALDRICH, representative to congress from the first Illinois district, is a native 
of Saratoga county, New York, dating his birth at Greenfield, January 19, 1820. His 
parents were William and Mercy (Farnum) Aldrich, both families being from Rhode Island, and 
were Quakers or Friends. Mr. Aldrich received a public-school education, supplemented with 
one term with a private tutor, devoted to the higher mathematics, including surveying, and one 
term at the Aurora Academy, Erie county, New York. He was reared on his father's farm, at 
Greenfield; taught district schools during the winter season for six years; came west as far as 
Jackson, Michigan, in 1846, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. In 1851 he pushed on to Two 
Rivers, Manitowoc county, Wisconsin, and there to merchandising added the manufacturing of 
lumber, furniture and wooden ware. While a resident of Wisconsin he held several offices, such 
as superintendent of schools for three years, chairman of the countv board of supervisors one 
year, and a member of the legislature one term (1859). It is a loss to any state to lose such a man. 
In 1861 Mr. Aldrich settled in Chicago, and for fifteen years was engaged in the wholesale 
grocery business. For the last three or four years he has filled the office of president of the Chi- 
cago Lmseed Oil Company, whose manufactory is at Grand Crossing, Illinois, and their office at 
No. I Wabash avenue. Mr. Aldrich is a painstaking, shrewd business man, careful in his man- 
agement, and has been eminently successful in most of his ventures. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA PHICA I. DICTIONARY. 6l 

He was chosen alderman of the third ward of Chicago in the spring of 1876, and the next 
autumn was elected to congress for the first Illinois district, and was reelected in 1878 and 1880, 
each time by a majority which indicated that he was very popular with his party. His district 
includes the first six wards in Chicago, thirteen townships of Cook county, and all of Du Page 
county, and is one of the wealthiest districts in the state. It is represented by a practical, thor- 
oughgoing business man, and he is giving great satisfaction to his constituents. He belongs to 
that class who wear well, and whose usefulness increases with their experience. 

Mr. Aldrich is more of a worker than talker in congress; but when he does get the floor he 
always speaks right to the point. As a specimen of his style we give a short extract from his 
speech, made May 2, 1878, on the revision of the tariff. Wood's bill then being before the 
house. In the bill it was proposed to increase the tax on foreign sugars, Mr. Wood hoping by 
that means to please the Louisiana sugar manufacturers and catch southern votes for his bill. On 
this point Mr. Aldrich spoke as follows: 

"With pepper and salt, sugar is the universal element of every meal of the rich and the poor. 
Poverty may separate its victim from tea and coffee, but from sugar never while starvation is kept 
at bay. Every increase of tax upon this article means exaction universal upon one of the neces- 
saries of life. It invades the almshouse and the hovel, and the exaction is more nearly in pro- 
portion to the mouths to be filled than upon any other article that can be mentioned. Now, why, 
in the name of revenue reform and reduction of taxation, this new exaction upon sugar, while 
silks and velvets, at once the badges of wealth and costumes solely of the rich, are relieved of a 
large part of the tax which they now pay? "Judas professed and kissed." The advocates of this 
measure, alive with professions of relief for the poor laborer from his burdens, further tax his 
sugar to relieve the silk, the velvet, the lace, that are flaunted before his eyes, but gladden not the 
sight of his wife or daughter. 

"If this increased tax upon sugar is made necessary, or is designed to protect the Louisiana 
planter, now that he no longer owns but hires labor, let us have the fact, not any false pretense. 
If it is true that the sugar planters really require the $6,000,000 or $10,000,000 additional exaction 
to enable them to pay wages to their late slaves and to prosecute and uphold this industry, the 
patriotism of the people, laborer and all, will bear it. They will want the fact openly stated; 
they will require that you convince their understanding. In the light of the other provisions of 
the bill, it looks as if the real purpose of the increased sugar tax is to relieve silks, velvets, laces, 
broadcloths and other articles solely enjoyed and consumed by the wealthy and pretentious, and 
saddle the burden upon the necessaries of life. 

"If the purpose of this proposed law is not to shift the burdens of taxation from the shoulders 
of the rich to those of the poor and the comparatively poor, nor to benefit those who design both 
to defraud the government of its dues and monopolize the trade in sugar, but is designed to 
secure revenue to the government, and at the same time afford unprecedented protection to our 
sugar producers, then, in the name of honesty and fair dealing, give us some plain and simple 
specific rate of duties which shall raise the desired revenue, and treat the producers, the refiners, 
the distributers, and the consumers with fairness. 

"A duty of two and a half cents per pound on all sugar not above No. 16 Dutch standard in 
color, and of three and a half or even four cents per pound on all above No. 16 Dutch standard 
in color, would accomplish the object. Under such a traffic the revenue would be collected at a 
nominal expense by simply weighing the importations, and the trade freed from deception and 
fraud." 

Mr. Aldrich was originally a whig, and with most of the Wisconsin members of that party, 
together with the free-soil democrats, aided in forming the republican party, one of the earli- 
est movements in that direction anywhere in the United States being made at Ripon, in that state. 

Our subject is a Reformed Episcopalian, and senior warden of Christ Church (Rev. Dr. Cheney, 
rector), and a man whose Christian character has always stood far above reproach. He was mar- 
ried at Aurora, Erie county, in 1846, to Anna M. Howard, a refined and accomplished woman, 
7 



52 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAI- D/CTlONAJiY. 

and they have had four children, three of them, all sons, yet living. William Howard, the eldest, 
is at the head of a large steam bakery; James Franklin is secretary and manager of the Linseed 
Oil Company, already mentioned, and Frederick C, the youngest, is a manufacturer. The two 
oldest are married. Their other child, "Charlie," who left them when a little more than five 
years old, was a bright and promising child, the memory of whom does not dim with the lapse 
of years. He is not "lost," but simply "gone before." 

Mr. Aldrich is living a life of great usefulness, as well as of much honor, and has the warmest 
esteem of people who have known him the longest. He is cordial and unaffected in manners, and 
has the bearing of a perfect gentleman — a gentleman who has inherited all the best moral ele- 
ments and social amenities of the Quaker school of society. 



JULIUS P. ANTHONY. M.D. 

STERLING. 

JULIUS PHELPS ANTHONY, with one exception the oldest physician and surgeon in prac- 
tice in Whiteside county, was born at Cambridge, Washington county, New York, September 
i6 1822. His father, Isaac Anthony, a farmer, was born in Rhode Island, and is a second or 
third cousin of Senator Anthony, of that state. His grandfather, Giles Anthony, was a lad eight 
or nine years old when the British invaded Rhode Island. Seth Anthony, the father of Giles, 
being a Quaker, took no part in the long struggle to free the country from the British )-oke. 
The mother of Julius was Permelia Phelps, a native of the state of New York. 

He took a full academic course of study at Homer, Cortland county, New York, and was pre- 
pared, excepting in Greek, to enter the sophomore year in college ; read medicine in New York 
and Pennsylvariia ; attended lectures at the Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 
and was there graduated in 1848. Doctor Anthony practiced a short time at Ralston, Lycoming 
county, Pennsylvania; orte year in Jackson county, West Virginia, and in March, 1850, married, 
at Jerseytown, Columbia county, Pennsylvania, Miss Martha Jane Park, and moved the same 
spring to Camanche, Clinton county, Ipwa. In March, 185 1, he settled in Sterling, where he has 
been in general and extensive practice for thirty-one years, except three years spent in the civil 
war. When he first came here the village was quite small, and there was only one other physi- 
cian in the place. Doctor Benton, who died a few years ago at Fulton City, this county. The 
country was, comparatively speaking, sparsely settled, and his rides were often very extensive. 
The roads too, in those early days, in his practice in Whiteside county, were very poor, and 
hence his labors were hard and fatiguing. But the doctor has always been a man of prudence, 
and of excellent habits, and is seemingly good for another decade of field as well as office work. 
The old families, whose physician he has been for thirty years, or more, would be very loth to call 
anybody else. In cases of consultation he still often goes a great distance. The doctor has held 
one or two local offices only, and has left such honors to parties more ambitious in that direction, 
and whose professional duties are less exacting. 

He was mustered into the army in September, 1862, as assistant surgeon of the 127th regiment 
Illinois infantry; was promoted to surgeon of the 6ist regiment at the end of a year, and was 
mustered out in October, 1865, never being off duty for a single day. During the last six months 
he was post surgeon at Franklin, Tennessee, and had charge of the confederate wounded 
lying there, as well as our own sick and disabled. 

Doctor Anthony had taken the second degree in Masonry when he went into the army, and 
has gone no higher. In his younger years he was a Good Templar, and an active worker in the 
temperance cause. His instincts and sympathies are still with every movement tending to 
benefit society. Doctor an,d Mrs. Anthony have five children, having never lost any. Permelia, 
the oldest daughter, is a graduate of the Rockford Seminary, and has been teaching for seven or 
eight years in the Sterling public schools. Darwin was at one time assistant librarian of the 



UNITED STATES BIOCRArillCA I. DICTIONARY. 63 

Chicago Public Library, and is now in the mining regions of Colorado. Martha L. is at home. 
Mary L. is married to Henry C. Ward, of Sterling, and Frank is a graduate of Rush Medical Col- 
lege, Chicago, and in practice with his father. 

Doctor Anthony is a member of the Whiteside county Medical Society, and of the Union 
Medical Society, which embraces that county and Clinton county, Iowa. He has not written 
much for medical periodicals, but occasionally scribbles for the local press, always with a sharp 
pen, and for some laudable purpose. 



JAMES B. BROWN. 

GALENA. 

JAMES BARTON BROWN, postmaster at Galena, and proprietor of the Galena " Gazette," 
dates his birth in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, September i, 1833. His parents were Jonathan 
and Mary Ann (Clough) Brown. His grandfather was James Brown, who was born at Hampton 
Beach, New Hampshire. The family is of English extraction. Jonathan Brown was one of the 
selectmen of Gilmanton for seven or eight years, and represented his district in the legislature for 
two terms, being one of the leading men of .that town for many years, and is still living at Gil- 
manton, being in his eighty-second year. James was educated at the Gilmanton Academy, and 
contemplated becoming a physician. With that profession in view he studied one year under 
Doctor Nahum Wight, the celebrated anatomist, and then discontinued his medical studies. 

In 1857 Mr. Brown came to Illinois, settled at Dunleith, Jo Daviess county, where he accepted 
the principalship of the public school, holding that post until 1861, when he was elected county 
superintendent of schools. That office he held for three years, and did a good work in creating 
fresh interest in the cause of education throughout Jo Daviess county. In November, 1863, he 
purchased the Galena " Gazette," daily, triweekly and weekly, and removed to this city, and did, 
and is still doing valiant service for the republican party, of which he has always been a member. 

On the death of W. W. Huntington, postmaster of Galena, in December, 1880, Mr. Brown was 
appointed by President Hayes to fill the vacancy. He took this office early in January following, 
and is performing its duties to the general satisfaction of the public. Mr. Brown is a Knight 
Templar in the Masonic order. 

In September, 1858, he married Miss Elizabeth Shannon, of his native town, and they have 
one daughter, Abbie M., who is a student in the old and well known academy at Bradford, Essex 
county, Massachusetts. The family attend the South Presbyterian Church, West Galena, of 
which Mrs. Brown and daughter are members. 

The writer of this sketch has long had a pleasant acquaintance with Mr. Brown, who is a gen- 
tleman of a kindly and obliging disposition, of unaffected and easy manners, and calculated to 
make and retain friends. 



HON. GEORGE S. ROBINSON. 

5 YCAMORE. 

GEORGE STEWART ROBINSON, judge of De Kalb county, is a native of Orleans county, 
Vermont, being born in the town of Derby, June 24, 1824. His father, George Robinson, 
a farmer, was born in Connecticut, and took part in the second war with England, and his grand- 
father, Eber Robinson, commanded a company in the first war against the mother country. The 
last was an early settler in northern Vermont. He was of Scotch descent. George Robinson 
married Harriet Stewart, a native of Vermont, and a daughter of Major Rufus Stewart, an officer 
in the war of 181 2 and 1814. Our subject was educated at Derby Atademy, being fitted for col- 
lege, but ill health prevented him from matriculating. He taught school in his native state, read- 
ing law at the same time, first with Hon. Stoddard B, Colby, of Derby, afterward register of the 



64 



U.yirED STATES HlOGRATinCAl. DICT/O.VA R V. 



United States treasury, Washington, District of Columbia, and subsequently with Hon. Lucius B. 
Peck, member of congress, of Montpelier; was admitted to the bar in Vermont in 1846; went 
south on account of his health, and taught three years; commenced the practice of his profession 
at Cuthbert, Georgia, in 1852, and remained there until 1866, when he returned to the North, and 
settled at Sycamore, He was elected county judge in autumn of 1877, and is filling that office 
with decided ability and great acceptance to his constituents. He is a well read, clear headed 
lawyer, a judicious and candid adviser, a graceful and polished speaker, and has great influence 
and success with a jury. The people of De Kalb county have unbounded confidence in his integ- 
rity, and he will no doubt hold the office of county judge as long as he will consent to retain it. 

Prior to being elected county judge, Mr. Robinson was master in chancery for several years, 
and was an alderman for two terms, immediately after Sycamore received its city charter. He 
was acting city attorney at that time, and had much to do with the framing of the ordinances. 

He is a director of the Sycamore, Cortland and Chicago railroad, and secretary of the R. Ell- 
wood Manufacturing Company, Sycamore, and takes a great deal of interest in public enterprises 
tendintr to improve the home of his adoption. He has been for a long time a member of the 
State Board of Public Charities, and is, and has been for years, the president of that board. Judge 
Robinson is a Royal Arch Mason, was for some years master of a lodge at the South, and was 
High Priest of the Sycamore Chapter for three years. The politics of Judge Robinson are repub- 
lican, but he is not a bitter partisan or an office seeker. He will work harder to elevate his friends 
into public positions than for himself. 

He married at Derby, Vermont, October 13, 1853, Olive A., daughter of Nehemiah Colby, and 
sister of Hon. Stoddard B. Colby, and they have lost one son, and have two daughters living: 
Hattie M., wife of Champion I>. Buchan, of Sycamore, and Nellie C, who is at home. 



AUGUSTINE B. CHILDS. 

A'EITNSBURGJ/. 

THE young men who came into Illinois at an early day, when land was cheap, made a prompt 
purchase, opened a farm and worked it faithfully, were as a general rule, prosperous. The 
subject of this sketch is no exception to the rule, save that he has worked unusually hard, and 
has been unusually prosperous, as a brief notice of his life will show. 

Augustine Barker Childs is a son of Horace and Lucy M. (Barker) Childs, and was born in 
Whitestown, Oneida county. New York, October 31, 1816. His father, who was born in the same 
state, laid out the town of Borodino on Skaneateles Lake, and was a merchant there for many years, 
also served in the war of 1812-14. His paternal ancestors were from Wales, coming over prior 
to the strife with England, when the colonists struck for independence. Timothy Childs, the 
grandfather of our subject, went into the army at seventeen years of age. Augustine received a 
common EngHsh education in a country school, adding to it by private study, and farming has 
been his leading occupation, commencing in Connecticut, where he remained until his sixteenth 
year. He learned the blacksmith's trade in Jordan and Rochester, New York, and at sixty-two 
and a half cents a day earned the money to make his first purchase of prairie land, bringing with 
him one of Van Buren's treasury notes, which he drew, with four dollars' interest, at Galena, 
Illinois, after coming west. He came to Mercer county, his present home, in 1838,'and settled 
in Eliza township. The historian states that Mr. Childs came into this county on a borrowed 
horse. On his return eastward in 1839 he took the horse to the owner, walked most of the way 
from the Mississippi to Indianapolis, Indiana, and at Mooresville, Morgan county, Indiana, 
worked till he had money enough to purchase a horse, which he rode to Sandusky, Ohio. 

Mr. Childs settled on a farm in Eliza township, commencing with eighty acres', for which he 
had previously earned the money in the manner already indicated, and enlarging from time to 
time, until at one period he was the owner of thirteen hundred acres, much of it as good land as 



UNITED STATES HIUGK AI'H ICA I. DICIIO.VAR Y. 



65 



Mercer county can show. During the first few years, particularly in the winter season, he worked 
at his trade, rising as early as four o'clock, and shoeing horses by candle light. He made his 
horses nails while his neighbors were asleep, and for some years had to split his own iron. June 
28, 1840, he married in Morgan county, Indiana, Miss Catharine Reynolds, who shared with him 
the hardships and struggles of a new home in prairie land. 

When Mercer county was organized in 1835, Millersburgh became the county seat, which was 
not long afterward moved to Keithsburgh and thence to Aledo, and Mr. Childs was a grand jury- 
man at the first sitting of the court at the last named place. Among all the early settlers in 
Eliza, no one has been more successful than Mr. Childs, and this is owing not only to his indus- 
try, but to his prudent management and his temperate and economical habits. He has had as 
high as one hundred and fifty head of cattle and horses, and equally as many hogs ; has sold as 
high as six thousand dollars worth of stock in a single year, and one year sold four thousand 
dollars worth of hogs alone of his own raising. 

The first wife of our subject died, June 5, 1878, leaving eight children, two having preceded 
her to the other world, one of them in infancy and one after she had become a wife and mother. 
The eight living children are married and doing well. His present wife was Miss Lucy E. Wil- 
lits, daughter of Isaiah Willits, of Keithsburgh, and he has by her one son. 

Since 1880 Mr. Childs has resided in Keithsburgh, and has disposed of some of his land. He 
has the home farm of four hundred and forty-four acres in Eliza township, and one of one hun- 
dred and si.xty-five acres in Abington township, and some other land, in all about seven hundred 
acres in his own name, and his farming is now done largely by proxy. Like a man of sense he 
is inclined to let the world do its own fretting. Although a so-called home-body, he has seen a 
little of his own country, the Pacific coast and the Gulf states, including Florida, where he once 
planted an orange grove, and then sold it, concluding to lessen rather than increase his cares and 
responsibilities. 

HON. JAMES A. CONNOLLY. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JAMES AUSTIN CONNOLLY, United States district attorney for the southern district of 
Illinois, and a prominent lawyer in Coles county, is a son of William and Margaret (McGuire) 
Connolly, and was born in Newark, New Jersey, March 8, 1838. Both parents were natives, of 
Ireland. John Connolly, the grandfather of James, participated in the revolution of 1798, and 
had his property confiscated, and was a fugitive till his death, which occurred in the old countrv. 
William Connolly, a tanner and currier by trade, came to this country in 1824, and died at Mans- 
field, Ohio, in 1881. 

Our subject was educated at the Chesterville, Ohio, Academy; taught school three consecu- 
tive winter terms ; studied law at Mount Gilead, with Judge A. K. Dunn, and while a law student 
was elected second assistant clerk of the Ohio state senate, and held that post two years. He 
was admitted to the bar at Mount Gilead in September, 1859, and practiced there a little more 
than one year, in company with his preceptor. Judge Dunn. 

During the presidential campaign of i860 Mr. Connolly was a member of the democratic state 
central committee of Ohio, and at the close of that campaign went to the South, intending at the 
time to locate in that part of the country. But in December of that year he hurried northward 
in order to save his life, coming back a full-grown republican, and settled at Charleston, Illinois, 
which is still his home. In August, 1862, he was appointed major of the 123d regiment Illinois 
infantry, which was assigned to the army of the Cumberland, and in which he served for three 
years. After the battle of Chicairiauga, Major Connolly was assigned to staff duty, and was with 
General Sherman in his march to the sea. He happened to be in New York city at the time of the 
funeral of President Lincoln, and was detailed by General Dix to serve as a member of the guard 
of honor, the only volunteer officer of an Illinois regiment who happened to serve on that guard 



56 UNITED STATES BIOCRA TlirCA I. DICTIOXAKY. 

in that city. Our subject went into the army and came out holding the rank of major, there 
being no promotions among the field officers of his regiment during the whole three years of 
service. In the spring of 1865 he was breveted lieutenant-colonel of volunteers for meritorious 
services in the field. 

At the close of his military career Major Connolly returned to Charleston, and resumed the 
practice of his profession, which soon became quite large and lucrative. He is a closely read 
and able lawyer, a ready, fluent and eloquent speaker, and a very successful practitioner, having 
great influence with a jury. While the civil war was in progress, 1863, he married Miss Mary 
Dunn, a sister of Judge Dunn, and they have no children. Major Connolly was elected to the 
state legislature in 1872, and reelected in 1874, representing the thirty-second district. In the 
first session (1873) when his party was in power, he was chairman of the committee on public 
library, and a member of the judiciary and railroad committees. These last two at that particu- 
lar time were especially important committees as the former had in charge the revision of the 
statutes, and the latter the origination of the railroad legislation now in force in the state. Our 
subject was on the judiciary committee all the time that he was in the legislature. His present 
office of United States district attorney he received at the hands of President Grant in 1876, and 
he is temporarily residing at the capital of the state, attending to the duties of his office with 
promptness and marked ability. 

HON. REUBEN M. BENJAMIN. 

RLOOMIXGTON. 

REUBEN MOORE BENJAMIN, judge of McLean county, is a son of Darius and Martha 
(Rogers) Benjamin, and was born at Chatham Centre, Columbia county, New York, June 
29, 1833. His father was a soldier in the second war with the mother country, dying at Chatham 
Centre in 1850, and his grandfather, Ebenezer Benjamin, was a captain in the first war. The 
latter moved from Norwich, Connecticut, to the town of Chatham, and there died in 1789. The 
Benjamins and Rogerses were of English descent, the latter being early settlers in Rhode Island, 
moving thence to Connecticut. The maternal grandmother of Reuben was Sarah (Moore) Rog- 
ers, of Welsh extraction. 

Mr. Benjamin prepared for college at Kinderhook Academy, New York; entered Amherst 
College, Massachusetts, in January, 1850, and was graduated in 1853, receiving the third honor 
of his class. He was principal of Hopkins Academ)', at Hadley, near Amherst, in 1853-54; a 
student in the law school of Harvard University, 1854-55; and tutor in Amherst College, 1855-56. 
In April of the latter year he came to Bloomington, which has since been his home, and in Sep- 
tember of that year was licensed to practice law, his examination papers being signed by Abra- 
ham Lincoln. 

Mr. Benjamin was a partner of General A. Gridley and Colonel J. H. Wickizer until the former 
retired from practice, and the latter went into the army. In 1863 he formed a partnership with 
Judge Thomas F. Tipton, and since then, at different times, has had as partners Captain J. H. 
Rowell and Hon. Lawrence Weldon, who have, like himself, a high standing at the Illinois bar. 
Mr. Benjamin is thoroughly read in his profession, and his services have long been in great 
demand as an office lawyer and counselor. 

He was chosen a member of the constitutional convention in 1869, and in that body during 
the following year did a good deal of valuable work. He served on the committees on bill of 
rights, municipal corporations, state institutions, accounts and expenditures, and schedule; was 
one of the most active and efficient members of the convention, and during the sessions and after 
their close was the recipient of highly complimentary remarks, made by his colaborers in that 
body and by the press. 

Our subject was one of the counsel for the people in the celebrated Lexington case against 
the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company, a case involving the question of the right of railroad 



UNITED STATES filOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 6/ 

corporations to charge more for a less than for a greater distance, and was subsequently employed 
as special counsel for the railroad and warehouse commission, and assisted in the prosecution of the 
Munn and Scott case, which was taken to the supreme court of the United States, and being there 
affirmed, finally established the constitutional right of the legislature to regulate warehouse 
charges. 

Mr. Benjamin was elected to the bench in 1873, and reelected in 1877, and also in 1882. We 
learn from " Good Old Times in McLean County " that he has won the admiration of the bar and 
of the people, on account of the rapidity and accuracy with which he dispatches business. In 
personal appearance " he bears the impress of the student. His demeanor, language and pose 
are those of a delver in the mines of knowledge." He retains all the polish of mind and man- 
ners of his New England culture. 

Judge Benjamin was appointed dean of the law department of the Illinois Wesleyan Univer- 
sity in 1874, and still holds that position, his chair being " real property." In 1879 he published 
a work entitled "Student's Guide to Elementary Law." He married at Chatham, New York, 
September 15, 1856, Miss Laura E. Woodin, daughter of David G. Woodin. 



HON. WILLIAM HENRY SMITH. 

CHIC A GO. 

WILLIAM HENRY SMITH, general manager of the Associated Press, and late collector 
of the port of Chicago, was born in the Green River Valley, Columbia county, New 
York, December i, 1833. His father, William De Forest Smith, grandson of a revolutionary 
soldier, was a native of Litchfield, Connecticut, and belonged to the farming community. The 
mother of our subject was Almira Gott, whose father. Story Gott, was a lieutenant in the conti- 
nental army, and a descendant of a family which came from Scotland and settled in Connecticut 
prior to 1690. The Gotts were driven out of Holland at the time of religious persecution, two or 
three centuries ago, and fled to Scotland for refuge. 

The late Hon. Daniel Gott, for many years a judge of the court of appeals. New York, and at 
one time a member of congress from that state, was an uncle of Mrs. Smith. Mr. Smith was 
educated at the Quaker college. Green Mount, Richmond, Indiana, being graduated in 1853. 
He had some experience in teaching school before entering college, was tutor a few terms while 
in college and taught one year after his graduation. 

In 1854 we find Mr. Smith at Cincinnati, engaged in editing books and a weekly paper, enti- 
tled "The Type of the Times," which was devoted to literature and independent politics. Mr. 
Smith early became interested in the great free-soil movement, and commenced writing for 
newspapers on political subjects before he was of age. About 1857 he became a correspondent 
of the "Cincinnati Commercial," and a little later went on the editorial staff of the "Daily 
Gazette," of the same city. While thus engaged, in 1863 he became the private secretary of the 
great war governor of Ohio, Hon. John Brough. He was holding that position in 1864, when 
nominated by the republican party for the office of secretary of state. Success attended the can- 
vass, as he received the largest majority, over fifty-six thousand, ever cast for the head of a 
republican ticket in that state, except in the case of John Brough. He was reelected in 1866. 
He resigned in January, 186S, after the inauguration of Governor Hayes, to return to journalism, 
for which he seems to have always had great fondness and peculiar adaptation, he being a read)-, 
vigorous and trenchant writer. Mr. Smith aided in establishing the "Cincinnati Chronicle," 
(1868) which was afterward merged into the "Times," and in 1870 he was proffered, and accepted 
the position which he now holds, that of general manager of the Western Associated Press, the 
largest news organization in the world, a position which he is filling with a good deal of execu- 
tive ability, and to the general satisfaction of all parties concerned. 

Mr. Smith has long been an intimate friend of General Rutherford B. Hayes, and while the 



58 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPinCAL DICTIONARY. 

one was gallantly fighting for the Union cause in the field, the other was doing a similar work 
with the pen at home, and when General Hayes became president, he appointed Mr. Smith to 
the office of collector of customs for the port of Chicago, which he held from September 14, 1877, 
to January 9, 1882. In the last named 3-ear was published, from the pen of Mr. Smith, "The Life 
and Public Services of General Arthur Saint Clair," a work in two large volumes, abounding in 
original matter, and prepared with great care. So interesting and popular is this work that a 
second edition was called for at the end of the first six months. It covers Saint Clair's services 
in the French-English Canadian war, the American revolution, as president of the continental 
congress, and as the governor and real founder of the five great states in the territory northwest 
of the Ohio River. The first title of the book is "The Saint Clair Papers." 

Our subject has been connected with the newspaper press so long, and has become so wedded 
to its interests, that he finds it difficult to let his pen remain idle. He still writes essays and 
editorials for different dailies, and takes up no topic which he does not treat with decided ability, 
and in a most readable manner. He was married, in 1855, to Miss Emma Reynolds, a member 
of a Quaker family, and they have a son and daughter. Mr. Smith's religious associations are 
with the Presbyterian church, to which he is much attached. 

Since the above sketch was written, the daily journals have announced that a union has been 
formed between the Western Associated Press and the New York Associated Press, the original 
organization which established agencies in all of the great cities of the world, and inaugurated 
that system which is essential to the success of any first-class daily newspaper. Mr. Smith is the 
general manager of the Consolidated Associated Press, with headquarters in Chicago and New 
York. 

AARON H. COLE. 

MOUNT CARROLL. 

AARON HUTCHINSON COLE, deceased, was a son of Thomas and Sarah (Davis) Cole, and 
L was born in Stanstead, Lower Canada (now the Province of Quebec), November 23, 1823. 
His father was a farmer, and the family was from Saint Johnsbury, Vermont. Aaron was the 
fourth son of seven brothers, of whom two, Philo B. and John S., live in Mount Carroll, two in 
Iowa, and two are dead. 

Mr. Cole received an ordinary English education, and when about twenty-five years old left 
Canada, and made a trip to California, going by way of Cape Horn, starting in 1849, when the 
gold fever in reference to that country first broke out, and being six months on the voyage. His 
brother, Philo, went with him. He had very good success in the mines, and on his return came 
to Carroll county, and settled at first in Salem township, where he was engaged in farming and 
stock raising. Four or five years later (1859) he moved to Mount Carroll, where he lived till his 
death, which occurred July 7, 1880, his disease being pulmonary consumption. He left a widow 
and one child. He married in April, 1854, Miss Lovisa Elmira Shurtleff, a native of Stanstead, 
and an acquaintance of his youth. Her father was Lothrop Shurtleff, also a native of Canada, 
and a descendant of a New England family, noted for its benevolence. One of them. Doctor 
Shurtleff, of Boston, Massachusetts, partially endowed Shurtleff College, a Baptist institution at 
Upper Alton, Illinois. 

Mrs. Cole is the mother of two children, both sons, Wilbert Aaron, who died in infancy, and 
Flavius Shurtleff, who was born in 1862, and who is nobly trying to fill his father's place in taking 
care of the farms and other property, of which his father left a great amount, and whollv unin- 
cumbered. Much of it is in real estate in Iowa. Mr. Cole was one of the best financiers in 
Carroll county. 

We learn from the Carroll county "Herald" of July 9, 1880, that the Coles are relatives of 
Roger Sherman, of revolutionary fame, Mr. Cole's grandmother being a Sherman. He was also 
related to Hon. John Sherman, now United States senator from Ohio, for whom John S. Cole was 
named. The mother of our subject survived him just three months. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 7 1 

Mr. Cole was baptized by a Freewill Baptist minister when nineteen years of age, but was 
not, we understand, in full accord with that branch of the great Baptist family, and did not con- 
nect himself with any church. His wife was and is a member of the Baptist church in Mount 
Carroll, which he attended quite regularly when at home, and to the support of which he contrib- 
uted. He lived a strictly moral, unblemished life; often expressed to his wife a hope in Christ; 
on his death-bed was perfectly resigned to his lot, and urged his son to "remember his Creator 
in the days of his youth," and identify himself with the church. 

The writer of this sketch was acquainted with Mr. Cole, and has shared in his social cheer 
and hospitality. He was a not a man of a superfluity of words, and did not covet a large circle 
of confidential friends. He minded his own business, and succeeded in his business by putting 
mind into it. He was strictly honest himself, and despised anything to the contrary in others; 
established a good reputation for integrity, and left to his son an unblemished record, — a bright 
example to follow, — as well as a good deal of land and other property. The widow, also, he 
placed in perfectly independent circumstances; but no amount of worldly goods can compensate 
for his absence from the little domestic circle, which he himself so much enjoyed. Others beside 
her miss him. Several of the best class of men in Mount Carroll have passed away during the 
last lustrum, and the vacancy is painfully felt. 



REV. NATHANIEL S. SAGE, LL.D. 

AURORA. 

NATHANIEI> S. SAGE comes of good patriotic and fighting stock, both grandsires partici- 
pating in the struggle for the independence of the colonies. He was born in Huntington, 
Lorain county, Ohio, May 7, 1838, and is a son of Rev. Harlow Parson Sage and Susan (Malroy) 
Sage. His father is a well-known Universalist minister. He is still living at his old home in 
Lorain county, being in his eighty-fifth year. He is a cousin of Henry Sage and Russell Sage, of 
New York city. The Sages are of Scandinavian extraction, the original name being Saga, mean- 
ing chief of the tribe. The first emigrants from the old world settled in Connecticut, from which 
state Joseph Sage, father of Harlow P., took up arms against King George the Third, enlisting at 
eighteen years of age. The Malroys are of Irish descent, and Susan Malroy Sage was a cousin 
of General Malroy, of Indiana, well known as the "War Eagle" of that state. She died at Hunt- 
ington in 1872. 

The education of our subject, preparatory to entering college, was largely due to his father, 
who is a graduate of Yale College, and who was very thorough in his drill of the son. The latter 
attended the Liberal Institute, at Marietta, two or three terms, and then entered Oberlin College, 
where he remained until 1857. Prior to his entering college, his father had met with reverses of 
fortune, and the son was thrown upon his own resources, two industrious hands and a resolute 
heart. He sawed wood, set type, taught school, did anything, in short, by which he could earn a 
few dollars, and meet his pecuniary obligations. We doubt if he ever had any boyhood, or knew 
by experience anything about the sports of youth. With him work and study monopolized his ' 
younger years. 

On leaving college, Mr. Sage taught school most of the time for nine years, mainly in his 
native town, preaching at the same time. He was ordained at eighteen years of age, and com- 
menced preaching two years earlier, the father being unwell at times, and the son taking his place. 

In the autumn of i860 our subject went to Minnesota, and spent the winter in Fillmore county. 
On the breaking out of civil war, he enlisted at Preston, that count}', as a private in company A, 
2d Minnesota infantry; was slightly wounded at the capture of Ford Donelson, and was soon 
afterward mustered out of service. Returning to Ohio, he again enlisted, and not being accepted 
as a soldier, he was elected chaplain (^f the iS2d regiment, and served in that capacity till the close 
of the war. 

8 



VXITED STATES BIOCRA PlIICAL DICTIONARY. 

Mr. Sage was pastor of the Universalist church at New Philadelphia. Ohio, three years; 
preached at Logansport, Indiana, eight years, and in February, 1876, came to this state, preach- 
ing at Sycamore until April, 1881, when he settled in Aurora, where the Universalists have a 
strong and influential church. He received the honorary degree of doctor of laws from the 
Saint Louis University in 1874. As a speaker he is very fluent, as a reasoner clear, logical and 
strong, and as a denouncer of wrong, powerful in invective. He is very studious, and shows in 
in his discourses and public address the freshness uf his reading, as well as the breadth of his 

thinking. 

Mr. Sage is not much of a stickler for denominational lines; is, in fact, quite independent in 
his theological views, and has a thoroughly brotherly feeling for everybody who is trying to do 
right. He has a good deal of literary taste, as well as mental culture, and often addresses teach- 
ers' institutes, college societies, and literary associations, and his efforts on such occasions are 
usually marked by fine scholarship and a good deal of oratorical power. He also writes more or 
less for the newspapers and magazines of his denomination, and sometimes for the "Quarterly 
Review," and some of his articles have attracted a good deal of attention. At the time this sketch 
is written our subject holds the office of grand chaplain of the Odd-Fellows of Illinois, and he is 
also a prominent Mason. 

He married, in 1857, Miss Margaret Wagoner, of Medina county, Ohio, and she died June 20, 
1878, leaving four sons and one daughter, one son having preceded her to the spirit world. Cora, 
the oldest daughter, is married to Harris W. Sabin, of Freeport, Illinois; Wallace Irving is city 
editor of the Aurora " Daily Post," and James Ashley, Arthur Dixon and Harry Renan are pur- 
suing their studies. 

LAWRENCE W. CLAYPOOL. 

MORRIS. 

LAWRENCE WILSON CLAYPOOL comes of a family which originated about the time of 
Oliver Cromwell. Its first representatives in this country were two young men, brothers, 
who emigrated from England about 1650, and settled in Virginia. One of them subsequently 
removed to Philadelphia and became attached to William Penn. The family embraced his Quaker 
faith, and became prominent in the affairs of that colony. One of them, James Claypole, appears 
as a witness to Penn's charter, and his descendants to this day spell their names Claypole. Will- 
iam Claypool was a son of the Virginia brother, born in about 1690, had three sons, and lived 
to the great age of one hundred and two years. One son, James, also had three sons whom 
he reverently named Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was Washington's chief of commissary for 

eastern Virginia, and furnished the revolutionary heroes with beef when he could get it. 

Abraham, his eldest son, was the father of a baker's dozen, thirteen, of whom eleven, six sons and 
five daughters, reached maturity. The Claypools were all people of consequence in the Old Do- 
minion, and owned plantations and slaves. Nevertheless, like all of the original old \Mrginia set- 
tlers, they were opposed to the continuance of the accursed system, and when Abraham removed 
with his large family to Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1799, he took with him his two slaves for the express 
purpose of giving them that liberty which by the ordinance of 1 787 was eternally pledged to all who 
should settle in the great Northwestern territory. In his new home Abraham prospered exceed- 
ingly, and enjoyed the confidence of his fellow citizens, and bore all the honors they were able 
to confer on him, till the day of his death. He aided in the formation of the first state govern- 
ment in Ohio, was a member of its first senate, and occupied a seat in its halls as long as he would 
consent to do so. 

Jacob, his second son, had two children only, Perry Amos and Lawrence Wilson, the subject 
of this sketch. He first settled in Brown county, Ohio, but in 1822 removed to and helped to 
found the new city of Indianapolis, Indiana. It will be remembered that the ague and fever 
was so abundant in that region about that time, that it is said the early inhabitants cut it up and 



I 



UNITED STATES B /OCT.t P/r/CA L DICTIONARY. 73 

Stored it away like cordwood for winter's use. At any rate they were never without a full sup- 
ply, winter or summer, and Jacob, fortunately having a farm still in Ohio, returned to it, and left 
his share of the principal Indiana crop for others to harvest. In 1812 Jacob Claypool served 
his country in the war with Great Britain. He was a member of the ist regiment of Ohio 
infantry. Colonel McArthur (afterward governor) commanding. His regiment served under Gen- 
eral Hull, and was a part of the force surrendered by him to the British at Detroit. He kept a 
diary from the time he left home till he returned, and claims in it that Hull did not surrender 
till the British had crossed 1,000 soldiers below the fort and collected 1500 howling savages in its 
rear. 

In 1834 Jacob Claypool finally set his face toward the setting sun, and removed to Grundy 
county, Illinois. The Pottawatomie Indian chief, Waupansee, had his camp at that time in what is 
now the township of Waupansee, south of the river, and the hardy pioneer and his family, who had 
been familiar with the Indians and their ways all their lives, had no hesitation in settling close to 
them on the ten mile tract, which the government had before bought of them. He secured for 
himself and his sons and their families a large tract of this rich prairie soil, became rich in conse- 
quence, and a prominent and powerful man in the state. He filled many important offices in the 
county, as the first county commissioner, probate judge, etc., and died in 1876, at the age of 
eighty-eight years. He was a true pioneer, a man of great strength and courage, and a natural 
leader and commander among men. His sons were both true sons of their sire. The subject of 
this paper was born June 4, 1819, at Perry township. Brown county, Ohio. His mother's name was 
Nancy Ballard. His schooling in boyhood was confined within the limits of .about eleven months, 
in a little log school house in Ohio, but like all strong minds his life has been a long and valuable 
school. In 1841 when not yet twenty-two years old, he was elected recorder of deeds for Grundy 
county, and served till 1847. He was the first postmaster in the town of Morris, and served 
from 1842 to 1845. In 1848 he received an appointment as assistant agent of the canal lands, and 
served in that capacity till the lands were all finally sold in i860. E. S. Prescott and Mr. Clay- 
pool had the duty and responsibility of reexamining, managing and assisting to sell this vast 
body of land, which they did to the perfect satisfaction of all parties, and much credit to them- 
selves. He was also town supervisor, member of school board, etc., for many years. 

During the war he was a very active and prominent worker in the important business of rais- 
ing volunteers and providing sanitary supplies. As treasurer of the sanitary commission in Grundy 
county, he at one time sent $2,000 to the Chicago Christian and sanitary commissions. 

It goes without saying it that Mr. Claypool was an old-line whig, an abolitionist, then a free- 
soiler, an anti-Nebraska man, and finally when all these elements crystallized into the republican 
party he made a tolerably large and solid crystal. He was of age at the time of the presidential 
canvass of 1840, and voted for old Tippecanoe During the campaign he was at Cincinnati at one 
time when the General made a speech, and stood within a few feet of the old hero, and heard him 
reply to the charge of being an abolitionist. " I am accused," said he, "of being an abolitionist," 
pausing and raising his eyes and stretching his long arm at full length toward heaven, " I would 
to God that yonder sun might never again shine upon a slave." 

November 15, 1849, Mr. Claypool was married to Miss Caroline B. Palmer, the daughter of 
John Palmer, of Ottawa, who with his family settled in that place in 1834. Eight children have 
been born to them, two only of whom survive to the present tirrie, Henry Clay, the eldest, now 
thirty, and Lawrence Wilson, a lad of sixteen years. 

Mr. Claypool is one of a type of men who have, under God, made this country what it is to- 
day. Tall and straight as an arrow; lithe and active as a greyhound, with sinews of steel and 
heart of oak; of undaunted courage and self reliance, of incorruptible integrity, to whom it is 
impossible to teach the crooked ways of self-seeking men; earnest, industrious, faithful, ever 
ready for any labor or sacrifice for the cause of freedom and the rights of man; simple and 
childHke in manners, with heart as tender as a woman's, and stern only in the face of wrong; 
these are the men wl^ose characters have been moulded after the pattern of the heroes of the 



-1 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICA I. DICTIONARY. 

I 4- 

Bible; who have been reared in intimate companionship with nature, and with nature's God; who 
are the unspoiled children of nature, and have received the indelible impress of her nobility and 
purity. Alas ! when they and their influences shall have passed away, and the nation shall be 
left to the guidance of the artificial and godless philosophy of a pleasure-seeking and self-wor- 
shiping geration of men! 

HON. WILLIAM E. SHUTT. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

WILLIAM EDWARD SHUTT, state senator, and member of the law firm of Palmers, 
Robinson and Shutt, was born in Waterford, London county, Virginia, May 5, 1840, his 
parents being Jacob and Caroline (Leslie) Shutt. His paternal grandparents were natives of 
Strasburg, in the province of Alsace, and his maternal grandparents were from Scotland. Jacob 
Shutt was a soldier in the war of 1812-14, and participated in the battle at Bladensburg, near 
Washington. He moved his family from Virginia to the city of Springfield, in November, 1842, 
when William was in his third yedr, and here died in 1866, his wife having died a year earlier. 

Our subject was educated in the local schools ; read law with Hon. James H. Matheny, now 
judge of Sangamon county, and was admitted to practice in May 1862. Two years afterward he 
was elected cit)' attorney, and held that office one year. He was mayor of the city in 1868. In 
1874 he was elected to the state senate for the thirty-fifth district, and was reelected in 1878, his 
second term expiring with the present year (1883). He has always been a staunch democrat, and 
during the session that the coalition of democrats and grangers held the balance of power in the 
legislature, he was chairman of the committees of public buildings and grounds, and expenses of 
the general assembly, and has always been on the judiciary committee, his talents and peculiar 
fitness for a place on that committee being recognized by all parties. He has repeatedly served 
as chairman of the democratic senate caucus. Mr. Shutt is the author of more than twenty bills, 
which passed and became laws, some of them being quite important. 

He was formerly of the law firm of Robinson, Knapp and Shutt, which was formed July i, 
1869, and which consisted of Hon. James C. Robinson, Hon. Anthony L. Knapp and himself, and 
which continued unchanged until the demise of Mr. Knapp in May 1881. Soon after that date 
the two surviving members formed a partnership with Hon. John M. Palmer and J. Mayo Palmer, 
under the firm name of Palmers, Robinson and Shutt. He is a man of great physical and men- 
tal power; prepares his cases for trial with adroitness and skill, and favorably impresses a jury 
with his candor and sincerity, as well as logic. 

The wife of Mr. Shutt was Ella V. Collins, of New Orleans, Louisiana, their marriage being 
dated January 11, 1866. They have two children, a daughter, Maggie T., aged fifteen, and a 
son, William E., aged twelve years. 



EDMUND STEVENS. D.D.S. 

BLOOMINGTON. 

THE subject of this sketch, a hotel keeper, and the leading dentist in Bloomington, is a native 
of Talbot county, Maryland, dating his birth February 19, 1832. His father, Charles R. 
Stevens, and his grandfather, were also born in that state. The great-grandfather of Edmund 
was from England, and fought for the independence of the colonies. An uncle of Edmund was in 
the war of 1812-4. Charles R. Stevens married his cousin, Julia A. Stevens, who had five children, 
all sons, Edmund being the fourth. He received a common English education in his native state; 
was apprenticed to a silversmith, Thomas J. Brown, of Baltimore, who still resides there; remained 
with him two years; finished learning his trade in Philadelphia, with George K. Childs, who held 
a prominent office in the United States mint, and after completing his apprenticeship studied 
dentistry. He attended a course of lectures in the medical department of the Pennsylvania Col- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 75 

lege, Philadelphia, and was graduated at the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1857. 
Before receiving his degree he practiced his profession for a year or two in Philadelphia, and sub- 
sequently for a few months in Camden, New Jersey. 

In the autumn of 1857 Doctor Stevens came to Bloomington, and was in successful practice 
here until 1878, doing the largest business in the city. In the summer of that year he moved to 
Kansas City, Missouri; there opened the Stevens' House on Main street, near Seventh, Which hotel 
is still conducted in his name. While there he also had a dental office, and did a fair business in 
both branches. 

On account of ill health, Doctor Stevens returned to his old home in Bloomington in February, 
1881; opened the Stevens (formerly the St. Nicholas) House, remodeled and refurnished it, fitted 
it up in good style, and it is neat and cleanly. It is the second hotel in size in Bloomington, and 
is usually full. Often persons seeking lodgings there are compelled to be turned away. Doctor 
Stevens has also a dental office. His old patrons have nearly all returned to him, together with 
many new ones, and between the two branches of business he is one of the busiest men in the 
city. There is no dental surgeon in central Illinois that has a better professional education than 
the doctor. He has been a member of the Odd-Fellows' fraternity for thirty years, and is past 
grand in that order. 

In i860 Doctor Stevens married Mary B. Smith, only daughter of James R. and Eliza H. Smith, 
of Mechanicsburgh, Sangamon county, Illinois, and they lost their first-born child in infancy, and 
have three daughters and three sons living: Carrie J., Herbert, Harry Smith,_ Grace, Charles and 
Mamie Parker. 



HON. WILLIAM BROWN. 

ROCKFORD. 

THE subject of this biographical sketch, judge of the thirteenth judicial circuit, is a native of 
Cumberland county, England, a son of Thomas and Mary (Morton) Brown, and was born 
June I, 1819. When he was eight years old the family emigrated to the United States, and after 
spending two or three years in the vicinity of Hudson, Columbia county. New York, settled on a 
farm at Western, Oneida county, same state. William remained on the farm, attending school 
during the winters, until seventeen years old, when he commenced teaching during the winter 
season, and was not much at home after that age. As far as we can ascertain, he seems to have 
relied upon his own hands and scholarship for support after the date mentioned, for he continued 
to teach a writing school for three or four seasons before leaving the East. He studied law at 
Utica and Rome, and on his way westward, in the autumn of 1845, he halted at Rochester, was 
examined before the supreme court of New York, and licensed to practice. He reached Rock- 
ford, his present home, in November of that year; taught a district school a few miles out of 
town during the following winter, and early in the spring of 1846 opened an office, and was ready 
for legal business. Rockford was then a very small village. The chief end of the new comers 
was to enter land, and litigants were scarce. It is doubtful if he was electrified with visions of 
wealth during the first twelve months that his shingle swung lazily in the wind. In 1847 he was 
elected to the office of justice of the peace, and he held it till 1852. It brought him business, and 
business brought him comfort, and how much better can any office, however exalted, do for a 
man ? Since that honorable office of magistrate was given him, our subject has been kept almost 
constantly in some official position. He was one of the trustees of Rockford before the city was 
incorporated; was state's attorney from 1852 to 1856; was master in chancery for six years prior to 
that period; was a member of the legislature in 1865-66, and mayor of the city of Rockford in 
1857. We may fail to enumerate all the blushing honors thrust upon our subject during his first 
quarter of a century's residence in this place, but that will not grieve him. Office has sought 
him; not he office. In 1870 he was placed upon the bench of the circuit court, in accordance 
with the general wish of the bar of the circuit, and by the spontaneous and strong vote of the 



-,6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICITONARY. 

people, his majority being very heavy where he was best known. By repeated reelections he still 
retains his seat on the bench. Both as a lawyer and judge he is noted for being thoroughly con- 
scientious and honest. He is very painstaking, and looks up a case to his complete satisfaction 
before making a decision. His decisions are about as often sustained as those of any circuit 
judge of the state. His candor and good judgment, and his efforts to deal justly with all men, 
make him popular among the people. 

Judge Brown is a republican in politics, a member of the Methodist church, and a man of 
unblemished life. He has his share of pride in fostering local industries and institutions, and in 
aiding to build up the beautiful home of his adoption. He is a stockholder in the Rockford 
Watch P'actory Company, a director of the People's Bank, and president of the Nelson Knitting 
Company. He has other interests in other parts of the country. 

Judge Brown married, in 1850, Miss Caroline H. Miller, of Winnebago county, Illinois, and 
they have three children here and three in the spirit world. 



AARON LEWIS, M.D. 

WAUKEGAX. 

ONE of the oldest phj'sicians still in practice in northeastern Illinois is the gentleman whose 
name we have placed at the head of this sketch. He was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, 
February 12, 1818, being a son of Jehu Lewis, a farmer, and Eleanor (Cadwallader) Lewis, both 
also natives of Virginia His paternal grandfather was a surveyor, and was employed by the 
government to survey some of th'e wild lands of the Old Dominion. The family were Quakers, 
and hence took no part in the war for independence. Jehu Lewis, who moved to the Big Miami 
valley, Ohio, when Aaron was young, had a large family, and being in moderate circumstances, 
found it difficult to give his children anything more than a slight knowledge of the elementary 
branches of learning; but at seventeen years of age Aaron resolved to have a professional educa- 
tion, although there was no one to assist him even to the amount of one dollar. After attending 
a Quaker high school in the aggregate about two years, he read medicine twelve months with 
Doctor Isaac Wright, of Highland county, Ohio, followed by a period of two years with Doctor 
Daniel Meeker, of La Porte, Indiana. In order to secure his medical education, he built, with his 
own hands, a little cabin out of refuse lumber, with a mud chimney, and there lived for eighteen 
months, isolated from the world, living on the cheapest of food, and seeing his preceptor once in 
two weeks. He was examined by a medical board, passed without any difficulty, and received 
his license. He began practice at McHenry, McHenry county, Illinois, in 1840. About that time 
he married Isabella T. Randall, of Pleasant Grove, near Marengo, and of three children, the fruit 
of this union, only one daughter is now living. 

In the spring of 1843 Doctor Lewis moved to Libertyville. then the seat of justice in Lake 
county, and its leading town, and the next year went back to La Porte, and took his degree of 
doctor of medicine. In 1846 he removed to Little Fort, now Waukegan, and the Mexican war 
breaking out, he received the appointment of examining surgeon, and went to Shawneetown, 
on the Ohio river, where he remained one year, and then, the war being over, returned to Wau- 
kegan. About four years later, at the urgent solicitation of some prominent lumbermen in Mich- 
igan, he crossed the lake, and spent two years at Muskegon Lake, at the end of which time we 
find him once more among his friends at Waukegan. 

Soon after the civil war broke out. Doctor Lewis was appointed provost marshal surgeon for 
his congressional district, and he examined most of the soldiers for six counties, with his head- 
quarters at Marengo. That position he held until the close of the rebellion. 

With the exception of four months, spent with his wife at the Hot Springs, Arkansas, quite as 
much for a respite from hard work as for the benefit of his health, and short periods at medical 
colleges in Chicago and Saint Louis, Doctor Lewis has been confined very closely to his profes- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



1 I 



sional duties in Waukegan and vicinity. Although at an age when most medical men begin to 
curtail their rides, he finds it extremely difficult to do so. Old friends are unwilling to change 
their family physician, and his kindly heart cannot say no to their pressing appeals for his skillful 
hand in their hour of sickness. During his long professional career and his life of exposure the 
doctor has taken the best of care of himself, and is well preserved, and as active, seemingly, as 
he was twenty years ago. 

During the war the post which he held brought him in contact with a great many people, and 
he is one of the best known medical men in this part of the state. He is well known among the 
Masonic as well as medical fraternity, being a Royal Arch Mason. 

The doctor is a Quaker by birthright, and he has never, we believe, withdrawn from that 
society, but he is an out-and-out spiritualist, and frequently conducts funeral services, and lec- 
tures in public on his favorite religious topic, always to full houses. He is a man of great candor 
and sincerity; couples principle with his Christian as well as medical profession, and has the 
wdrm esteem of a very extensive circle of acquaintances. 



CORNELIUS G. BRADSHAW. 

BLOOMINGTON. 

CORNELIUS GARRISON BRADSHAW, attorney-at-law, son of Thomas and Lucretia (Gar- 
rison) Bradshaw, was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, May 26, 1839. His father was a farmer, 
and born in Virginia, where the family settled at a very early day in the history of the colonies, 
their home being near Jamestown, on land granted by the Crown. Thomas Bradshaw, the grand- 
father of Cornelius, was a captain in the first war with the mother country, and a lineal descend- 
ant of John Bradshaw, who was at one time president of the house of commons, and also of the 
court which decreed the beheading of Charles the First. Lucretia Garrison was of Greek extrac- 
tion, her family, who belonged to the Greek church, coming to this country from Russia. 

Cornelius was educated at Asbury College, Greencastle, Indiana, leaving in the senior year 
(1857), and is a graduate of the law department of the University of Michigan, class '59. He 
practiced a short time at Camargo, Douglas county, Illinois; taught two or three years, and was 
president of Marshall College when civil war was raging in the country. In 1S62 he went into the 
army as chaplain of the 79th regiment Illinois infantry, and for meritorious conduct on the field 
of battle at Stone River, was promoted from the rank of captain to that of colonel. He remained 
in the army until after the battles in and around Cliattanooga, when he resigned on account of 
physical disability. 

Returning to Illinois, our subject became pastor of the Methodist Church at Havana, and at 
the close of the year was presented with an elegant gold watch by his friends in that place. He 
then became connected with the female college at Jacksonville, Illinois, and in 1866 came to 
Bloomington, and had charge of the Methodist Church at Normal one year. Mr. Bradshaw 
returned to his original profession in 1867, and has practiced it since that time with marked suc- 
cess. A writer in the Bloomington " Leader" of July, 1878, gives an account of his success in his 
profession, enumerating two or three of the noted cases in which he had been engaged. The first 
case of any note in which he figured, says the " Leader," was a suit at Charleston, Coles county, 
Illinois, which was a prosecution brought under the old fugitive slave law against a colored 
woman, named Mary Brown. He was counsel for the defendant, and succeeded in securing his 
client's acquittal. When the war broke out Mr. Bradshaw was president of Marshall College, but 
resigned his duties as an instructor, to become a soldier. He experienced active service as a cap- 
tain of cavalry, and several times received honorable mention in the reports. 

His position as senior counsel in the celebrated Roach case was a responsible one. It was in 
the defense of the notorious desperado Rande, however, that Mr. Bradshaw's great originality 
was brought conspicuously into play. He made one of the most learned, striking and original 



78 



t'N/TED STATES BTOGRAPinCAI. DICTIONARY. 



appeals that was ever addressed to any jury. Extracts from this effort were telegraphed to all the 
leading papers of the country. 

The case of Professor Jefferson, tried for murder at Kansas City in the August term of 1881, is 
truly noteworthy. The accused was one-eighth colored, and up to that date the courts of 
Missouri had violated the constitution of the United States by prohibiting colored people from 
acting as jurors. Mr. Bradshaw secured them their rights on that occasion. 

He defended the Storer brothers at Dallas, Texas, accused of robbery and murder, and 
secured their acquittal, which was regarded as a great legal victory. Since that time he has 
been called to different and remote parts of the country, Connecticut, Iowa, Tennessee, etc. 

As a lawyer, he is diplomatic, managerial, planning, fertile of invention, ready to conceive and 
quick to execute. He will turn up the most unexpected cards upon the shortest notice, and will 
gain a point while most men are looking for the means. 

The " Leader " thus speaks of the personal appearance of Mr. Bradshaw : " He is of rather a 
striking figure, being tall, somewhat slender, but graceful in motion, and wears long hair, in which 
the silver may be traced, and has deep-set, cold gray eyes. In manners he is suave and entertain- 
ing. His likes and dislikes are very pronounced. As a friend he is tireless in advancing one's 
interests, and as an enemy he is like Nemesis on one's track." 

Mr. Bradshaw is a republican in politics, and a Royal Arch Mason. He married in March, 
i860. Sarah Ann, daughter of Snowden Sargent, of Douglas county, a prominent man in that 
part of the state, and they have three children. 



o 



ROBERT K. SWAN. 

MOLINE. 

NE of the most straightforward, energetic and successful business men who ever lived in 
Moline, was the late Robert Kerr Swan, a native of Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania. He 
was born July 19, 1825; was reared on a farm, and received an ordinary English education. When 
he was fourteen years old the family moved to Preble county, Ohio, where our subject remained 
until March, 1852, when he came to Moline. He brought empty pockets, but a large stock of 
pluck and perseverance, sound sense, and industrious habits. He commenced work here for 
Alonzo Nourse, as traveling salesman for fanning mills, meeting with success from the start, and 
making many valuable acquaintances. 

In 1854 he formed a partnership with Henry W. Candee, and they commenced the manufac- 
ture of chain pumps, and hay rakes, and Mr. Swan went on the road as salesman. He met with 
unexpected and very great success, and the firm found themselves on the road to fortune. Andrew 
Friberg joined them in 1865, and the firm of Candee, Swan and Company, soon became broadly 
and favorably known. In 1866 Mr. Swan suggested to his partners the propriety of starting a 
shop for the manufacture of steel plows and cultivators. His associates, including George Ste- 
phens, who had joined the firm, seconded his plans, and in a short time the great manufactory, 
corner of Maine street and Rodman avenue, was erected, and ready for use. The establishment 
has since been enlarged three or four times, and the Moline Plow Company, which name the firm 
took in 1870, has had wonderful success. Mr. Swan was chosen president of the company, and 
held that position at the time of his death. May 25, 1878, his disease being erysipelas. No funeral 
that has ever occurred in Moline drew out such a multitude of mourners. All the business houses 
were closed, and the whole city turned out to bewail their great loss. At the time of his demise 
a Rock Island paper thus spoke of him: 

'' Mr. Swan was known all over the Northwest, from the source of the Ohio River to the mouth 
of the Columbia, and could count his friends by the thousand. As an indication of the esteem in 
which he was held, and of the interest that was taken in his case during his illness, it may be 
stated that telegrams, inquiring about his condition, were received in every quarter of the North- 





^^t^n^^x^i 



[•.vrrr.n st.itf.s RiocKAPincAr D/cr/o.v.iRV. 8i 

west, and many a man on his way east or west stopped over a few hours in Moline to learn some- 
thing- of the condition of Mr. Swan. His life was full of incidents of great actions, in which he 
was the principal. The soldier boys who fell wounded on the field after the battle of Stone River 
will never forget his kindness to them. He was sent from Moline by the people to look after the 
dead and wounded who had gone from our midst to fight the battles of freedom. He arrived at 
the enemy's lines, and was told that he could go no farther, and probably there were few men in 
the country who would have attempted to disobey, but Mr. Swan went through the lines and 
cared for the wounded Moline boys wjjo were lying on the battle-field waiting for death at the 
hands of a brutal rebel soldiery. He provided for their wants, and saw that they had as good 
treatment as could be obtained, and when he returned to Moline he brought home with him the 
body of Lieutenant Wellington Wood, one of Moline's favorite sons, who fell at Stone River. 
There was nothing too hard for Mr. Swan to undertake, or too difficult for him to execute. He 
was one of those men who knew no such word as fail, and all his deeds were characterized by 
Christian virtue. He was for many years, and at the time of his death, a member of the Congre- 
gational church, and gave liberally of his means to the Lord's cause. In politics he was a ref)ub- 
lican, of the staunchest kind, whose faith and allegiance never wavered. In Mr. Swan's death, 
Moline has been deprived of one of its best, most useful and public spirited citizens, and the 
Northwest has lost one of the most energetic business men it ever knew. The rich and poor alike 
will mourn his loss, for he was beloved by men of every walk in life." 

Mr. Swan left a wife, whose maiden name was Mercy Parsons, and whom he married at Wood- 
stock, Illinois, December 17, 1856, and four children, whose names are Lillie E., Robert E., Clara 
B., and Edith L. In addition to a competency, he left his family the legacy of a good name 
which is better than silver and yfold. 



SAMUEL P. CRAWFORD. 

ROCh'FOA'D. 

SAMITEL PRESTON CRAWFORD, mayor of the city "f R.ickford, and one of its enterpris- 
ing manufacturers, was born in l^nion, Tolland county, Connecticut, May 16, 1820, his parents 
lieing Charles and Polly (Preston) Crawford, both of New England stock. The Cravvfords are an 
I lid Connecticut family, and the grandfather of our subject, Samuel Crawford, was one of 
those brave sons of liberty who took up arms against the mother country, and aided in gaining 
the independence of the colonies. 

Mr. Crawford received an academic education principally at Dudley, Massachusetts, and for a 
few years was engaged in farming with his father, and lumbering in his native state, marrying 
Miss Philena Leonard Chamberlain, of Woodstock, Connecticut, in 1845. In 1S48 he went to 
Springfield, Massachusetts, and was a merchant there for two years; returned to his native state 
in 1850, and was engaged in merchandising until May, 1852, when he came to Illinois and selected 
Rockford as his future home. The writer of this sketch first saw this city, then a village, in the 
summer of that. year, and was smitten with its natural beauties, and conscious of its bright future, 
because of its superior water power. The whole Rock River, then but slightly utilized, was at the 
command of capital and industry, and thirty years ago it required but little of the gift of the seer, 
to see a city gradually arising where Rockford, the loveliest, if not the liveliest Illinois city of the 
younger class, now stands. 

When Mr. Crawford settled here, he engaged in the grain and general produce business, rail- 
road communication being opened with Chicago in that year, and that line of traffic he followed 
for several years, afterward engaging extensively in farming operations. But manufacturing has 
become the leading industry of the place, and a few vears ago he made a change, and is now run- 
ning a planing mill, and manufacturing sash, door, blinds, etc., on an extensive scale, he being 
the senior member of the firm of Crawford and Upton. He is a stockholder in the Winnebago 
National Bank. From the time that Mr. Crawford settled in Rockford, he has identified the city's 
9 



g2 UNITED STATES BfOGRA I'll ICAI. DICTIONARY. 

interests with his own, and showed in more ways than one, his public spirit and his desire to aid 
in advancing its prosperity. He was for ten consecutive years alderman of the 7th ward, and so 
faithfully did he serve his constituents, and so zealously worked for the welfare of the city, that 
at the end of that period (1881) the citizens placed him at the head of its municipality. He makes 
a good executive, being a practical, as well as an efficient business man, and as he has energetic 
backers and co-workers in the council, the people have the satisfaction of knowing that the city is 
under a progressive as well as safe administration. 

Rockford is a very strong republican citv, and has n«t for many years had a mayor of any 
other school of politics. Mayor Crawford is a deacon of the First Baptist Church, and a man of 
solid character and good impulses. In him the poor find a true friend. 



HON. ISAAC RICE, M.D. 

MOUNT M OH HIS. 

ONE of the most thoroughly self-made citizens of Ogle county, is the subject of this sketch 
who came here in early youth, and was soon thrown upon his own resources. It was before 
the advent of school houses in the farming districts in this part of the county, and for a few years 
he had to pick up knowledge at a great disadvantage, as cattle sometimes browse upon trees 
when they can do no better. 

Isaac Rice is a son of Jacob and Mary (Rowland) Rice, both natives of the state of Maryland, 
and was born in Washington county, that state, October 28, 1826. He seems to have had no 
ambition to trace the family tree to its original trunk, and knows very little of his. ancestors, 
■ except that on the paternal side they were probably German. If that is the case the name may 
have been spelt Reis a hundred years ago. But Isaac was satisfied to follow his honest father in 
his orthography, and whatever history he has made is under the plain English name of Rice. In 
July, 1837, in his eleventh year he came with the family, consisting of the parents and twelve 
children, (Isaac being the eleventh) to Ogle county, and they settled on land three miles north of 
Mount Morris. Here he was reared, and early inured to hard farm work. That was long before 
anybody in these parts had to look out for the engine while the bell rung, and Chicago, a hun- 
dred miles away, was the market town. Isaac has still a distinct recollection of the length oi the 
road leading to that town. On one occasion he drove a four ox team with a covered wagon to 
Chicago, carrying fifty bushels of wheat, for which he received thirty cents a bushel, the entire 
load bringing the round sum of fifteen dollars. He carried his own provisions with him, and 
slept in his wagon, in order to lessen traveling expenses. The oxen fed on the wayside grass. 
Such experiences as this were common forty and fifty years ago with younger, and older per- 
sons, living fifty and a hundred miles from Chicago. 

Jacob Rice was a pioneer settler in this part of Ogle county, preceding the church as well as 
the school house. But he was a thoughtful man, and soon built a house in which young ideas 
could be taught to shoot on week days, and ministers could talk on Sundays. In that humble 
log structure Isaac had a little mental drill when there was no work for him to do on the farm. 
A little later, having a strong thirst for knowledge, he alternated between teaching school and 
attending the Rock River Seminary in the village of Mount Morris, with a little episode now and 
then in the harvest field. He was endowed by nature with a strong constitution, which he con- 
tinued to improve from year to year and which he still enjoys, having never done anything to 
injure it. After securing a fair English education, Mr. Rice concluded to study medicine. He 
read with Doctor Francis A. McNill, of Mount Morris, attended two courses of lectures at Rush 
Medical College, Chicago, receiving the degree of doctor of medicine in February 1855. He 
did a little prescribing, but soon abandoned drugs and resumed agricultural pursuits. He has 
two good farms near Mount Morris, and very likely may have other lands of which we have no 
knowledge. Since 1878 he has been in the banking business, and is of the firm of Newcomer and 
Rice, Mount Morris, and is president of the First National Bank of Oregon. 



UNITED STAIES BIOGKA PlIICA]. DICTIONARY. 83 

Doctor Rice was a member of the lower house of the state legislature in 1873 and 1876, and is 
now in the upper house, and chairman of the committee on banlcs and banking. He introduced 
into the senate what is known as the Hind's bill, which gave women a voice in saying who 
should and who should not be licensed to sell intoxicating drinks. He also introduced the first 
resolution for the submission to the people of the question in regard to the manufacture of dis- 
tilled spirits in the state. Both measures failed, but Doctor Rice is a hopeful man, and never aban- 
dons a good cause. He is an indomitable worker for temperance, and for every reform designed 
to benefit the people. No truer heart than his beats in Mount Morris. He is a member of the 
Methodist church, has held the post of superintendent of the Sunday school and is president of 
the count}' Sunday-school convention. He has also held various civil offices of a local character, 
such as road master, school director, school trustee, etc., making himself useful in many ways to 
the community. 

Doctor Rice was married, January 11, 1S57, to Miss Sarah Hiestand, a native of Washington 
county, Maryland, and they have buried two children, Rowland and Anna, and have one son, 
Joseph T., living. Jacob Rice died at Mount Morris in April, 1870, in his eighty-sixth year, and 
his wife in December 1840. They were members of the so-called River Brethren, a branch of 
the Baptist family, much like the Dunkards. 



HON. GEORC.E RYON. M.D. 

AM BOY. 

THE gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch is a son of James and 
Sarah (Place) Ryon, and was born at Elkland, Tioga county, Pennsylvania, June 5, 1827. 
His father was born in Luzerne county, same state. His paternal grandfather, John Ryon, enlisted 
as a private in the revolutionary war, and served for seven years, coming out as orderly sergeant 
of his company. His great-grandfather was from Ireland. James Ryon came to Illinois with 
his family in 1838, and halted in Long Grove, Kendall county, where George finished his literary 
education at the academy, working more or less on his father's farm until seventeen years old. 
He lost his mother in Kendall county in 1851, and his father at Streator, Illinois, in 1872. Our 
subject taught school one winter before studying medicine; read at first with Doctor Isaac Ives, of 
Pavilion, Kendall county; finished with Doctors Wheeler and Holden, of the same county; 
attended lectures two terms at Rush Medical College, when his funds gave out, and to replenish 
them he taught school another winter term, and commenced the practice of his profession at Paw 
Paw Grove, Lee county, in 1850. Subsequently he attended lectures at Rush, and received his 
medical degree. After practicing for six or seven years, and building up an extensive business, 
he was seized with a violent passion for the law, and turned to Coke and Biackstone. He was 
admitted to the bar at Dixon in 1858, and while engaged in legal practice in Lee county he was 
drawn into politics, and in i860 was elected to the legislature, representing Lee and Whiteside 
counties. 

In August, 1862, he raised a company of volunteers for the 7Sth Illinois infantry, and at its 
organization was elected colonel. After serving a short time his health failed, and he resigned, 
and resumed the practice of medicine at Paw Paw. In 1866 he was again elected to the legisla- 
ture, this time to represent Lee county alone. He also served for several years as a member of 
the board of supervisors. In 1869 Colonel Ryon removed from Paw Paw to Amboy, started a 
private bank, and continued it until the spring of 1873, when he went to Streator, and with two 
brothers, Hiram N. and Francis M. Ryon, sunk a shaft, and organized the Streator Coal Com- 
pany, which is still doing well. 

In 1876 Doctor Ryon moved to Chicago, and practiced medicine in that city in company with 
Doctor Franklin B. Ives until the autumn of 1879, when he settled in Amboy, and has since built 
up a prosperous business. Notwithstanding the episodes in his life, diverting his attention for 



g. UNITED STATES BlOGRAP/f/CA L DICTTONARY. 

the time being from ttie medical profession, he has kept well read up, and is very skillful in the 
healing. His mind is active, quick and grasping, and he packs away knowledge with great speed. 
He has written occasionally for medical periodicals, reporting such cases as came under his notice, 
and were deemed of importance enough to interest the fraternity. 

The doctor is a thoroughgoing republican, and at times is quite active in the interests of the 
party, being a man of more than ordinary influence and magnetic power. Doctor Ryon was mar- 
ried in November, 185 1, to Miss Ruth A. Ives, daughter of Doctor Isaac Ives, of Pavilion, Illinois, 
and they have one daughter, Carrie S., a graduate of the University of Chicago, class of 1880. 
Mrs. Ryon is a member of the Baptist church. 



lp:wls .steward. 

PLANO. 

IF any person in the state of Illinois is deserving of the title of a self-made man, tliat person 
was the granger-democratic candidate for governor in 1876. He was carved out of solid 
material, and some of the roughness still remains, but the material is sound, and it is seldom that 
more true manhood is found in an equal number of pounds avoirdupois weight. Levs^is Steward 
made his appearance in this world in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, about November 20, 1824, 
his parents being Marcus and Ursula (HoUister) Steward. His father was born in New London, 
Connecticut, and belonged to a family of educators and agriculturists, the father, grandfather 
and great-grandfather of Marcus being school teachers. The Hollisters were among the first 
families who settled in Connecticut. The maternal grandmother of Lewis was a Rogers, a 
descendant of Rev. John Rogers, the martyr, and she had his copy of the Bible. 

Marcus Steward was a farmer, and belonged to that class of men who regard it as a sin to rear 
a family in idleness, and if Lewis was afflicted with laziness it was early worked out of him. His 
father emigrated from Pennsylvania to this state in the spring of 1834, when our subject was thir- 
teen years old, and settled in land now partly covered by the site of the village of Piano, and here 
the son aided in breaking land and opening the farm, with scanty opportunities in youth for self- 
improvement. Tradition affirms that Lewis picked up his letters, one by one, at a very early age, 
his mother assisting him, being much encouraged by his precocity. Whether she saw smart- 
ness enough in him to lead her to predict his early death, we know not. What we do know is, 
that he is still alive, and able to do a man's work. Furthermore, the fruits of his industry are 
seen, in part, in his accumulation of real estate, he having nearly five thousand acres of land, all 
of the best quality, all under e.xcellent cultivation, and three-fifths of it within two miles of Piano. 

At an early day, long prior to going into farming so extensively, Mr. Steward had a leaning 
toward the legal profession. His early friend. Judge Helm, put this notion in his head, lent him 
books, and Lewis read law while farming and running a saw mill. Some years afterward he was 
admitted to the bar, but for some reason had but little to do with the briefs. He seems to have 
learned just enough of the law to know how to keep out of it, having never had a suit. 

Mr. Steward early saw the importance of a railroad in developing the country and furnishing 
the means of conveying produce to the market, and it was largely through his influence that the 
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad came to Piano. Surveys for that road had been first 
made both north and south of that village. Nor was he slow in discovering that if Piano ever 
reached a point much beyond a "four corners," she must have manufactories, and here, in i860, 
he began to assist in the manufacture of the then unknown but now famous Marsh harvester, 
turning out twenty-five of these machines the first year, and also the second, he being at first of 
the firm of Marsh Brothers and Steward. In five years four hundred and fifty of these machines 
were turned out annually; in ten, three thousand, and three or four years later, no less than five 
thousand, giving employment to four hundred workmen, the firm name meanwhile being changed 
several times. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA rillCA L DICTIONARY. 85 

The shops were also enlarged from year to year, until they are seven hundred and sixty feet 
long, five hundred and forty feet being two stories high and the rest one story. The buildings 
are now owned by the Piano Steam Power Company, which was organized in 1881, and of which 
Mr. Steward is president. Soon afterward the Piano Manufacturing Company was organized, 
with a capital of $100,000, with W. H. Jones president, our subject having an interest in both of 
the organizations,' the one company furnishing steam for the other. In June, 1882, the capital 
stock of the steam power company was doubled, bringing it up to $200,000. 

The machines now manufactured by the company are the Piano harvester and binder and 
mowers, in all about five thousand a year. And here it may not be oiit of place to state that no 
longer ago than 1S75, Mr. Steward started with Mr. Gordon, in Texas, the first automatic binder 
that ever went through a harvest with a farmer alone, that farmer managing the machine himself 
and cutting two hundred and fifty acres. That was only eight years ago, and now most farmers 
are using the automatic binder. 

Mr. Steward is interested in nearly every branch of husbandry, and has at times paid a good 
deal of attention to blooded stock. Some of the best horses the writer has ever seen in northern 
Illinois were owned by him. 

He took much interest in the granger movement of 1873-6, and when the delegates of that 
party met at Decatur, in February, 1876, to nominate a candidate for governor, to his great sur- 
prise, he was the choice of the convention. A few months later the democrats held their state 
convention at Springfield, indorsed his nomination, and he came so near succeeding that a change 
of one-half of one per cent of the votes would have elected him. He survived the shock, and is 
to-day one of the livest men in the state. 

Mr. Steward was first married in 1848 to Miss Cornelia Gale, who died in 1854, leaving one 
son, who has since died, in Vienna, Europe; and the second time in 1866 to Miss Mary Hunt, by 
whom he has had eight children, six of them, all sons, yet living. 



GEORGE STEPHENS. 

MOI.INE. 

THE subject of this sketch, a pioneer settler in Moline, and one of its prominent manufactur- 
ers, was born in Fairfield, Ligonier township, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, February 
22, 1819. His father, Randall Stephens, a soldier in the war of 1812-4, was born in the same 
state. An older brother of his father was captured by the Indians, and never heard of afterward. 
Randall Stephens married Martha Boggs, a native of Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, and they 
had ten children, of whom George was the ninth child. His school privileges were quite limited, 
but he succeeded, by private study, in securing a fair business education. He learned his father's 
trade, that of millwright, and worked at it in Pennsylvania until 1843, when he came to Moline, 
there being only three houses there then, and to-day there are more than a thousand private resi- 
dences. Mr. Stephens built the first saw mill ever put up in Davenport, Iowa. The winter of 
1843-4 he spent at the East; in the following spring returned to Moline, and made a permanent 
settlement here, and for several years gave his time to building mills in Illinois and Iowa. 

Subsequently he was engaged in the mariufacture of lumber and furniture on the island of 
Rock Island, in company with Jonathan Herntoon, until the United States government took pos- 
session of the property. In the summer of 1861 Mr. Stephens went to the Rock}- Mountains and 
built a quartz mill for a St. Louis man, at Lincoln Gulch, Colorado. 

In 1866 the Moline Plow Company was formed, and Mr. Stephens linked his interests with 
Candel, Swan and Friberg in the manufacture of steel plows, commencing by turning out 
above one thousand a year. The premises and force were enlarged from time to time; the busi- 
ness grew rapidly, and in 1882 the Moline Plow Company turned out no less than sixty thousand 
plows. Mr. Swan, of the original firm, died in 1878, and in 1881 other changes were made, the 



86 UNITED STATES BfOCR.ir/nCAL DICTIONARY. 

proprietors now being George Stephens, Andrew Friberg and S. W. Wheelock. Mr. Wheelock 
is president and Mr. Stephens vice-president, a position which he has held from the start. The 
company employs about three hundred workmen, and turns out a steel plow second in quality to 
nothing of the kind made in the West. Mr. Stephens is a skillful mechanic, and has always given 
his entire time to supervising certain departments of the work. He has lived a very industrious 
life, and in a pecuniary sense has been generously rewarded for the time and strength expended. 
The wife of Mr. Stephens was Miss Mary Ann Gardner, of Rock Island county, married in 
1S46. They have buried two children, and have six living: George A. and Charles Randall are 
at Carmi, White county, they being mill owners; Mary L. is married to George Herntoon, of 
Moline; Minnie Florence, to Frank Allen, of Aurora, Illinois, and Ada A. and Nellie May are at 
home. 

HON. IRA. V. RANDALL. 

DE KALB. 

IRA \^\IL RANDALL, the oldest lawyer in practice at De Kalb, and one of the leading citi- 
zens of that city, was born in Mount Holly, Rutland county, Vermont, March 2, 1820, his 
father, Isaac Randall, being a native of the same county. The grandfather of Ira was Snow 
Randall, who came from England after the colonies had gained their independence. Isaac Ran- 
dall married Gallana Chandler, whose grandfather was a millionaire, and settled in Chester, Rut- 
land county, Vermont, and is reported to have owned, at an early day, that entire town. He kept 
for years a public house, or more properly, a house for the public, in which his hospitalities were 
dispensed with an entirely gratuitous, as well as liberal, hand. He married a sea captain's daugh- 
ter, and tradition states that at the wedding he (the landlord) measured out half a bushel of gold 
coin, uncounted, as a present to his wife. He was a leading politician in his day, and held vari- 
ous official positions. 

Our subject prepared for college at West Poultney, in his native state, and was intending to 
take a full college course, but the state of his health deterred him from matriculating. He' 
taught school for thirteen winters, commencing in his seventeenth year, studying law at the same 
period. He commenced reading with Hon. Sewell Fullam, .State's Attorney Ludlow, and finished 
with Hon. Solomon Foot, of Rutland, where he was admitted to the bar in 1847. 

In April of the year before he had married Miss Susan L. Earle, of Mount Holly, daughter of 
Lawson Earle, an extensive farmer and dairyman. Mr. Randall practiced his profession for three 
years at Barnard, Windsor county, and during that period he visited the West, and spent three 
months in Illinois, lecturing in advocacy of the Maine law, an episode in his life on which no 
doubt he still looks back with pleasure. 

December 27, 1856, he landed in the embryotic village of De Kalb, with his family, con- 
sisting of his wife and one daughter, Emma A., now the wife of Lawrence Hulser, of De Kalb. 
Here, for more than a quarter of a century, Mr. Randall has been practicing law, doing business 
in all the state and federal courts, and making a success in his profession. He has the reputation 
of being a well read lawyer, faithful to his client, clinging to that client's interests with bull-dog 
tenacity, and being on the whole quite successful in his profession, the state of his health being 
his only drawback. 

Mr. Randall was postmaster at Mount Holly, and held the same office at an earlv day in De 
Kalb. He was a member of the Illinois state legislature in 1865-6, and has held one or two 
municipal offices in this city, serving at one period as a member of the school board. He has 
always taken a lively interest in the cause of education, and not unlikely still regrets that poor 
health prevented him. from going through college. 

He was originally a whig, an unterrified Vermont whig, and left that state two years after 
that party had begun to moulder in the ground with the remains of John Brown. Since 1855 
he has been an enthusiastic republican, and up to a recent date was an active, earnest worker in 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTlONAIiV. 87 

its interests, attending judicial, congressional and state conventions as a delegate from his county, 
and doing at times manly work on the stump. He is still a zealous advocate of temperance, in behalf 
of which cause he has pleaded in half a dozen states besides Illinois, including Vermont, Massachu- 
setts, New York, Michigan, New Hampshire. Mr. Randall also lectures on various other sub- 
jects, such as the enfranchisement of women, pre-Adamite man, etc. He is well posted on the 
various questions agitating the public mind to-day, and is a fascinating talker, a keen logician, 
and a splendid debater. 

His first wife died in 1861, and in 1868 he married Mrs. Mardula D. (Bent) Boeyton, by whom 
he has no issue. Mr. Randall has a compact build, is five feet ten inches tall, and weighs one 
hundred and eighty-five pounds. His eyes are blue, but his disposition is not. He is rather 
jovial, laughs easily and heartily, and is a good factor of a social circle. 



H 



HENRY REED, M.D. 

HOCHELI.E. 

ENRV REED, for thirty years a medical practitioner in the State of Illinois, and one of the 
best known men in Ogle county, is a native of Oneida county. New York, dating his birth 
January 10, 181 7. His father, Henry Reed Sr., in early life a mechanic, and in later years a far- 
mer, was born in Connecticut. This branch of the Reed family was from Massachusetts. The 
wife of Henry Reed, Sr., was Sarah Moore, a native of Connecticut. Our subject was reared in 
Crawford county, Pennsylvania, attending school in the winter term, and farming the rest of 
the year, until eighteen or twenty years of age; studied medicine at Meadville, Pennsylvania, 
with Doctors Woodruff and Bemus; attended lectures at Cincinnati; practiced in Pennsylvania 
four or five years; came to Illinois in 1852, and practiced five years at Shabbona Grove, and 
in April, 1855, settled in Rochelle, then called Lane. Twenty-five and thirty years ago this part 
of the state was somewhat thinly settled, and the doctor had very extensive rides, extending into 
Lee as well as De Kalb and Ogle counties, and in various parts of these several counties his face 
was as familiar as that of almost any man of any profession in this section of Illinois. He has 
been successful in a pecuniary as well. as a professional sense, and could have retired years ago 
with a competency, but is too much wedded to his calling, and has too many friends pleading for 
his professional aid, to lay aside the gallipots. 

Doctor Reed once held the office of coroner, but has never sought official positions of any kind 
Originally a whig, he became a republican on the demise of the former party, and is very firm in 
his political tenets. In religious belief he is an Adventist, and as far as we can ascertain he has 
lived an unblemished life. 

Doctor Reed married August 6, 1839, Miss Diantha C. Bly, of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, 
and they have seven children, all settled in life but the youngest. 



LUCIAN L. LEEDS, M.D. 

LINCOLX. 

LUCIAN LAVASSA LEEDS, a son of Peter T. Leeds, M.D., and Jane (Harden) Leeds, was 
^ born in Clermont, Ohio, April 23, 1831. Both parents were natives of New Jersey. His 
paternal great-grandfather was from Leeds, England, and his grandfather was a soldier in the 
American revolution. Lucian received an academic education in Batavia, Ohio, including the 
classics; studied medicine with his father, commenced practice at Mechanicsburgh, Sangamon 
county, Illinois, in 1852; located in Lincoln in 1854; attended lectures at Rush Medical College, 
Chicago, receiving the degree of doctor of medicine from that institution in 1856, and has been 
in practice at Lincoln for twenty-eight years, ignoring all side issues, including politics. Doc- 



gg UMITED STATES lUOCRA PlflCA I. DtCTIONARY. 

tor Leeds has attended exclusively and very closely to his business, and made it a marked success. 
His practice has been general, and he has had a liberal share of surgery, obstetrics, etc. His 
skill in every branch of the medical profession is undoubted, and his reputation vi^ide-spread. 

The doctor is a member of the Brainard District Medical Society, and of the State Medical 
Society, and is well known among the medical fraternity. He is also well known among the 
Freemasons and Odd-Fellows, being high up in both orders; in the York rite up to the Comman- 
dery; in the Scottish rite up to the Consistory, and a member of the subordinate lodge and 
encampment in Odd-Fellowship. In both orders he has held the highest offices in all but the 
Consistory. In his religious views he is quite liberal, with a leaning toward Swedenborgianism. 

Doctor Leeds served four years on the local board of education, two of them as chairman of 
the board, and did some good work in that noble cause, in which he takes a great deal of interest. 
Although very busy usually in a professional line, he finds time occasionally to use the pen, and 
employs it in reporting cases and preparing essays for medical periodicals. 

Doctor Leeds has been twice married, first in 1852 to Miss Susan Shoup of Logan county, Illi- 
nois, she dving in 1853, leaving one daughter, now married to Edward Spillman, Lincoln; and the 
second time in 1856 to Miss Hannah Wilson, of Lincoln, having by her three daughters, all at 
home. 

WESTEL W. SEDGWICK. 

SANDWICH. 

HE subject of this sketch was born of a highly respectable family, June 7, 1S27, at West- 



T 



moreland, Oneida county. New York. His father, Samuel Sedgwick, was a physician. His 
mother was Ruhamah P. Knights. When he was ten years old his parents removed to Hartford, 
Ohio, where he attended the common school until he had reached the age of fourteen. He then 
spent a year as clerk in a store at East Union. At the age of sixteen he began to learn the sad- 
dler's trade, and worked at it two years, when, with his parents, he removed to Little Rock, 
Kendall county, Illinois. Here he took a clerkship in a store for a time, but in 1845 went to 
Bloomingdale, Uu Page county, and began the study of medicine. Not having sufficient means 
to pay his expenses, he divided his time between study and farm work for two years, except dur- 
ing the winters, when he taught, receiving twelve dollars per month. In 1847 he entered his 
father's office, at Little Rock, as assistant, and after his father's death, which occurred in March 
of that year, he continued his practice. 

In the autumn of 1847 he entered Rush Medical College, Chicago, and was graduated in 1848. 
He followed his profession for six years at Little Rock, when his health began to fail from over- 
work, and he was obliged to relinquish his practice. In 1854 he opened a store of general mer- 
chandise at Little Rock, and continued the business till 1857, in which year he removed to 
Sandwich, his present home. He at once purchased a large tract of land, and laid out what is 
known as Sedgwick's addition to Sandwich. 

In 1858 in partnership with Mr. Hendee, he opened a drug store, which he conducted till i860, 
when he began the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1862, at Ottawa, Illinois, and at 
once began practicing at Sandwich. In 1862 he was elected to the legislature of Illinois from 
the fifty-first district. He was president of the board of trustees of Sandwich in 1865, and the 
two following years. For nine years he was a member of the board of supervisors, during six 
of which he was chairman. 

In 1869 he was a member of the constitutional convention, and was appointed by Governor 
Beveridge a trustee of the Insane Asylum at Jacksonville. He was also a director and vice- 
president of the Sandwich Manufacturing Company, and three years president and several years 
director of the Sandwich Enterprise Company, and of the Sandwich Cheese Company. He has 
held the office of justice of the peace since i860, and was elected mayor of Sandwich two terms, 
in 1873 and 1874, and is the city attorney of Sandwich at the present'time. In all these positions 





y 



^^^^^^--^-C^i^<^^) 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 9I 

his course has been upright and honorable, and no better evidence of his skill and good manage- 
ment can be given than is shown by the success that has attended him. He is an elder of the 
Presbyterian church, and superintendent of the Sunday school and an active Christian worker. 
He has been republican in his political opinions since the organization of that party. 

Mr. Sedgwick married, June 7, 1848, Miss Sarah A. Toombs, of Little Rock, and she has had 
ten children, losing five of them. In the summer of 1881 he started for the old world, and 
visited Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, the Holy Land, Egypt, 
the Valley of the Nile as far up as ancient Memphis, through the Suez Canal to Port Said, etc. 
He was absent six months, and during that time wrote more than thirty letters, which were pub- 
lished in the Sandwich " Free Press," and very eagerly read by its patrons. 



JOANIS O. HARRIS, M.D. 

OTTA IV A. 

JOANIS ORLANDO HARRIS, son of Orris and Lucinda K. (Calley) Harris, was born in Liv- 
erpool, Onondaga county, New York, September 13, 1828. His father, a native of Long Island, 
was captain of the first packet that ever ran on the Syracuse and Oswego canal, and was a soldier 
in the second war with England. Both grandfathers, Harris and Calley, were in the first war 
' with the mother country. 

Our subject received his literary and medical education at Baldwinsville, and Geneva, New 
York. He read medicine with Doctor J. E. Todd, Baldwinsville; attended lectures at Geneva, 
where he received the degree of doctor of medicine in 185 1, and the next year he settled in 
Ottawa, his present home where he was in steady and extensive practice about twenty years, when, 
finding that the night work of the profession did not agree with his health, he nearly withdrew 
from the practice. He made an excellent record as medical practitioner, and not unlikely worked 
too hard in his early years in the profession. Latterly he has done little more than make out a 
prescription occasionally for some intimate friend, or for some old family whose only physician 
he was perhaps for a score of years. 

Doctor Harris went into the army in 1862, as assistant surgeon of the 53d Illinois infantry, and 
held that position a little more than one year, resigning because of seriously impaired health; was 
surgeon in charge of a hundred-day regiment, while it was in camp at Ottawa; was post surgeon 
at La Grange, and at Bolivar, Tennessee, and also belonged to the Illinois corps of volunteer sur- 
geons, after leaving the service. He was recommended by General Grant for brevet surgeon, with 
rank of major. Since retiring from the practice of medicine and surgery, the doctor has been 
engaged in real estate, being the leading man in that business in La Salle county. He deals not 
only in local property, city and county, but is land agent for railroad companies in Kansas, 
Nebraska, Missouri and Texas. We have known Doctor Harris for more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury, and take pleasure in bearing testimony to his integrity and high sense of honor in all busi- 
ness transactions. To real estate he has added fire and life insurance, in which he is also doing 
a good business. 

The doctor is public-spirited, and identifies himself with every local enterprise calculated to 
benefit the public. He was secretary of the La Salle County Agricultural Society for five or six 
years, and has held the same office for some years, of the Ottawa Manufacturing Company, and 
the Ottawa Building Association, the first in Illinois, and organized solely through his efforts. He 
was one of the organizers of the Ottawa Business Men's Association, of which he was secretary 
for several years, doing a great deal of hard work to build it up. No other man here has done so 
much in that line. 

He is a Master Mason, and was Grand Patriarch of the Grand Encampment of Illinois Odd- 
Fellows in 1868, and a member of the Grand Lodge of the United States in 1869 and 1870, the 
last being a very high post of honor. In politics he is a democrat, and in religion an Episcopa- 
te 



Q, UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Han, and was for years clerk of the vestry, and warden of Christ Church. The purity of his life 
is unquestioned. 

The doctor has been married since November i, 1855, the maiden name of his wife being 
Mary Alice Merwin, daughter of Sheldon and Emily H. Merwin, of Ontario county, New York. 
They have five children, Alice Gertrude, Vernon Clarence, Washington Irving, Leon Louis and 
Marion Maud. 

Doctor Harris is an inventor, having procured no less than four patents, including one of the 
first two-horse corn plows ever patented. He is also a fluent writer, and has contributed to various 
newspapers and magazines, and has published an invaluable work for the use of insurance agents, 
and several books for the use of Odd-Fellows, all of which are in extensive use, and very much 
prized. The doctor is a very industrious man, making himself useful in many ways, and as a 
neighbor and fellow-citizen is held, together with his wife, in very high esteem. The two eldest 
sons are with him in his business office, and are steady and efficient young men. 



HON. ELIJAH W. BLAISDELL. 

ROCKFORD. 

THE Blaisdells, from whom Elijah Whittier Blaisdell, the subject of this sketch, is descended, 
went from Denmark to North Wales after the Danes had been subdued by Alfred the 
Great and his successors, and, descendants of those daring seafarers, came thence to this country. 
In Wales many of them were forgemen and iron workers. Sir Ralph Blaisdell was a noble 
knight, and several of the name were members of the British parliament. On the coat of arms, 
which is in the possession of our subject, and which is as old as the crusades, the name was spelt 
Blasdell, and was so spelt in this country until 1808, when, on the certificate of Hon. Daniel 
Blaisdell, representative to congress from New Hampshire, it was spelt as we have just written it, 
and has been so written from that date. 

Enoch, Abner and Elijah Blaisdell, brothers and sons of Enoch Blaisdell, came from the north- 
eastern part of Wales, and landed in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Enoch settled in Maine, Abner 
in western New York, and Elijah in Amesbury, Massachusetts. From these three brothers a very 
large number of the Blaisdells, now found in all the northern and western states, are descended. 
A Sergeant Blaisdell, who came over in the Mayflower, is thought to have been one of the same 
family. 

The subject of this sketch is a descendant of Elijah Blaisdell, the youngest of the three 
br(ithers, being from him the sixth generation. The grandfather of our subject was Parrit Blais- 
dell, son of Elijah, born in Amesbury. He lived in different towns in New Hampshire; moved 
to Montpelier, Vermont, and finally died at Fort Covington, New York, in 1836. He was a brave 
and resolute patriot, taking part in both wars with the mother country, and in the latter war on 
one occasion took four men prisoners alone, and marched them into camp. He had two sons and 
seven daughters, the sons being Parrit Blaisdell and Elijah Whittier Blaisdell, Senior. The latter, 
father of our subject, was born in Montpelier, Vermont, in 1800; married Ann Maria Deacon, and 
was a printer and newspaper publisher for many years, dying at Rockford in 1876. 

E. W. Blaisdell, Junior, was born in Montpelier, July 18, 1826; was partially educated in a 
classical school at Vergennes, Vermont, but still more in his father's printing office, and at seven- 
teen years of age was installed as editor of the Vergennes " Vermonter," which was established 
by the late Rufus Wilmot Griswold. The "Vermonter" was a whig paper, and when "Old 
Zack" became President of the United States Mr. Blaisdell was appointed postmaster at Ver- 
gennes, and held that office for the term of four years. 

In the autumn of 1853 he came to Rockford, purchased the " Republican," and conducted it 
for nine years. Meantime, he was elected to the legislature, and served one term, 1860-1, declin- 
ing to be renominated. While devoting himself to journalism Mr. Blaisdell gave more or less 



UNITED S7\4TES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY, 



93 



time to the reading of law, and in 1862 was admitted to the bar. Since that date he has been in 
practice in Rocl<ford. Mr. Blaisdell has also attained to some celebrity as an author, both in 
prose and poetry, his last production, published by the Petersons, of Philadelphia, being a 
popular novel, entitled "The Hidden Record." He is extensively known in the Northwest as an 
able and eloquent speaker. He received a nomination for Congress from the fourth district of 
Illinois in 1880, and has been prominently connected with most of the leading enterprises of 
Rockford for many years. 

Mr. Blaisdell has been twice married, first, in 1849, to Miss Frances A. Robinson, of Barre, 
Vermont, she dying in 1855, leaving one child, Byron, now in his father's office, and the second 
time, in 1856, to Miss Elizabeth J. Lawrence, daughter of Judge Ville Lawrence, of Vergennes, 
Vermont, and sister of Hon. Charles B. Lawrence, late chief-justice of Illinois, having by her 
four children living: Henry, George, Shelley and Elijah. 



JOHN N. BRUEN. 

MONMOUTH. 

JOHN NICOL BRUEN, one of the most successful farmers in this part of Illinois, is a native 
of Essex county. New Jersey, his birth being dated October 25, 1825. Both of his parents, 
William and Jane (Williamson) Bruen, were also born in that state. The Bruens are of Scotch 
descent. William Bruen was a boot and shoe manufacturer and merchant, and when our subject 
had received an academic education at Bloomfield, in his native state, he learned the shoemaker's 
trade, doing also some farm work now and then, till eighteen years of age. He had an uncle, 
Thomas Gould, who owned one hundred and sixty acres of land in Henderson county, this state, 
and promised to give John eighty of it if he would go to Illinois and occupy it for five years. 
The conditions were accepted, and in 1844 Mr. Bruen went to Henderson county, his land being 
ten miles from Oquawka. In order to make a start, he must have some money, and he hired out 
to a farmer for $7 per month. He did so well that at the end of the first month his wages were 
raised to $8. He broke five acres of his land the first year. He had brought with him from the 
East a silver watch and a rifle. He traded the watch for days' work in assisting to split rails, and 
in exchange for his rifle had ten acres more of his land broken. The next year he had fifteen 
acres of wheat, which he cradled with his own hands, hauled to Burlington, Iowa, and sold the 
grain (450 bushels) for thirty cents a bushel. He broke more land from year to year; received 
his deed at the end of five years; added to his little farm from time to time; bought wild land in 
other states, and continued to live in Henderson county, and to earn his bread with liberal mois- 
ure on his own brow, until 1875, when he moved to Monmouth, and is now living very much at 
his ease. 

The original eighty-acre lot, whose sod he began to turn in 1844, has had six hundred acres 
added to it, including his uncle's other eighty. He has also two hundred and fifty-five acres 
more in that vicinity, and five thousand acres in Mills, Montgomery and Pottawatomie counties, 
Iowa. All that Iowa land is under first-class improvement, and he raised on it in 1882 between 
two thousand and three thousand acres of corn, three hundred acres of wheat, two hundred of 
oats, and one thousand of tame grass, having about one thousand head of cattle grazing on it; 
also twelve hundred hogs. All this and a good deal more has grown out of the original eighty, 
the silver watch, the rifle, two toil-hardened hands, a knack at saving, and a fair modicum of will 
power. Years ago he paid his uncle double price for that other eighty, thus rewarding him hand- 
somely for his kindness. 

Mr. Bruen is a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of Monmouth. While a 
resident of Henderson county he was a school director for a long period, being willing to bear 
some part of that class of burdens, and to help on the cause of education; but he has never been 
an office seeker. 



Q, UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Mr. Bruen was first married in 1848, to Miss Jane Sharpless, of Henderson county, and she 
died in 1863, leaving three children: William Sumner, who has a family and is a farmer in Hen- 
derson count)'; Charles Edward, who has charge of a twenty-five hundred acre farm in Mills 
county, Iowa, and Ida, the wife of Alexander Graham, merchant, Monmouth. The present wife 
of our subject is Mary A., daughter of Preston Martin, of Biggsville, Henderson county, their 
marriage taking place October 10, 1865. Mrs. Bruen and Mrs. Graham are members of the 
Presbyterian church, to which Mr. Bruen is a generous contributor. 



TEi 



LESTER M. BURROUGHS, M.D. 

BA TA VIA. 

ESTER MORGAN BURROUGHS, one of the physicians the longest in practice in Kane 
I ^ county, is a native of Ohio, being born at Shalersville, Portage county, near the birth-place 
of President Garfield, September 25, 1820, His father, Daniel Burroughs, Jr., a soldier in the 
second war with England, and captured with General Hull's army, was born at Alstead, New 
Hampshire, but reared in Orange county, Vermont. Daniel Burroughs, Sr., was born in Tolland, 
Connecticut, in 1755; was at Lexington a day or two after the battle, while the dead still lay on 
the ground, and was also at the battle of Saratoga, and the capture of General Burgoyne and his 
army. The Burroughses were among the early settlers in New England. 

Daniel Burroughs, Jr., was a brick-mason, and worked at that trade in early life, and later was 
a farmer. He married Abigail Hine, a native of Milford, Connecticut, by whom he had twelve 
children, nine of them living to manhood and womanhood, and eight are yet alive. Lester was 
the fifth child. When he was sixteen years of age (1836) the family moved into this state, and 
settled in what is now Kendall, then part of Kane, county, and Lester had no schooling after that 
age. The residue of his knowledge he picked up as best he could, and as almost any young man, 
determined to know something, will do. His business was farming until past his majority, and 
he early acquired the art of turning the prairie sod, planting corn, and killing weeds. He also 
learned to kill wolves, and when about twenty was captain of a wolf hunt, the highest in the mili- 
tary line that he ever rose. 

Our subject evidently had an early desire to study medicine, as he began to peer into medical 
works as soon as he could find any, and luckily a doctor's library was not a great way off. He 
acquired knowledge rapidly, and was literally forced into the practice long before he felt himself 
competent; but the sick were all around him, and he had to help them, beginning in 1846, his 
first patients being on the present site of Batavia, though he was then residing in the town of 
Blackberry. Subsequently he studied at the medical infirmary at Southport, near Kenosha, Wis- 
consin, and afterward took a course of medical lectures at Cleveland, Ohio. 

At an early day the practice of Doctor Burroughs extended over a wide range of country, 
including two or three towns on the Fox River, Lodi, now Maple Park, De Kalb, Sycamore and 
Ohio Grove, and at some seasons of the year he and his horse used to experiment in trying to 
find the bottom of some of the deeper sloughs. His reminiscences of such experience are decid- 
edly entertaining. 

November 24, 1849, the doctor took to himself a helpmeet in the person of Miss Elmira J. 
Wheeler, daughter of David Wheeler,* of Blackberry, and they have two daughters, Mary Gove, 

* David Wheeler was born in New Salem, New Hampshire, in 1785; in 1792 went with the family to Fairlee, Ver- 
mont; was in the war with England, taken prisoner in 1S12, and carried to Barbadoes, one of the Caribbean islands, 
and exchanged at the end of nine months. He married Miss Judith Pearson in 1815, and they moved to West Troy, 
New York (then Gibbonsville), in 1824, and he was postmaster there during the eight years of President Jackson's 
admmistration. He came to Blackberry, Illinois, in 1838, and here lived a noble Christian life. The Christian church 
at Blackberry is a monument of his generosity, he being very liberal, as well as active in the cause of his master No 
more hospitable man ever lived in Blackberry. He had the respect of everybody who knew him, and his death, in 
April, 1S69, was a loss felt by the whole community. 



« 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 95 

married to William K. Coffin, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Nellie May, who is at home. Since 
1S61 the doctor has resided at Batavia. 

He has held a few civil offices, and liut a very few, his time, his studies and his energies having 
been devoted to his profession, in which he has been quite successful. He is well known in this 
part of the Fox River Valley, and very generally esteemed for his assiduity in taking care of the 
sick, and his sympathetic and kindly nature. His labors have been very severe, and are begin- 
ning to tell upon his constitution, yet he is still very active, and endeavors to respond to every 
professional call. He belongs to the Calumet Club, but rarely has an opportunity to meet the 
old settlers. 

Doctor Burroughs is a Master Mason, and many years ago was also an active Odd-Fellow, having 
filled all the chairs in the latter order. Of late years he has paid very little attention to such 
gatherings, being a home body, and finding the greatest comfort in his own little family circle. 



HON. ALBERT G. BURR. 

CARROLLTON. 

ALBERT GEORGE BURR, late judge of the circuit court, and an eminent jurist, was born 
in western New York, November 8, 1829. He was brought to Illinois by his widowed 
mother when only a year old, and she settled near Springfield. He almost entirely educated him- 
self, and fitted himself for a teacher, his first school being at Vandalia. In 1850 he moved to 
Winchester, Scott county, and for a while was engaged in mercantile pursuits. Subsequently, at 
the suggestion of a friend, who discovered his fitness to shine at the bar, he turned his attention 
to the study of law. In 1856 he was admitted to the bar, and soon made his way to the front. 
A few years later he was elected to the state legislature, and there served his constituents so ably 
and satisfactorily that they returned him, and not long afterward elected him to the constitutional 
convention. 

In 1868 Mr. Burr settled in Carrollton, where he continued to distinguish himself among the 
legal fraternity. He was a member of the fortieth and forty-first congress; in 1877 was elected 
circuit judge, and that high position he held at the time of his death, June 10, 1882. 

The "Gazette" of Carrollton, of June 17, 1882, thus spoke of him: 

"As a jurist Judge Burr has few equals. His analyses of intricate questions were clear and 
explicit, and his decisions were satisfactory. As an orator, who can describe him? We will not 
attempt it, but will leave it for those who can portray perfection. In his domestic relations he 
was great as elsewhere, and happy as he was great. His first wife, Miss Alicia A. Anderson, he 
married in Vandalia, and by her reared two children, Louis L., of Chicago, and Mrs. Lucy B. 
McMillen, of Mount Sterling, Illinois, both of whom were present in his last hours. His second 
wife was Miss Mary Harlan, of Winchester, who, with four children, survives him. He had an 
only sister, Mrs. Lucy S. Garland, who lives in Springfield." 

The same paper thus speaks of the funeral of Judge Burr: 

" At an early hour carriages from the country, from villages and towns, came in great numbers, 
bringing sorrowing friends. Each incoming train was filled with friends from a distance, and 
with members of the fraternities to which the deceased belonged. A special from Jacksonville 
brought the Jacksonville bar, and others from remote parts of the district. At one o'clock p.m., 
the business houses all closed, the city seemed alive with people, and yet all was silent. Colonel 
Nulton, the marshal, then formed a procession of Masons and Odd-Fellows, and the long line of 
three hundred in regalia slowly moved to the house of the dead, and thence to the Christian 
Church near by, of which Mr. Burr was an active member. Here the pall-bearers placed the cas- 
ket amid an embankment of beautiful flowers, tributes of love. Elder Berry gave an eloquent and 
impressive address, during which he read two poems, found in an old album of the deceased, and 
written by him thirty years ago." 



q5 united states biographical dictionary. 

As indicated above, Judge Burr was a poet, as well as jurist and statesman, as the following, 
one of those poems read by the officiating clergyman will show: 



LIFE'S VOYAGE. 

Though waves may swell and billows rise, 
And threatning clouds hang o'er the skies- 

O'er me and mine — 
Though driven on where breakers roar, 
And ragged rocks surround the shore, 
I'll not repine. 

Though riding on the maddened wave — 
To time and circumstance a slave — 

I'll bear my lot. 
I'll raise aloft religion's sail. 
And strive to ride throughout the gale. 
And falter not. 

Though friends upon the sea of life, 
Are from my bosom torn in strife, 
And by the swell 
Of ocean wave, borne from mv side. 
I'll bid them with a stoic's pride, 
A long farewell. 

Though all desert me in the gloom 
And leave me o'er life's sea to roam. 

Without one friend — 
.Still I will always onward keep, 
Triumphant o'er the raging deep, 
•Till life shall end. 



MOSES M. ROYER, M.D. 
sterling. 

MOSES MILLER ROYER, who belongs to the older class of physicians in Whiteside 
county, is a son of George and Elizabeth (Miller) Royer, his birth being dated August i, 
1828, in Lebanon county, Pennsylvania. His father was born in the same county, and was the 
third or fourth generation from the progenitor of the family, who was from Germany. The Mil- 
lers are also an old family in the Keystone State. The father of Elizabeth Miller was Nicholas 
Miller, and her mother was Elizabeth Troutman. She had a brother who was a noted banker in 
Philadelphia. 

Moses had a common school education ; was with his parents on the farm until seventeen 
vears old ; commenced at that age to teach school, and taught for seven consecutive winters, 
studying medicine the rest of the time during the last three years ; attended lectures at the Penn- 
sylvania Medical College, Philadelphia ; was graduated in 1855 ; practiced between one and two 
vears at Lebanon, in his native county, and in August, 1856, came to Whiteside county, this 
state, and settled in Sterling. With one exception, he is the oldest medical practitioner in this 
citv, and is well known in this county, and the western part of Lee county, into which his rides 
often e.xtend. At an early day, they extended into Carroll and Ogle counties. He spent most of 
the winter of 1868-69 in the colleges and hospitals of Philadelphia, brushing up his knowledge of 
the profession, giving particular attention to midwifer}-, and diseases of women and children. 
He has had remarkable success in obstetrics ; has had over three thousand cases of his own, and 
never lost one. 

The doctor pays very little attention to politics, simply voting the republican ticket ; accepts 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. gy 

no civil office, and gives his leisure time almost exclusively to the study of medical periodicals, 
aiid the standard professional works in his library. He seems ambitious to retain his good 
standing in the medical fraternity, and is not likely to lower the mark. He is a member of the 
Union Medical Society, which consists of Whiteside county, Illinois, and Clinton county, Iowa. 
He was for a short time assistant surgeon of the 33d Illinois infantry. 

Doctor Royer is a Sir Knight in the Masonic order, and has passed all the chairs in Odd- 
Fellowship. His wife was Elizabeth Hoover, daughter of Samuel Hoover, of Sterling, their 
marriage occurring in October, 1861. They have two daughters: Emma, who has just finished a 
thorough education at Mount Vernon, Iowa, and Libbie, who is attending the Sterling graded 
schools. 

JOHN R. BULLOCK, M.D. 

\VA UKEGAN. 

JOHN ROW BULLOCK, one of the oldest physicians and a leading surgeon in Waukegan, is of 
English extraction, his ancestors in this country coming over about the time of the American 
revolution, and settling in Albany county, New York, where our subject was born, October 28, 
1826. His parents are John M. and Margaret (Row) Bullock, both being still alive. John Bullock 
was a farmer until about 1839, when he moved into Albany, where he still resides. His wife was 
born in Columbia county. New York. The grandfather of our subject, Matthew Bullock, was the 
first person to introduce Cotswold sheep into this country, and he and another man imported the 
first Durham bull. 

Doctor Bullock received an academic education at Albany, where he read medicine with Doc- 
tor David Martin, after which he attended two courses of lectures in Jefferson Medical College, 
Philadelphia, where he received the degree of M.D. in 1850. After practicing three years in 
Albany, he concluded that the West presented a more promising field for a young man just setting 
out in his profession, and in June, 1853, he came to Waukegan, and has been in successful prac- 
tice here for nearly thirty years. His business has been general, embracing all the branches of 
the healing art, yet in surgery he has had an unusual share, and excellent success. In all the 
departments of his profession he has always stood well, and his rides have been and still are 
extensive. 

Doctor Bullock was reared in the Episcopal church, which he usually attends, and he bears 
an irreproachable character. He is a 32d degree Freemason. His wife was Sarah H. Garwood, 
of Waukegan, and they have three children. 

Doctor Bullock has given very little attention to politics, except to keep well read up on the 
news of the day; has never sought official promotion in any organization, but has devoted his 
time and his studies assiduously to his profession, satisfied, evidently, with rendering faithful 
service to patients, and having a highly creditable standing as a physician and surgeon. 



CHARLES C. BLISH. 

KEWANEE. 

CHARLES CHENEY BLISH, farmer and banker, is a son of Sylvester and Rhoda (Cheney) 
Blish, his birth being dated at Glastonbury, Hartford county, Connecticut, May 26, 1820. 
His grandfather, Thomas Blish, was a teamster in the revolutionary army, going in at eighteen 
years of age, his father and grandfather are buried in the old graveyard at Marlborough, Con- 
necticut. The Cheneys are also an old family in that state, the great-grandfather and grand- 
father of Rhoda Cheney being interred in the old Manchester cemetery, Hartford county, where 
she was born. She was a cousin of Cheney brothers, the well known silk manufacturers of Man- 
chester. Thomas Blish was buried in Eastbury cemetery, Hartford county. 



gg UNITED STATES BIOGRAPBTCAL DICTIONARY. 

Charles received a very ordinary education, and at seventeen years of age (1837) carrie with the 
family to Henry county, this state, and settled on land in Weatherfield, adjoining the present 
village of Kewanee, where his parents died. Their remains lie in the Kewanee cemetery. 

Our subject has always been a farmer, and he is a practical and successful one, never afraid of 
work, and never failing to make his labor count in the increase of his exchequer. He added to 
the original farm from time to time, and it now has 430 acres. He has also detached lands, which, 
with the homestead, make about 800 acres, well improved and uneclipsed for excellence in Henry 
county. He has one of the best herds of short-horn cattle in this part of the state. 

Many years ago Mr. Blish was county surveyor, still farming, however, as usual. In 1871 
the First National Bank of Kewanee was organized; Mr. Blish became its president in 1874, still 
holding that office. Mr. Blish is a Master Mason. 

He was married in December, 1840, to Miss Elizabeth P. Bonar, of Knox county, Illinois, and 
they have buried four children, and have two living. James K. is a lawyer in Kewanee, a stock- 
holder in the bank, and in the Haxtun Steam Heater Company, and Matthew B. is a farmer, hav- 
ing charge of the homestead, and being a thorough-going business man. The wife of our subject 
is a member of the Congregational Church, Kewanee, of which Mr. Blish is a liberal supporter. 



CHARLES P. SWIGERT. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

CHARLES PHILIP SWIGERT, auditor of the state, and son of Philip and Caroline 
Swigert, was born in the state of Baden, Germany, November 27, 1843, and came to the 
United States when a child. The family tarried for two years in Chicago, where Charles 
attended the Scammon School, on the West Side; and in 1854 the family settled on a farm in 
Kankakee county, where there was no school for two years. Between the ages of twelve and 
eighteen our subject aided his father and others in breaking between 400 and 500 acres of prairie 
in that county, attending school during the winter term only, as soon as there was one. 

In July, 1861, a few months before he was eighteen, Mr. Swigert enlisted as a private in com- 
pany H, 42d Illinois infantry, which was connected with the Army of the Cumberland. In 
April, 1862, he was one of the twenty brave and heroic men who ran the blockade on the gunboat 
Carondelet, landing at New Madrid. They afterward spiked seven guns between that place and 
Tiptonville, and participated in the capture of 7,000 men at Island No. 10. At the battle of 
Farming-ton, Mississippi, during the siege of Corinth, May 9, 1862, Mr. Swigert lost his right arm, 
having it torn from the socket by a six-pound solid shot This ended his military career. 

Returning to Kankakee county, he entered a public school, and in 1863 commenced a course 
of study in Bryant and Stratton's Business College, Chicago, whence he was graduated in May, 
1864. During the summer of that year he canvassed for Smucker's " History of the War," and 
the following winter taught a district school in Kankakee county. From April, 1865, to October, 
1866, Mr. Swigert was a letter carrier in Chicago, and resigned that position to enter the county 
clerk's office at Kankakee, serving as deputy one year. In September, 1867, he entered the Sol- 
diers' College, at Fulton, Whiteside county; studied there till June, 1869, in November of which 
year he was elected treasurer of Kankakee county, and by repeated reelections he retained that 
office until November 24, 1880, when he resigned it to assume the duties of his present office. He 
was a member of the city council of Kankakee from 1876 to 1878, first as chairman of the com- 
mittee on bills and accounts, and then as chairman of the finance committee. 

Mr. Swigert has pushed on, literally single-handed, now earning a little money, and then 
investing in knowledge, filling one office, and then fitting himself for another, until, rising step 
by step, we find him the auditor of the state, an office which he is thoroughly competent to fill, 
and the honors of v/hich are only a just reward for his services to his adopted country, and a 
handsome acknowledgment of his peculiar fitness for the position. Before going into the army 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. lOI 

he was intending to study medicine, but the loss of his arm necessarily led him to abandon such 
a plan. 

In politics Mr. Swigert has never been anything but a republican; is an Odd-Fellow, and a past 
grand of Howard Lodge, No. 218, Kankakee, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
December 25, 1869, he married Miss Lavinia L. Bigelow, a native of Vermont, and they have four 
children, all sons. A neighbor of Mr, Swigert at Kankakee thus writes to the editor of this work: 

"Mr. Swigert's long residence at Kankakee, and twelve years' administration of the office of 
county treasurer, with marked ability and efficiency, made him known not only socially and 
politically in the immediate vicinity of his residence, but his prominence at home gave him more 
than a local reputation, and brought him into association with public officers and public men 
in the state. He impressed all with whom he came in contact with the absolute integrity of his 
character, his capacity and fidelity in the discharge of a public trust, and the quiet firmness which 
characterized every act in public or private life. No man commanded more fully the confidence 
of personal friends or political opponents, or secured to a higher degree the respect of all who 
knew him. The satisfaction with which his friends regarded his transfer to his present position 
was accompanied with a^sincere regret at the loss sustained by themselves and by the people 
whom he had so long and so faithfully served." 



ROBERT V. SUTHERLAND. 

PERU. 

ROBERT V. SUTHERLAND, banker, dates his birth in Portage county, Ohio, August 27, 
1834, his parents being Thomas C. and Sarah (McMillan) Sutherland. His father and 
grandfather were born in Pennsylvania, where the family settled in the last century. The Mc- 
Millans were from the county of Antrim, Ireland, and were Scotch-Irish. The maternal great- 
grandfather of Robert was a revolutionary pensioner. In the early part of the summer of 1847 
our subject left home on a youthful trip of observations. He came as far west as Illinois, reaching 
Peru June 20. Here he spent a year with a second cousin, a general merchant; then went to Chi- 
cago, Racine and Milwaukee, and sailing round the lakes through Mackinac, went home, and 
finished his studies at the Middebury, Summit county, high school. He then started as axeman, 
with a corps of civil engineeVs on the Cleveland and Pittsburgh railroad, and was engaged in rail- 
roading between seven and eight years, with headquarters at Steubenville, working his way up, 
step by step, to the post of division engineer on that road. 

In 1857, when the crisis in money matters came on, and railroad building stopped, Mr. Suth- 
erland became teller and bookkeeper of the Ravenna branch of the state bank of Ohio, and not 
long afterward was appointed teller of the state bank of Cleveland. In 1859 Mr. Sutherland went 
to Lake Superior to make surveys for an iron mining company, and then returned to Cleveland. 
About that period a number of Oberlin persons were arrested and put in the Cleveland jail, 
charged with obstructing the fugitive slave law. A mob gathered round the jail, threatening 
violence, and the Cleveland Grays and the Perry Guards were called out to protect the prisoners. 
Mr. Sutherland belonged to one of these companies, and helped to guard the underground rail- 
road conductors. And his heart was no doubt in the service as well as his rifie, for he was always 
anti-slavery in sentiment, and regarded the fugitive slave act as simply infamous. His political 
views he inherited from his father, who was an associate and co-laborer with Ben. Wade, Joshua 
R Giddings, and that type of free-soilers. Our subject, by the way, was born and reared near 
James A. Garfield, and they were personal and political confreres up to the day that the latter 
was assassinated. At Steubenville Mr. Sutherland made the acquaintance of Edwin M. Stanton, 
years before the great war secretary became known outside his county. 

In the autumn of 1862 our subject left Cleveland, came to Peru once more, and November iS, 
became cashier of the bank of Peru, and when, in May, 1864, the First National Bank of Peru was 
II 



I02 UNITED STATES BfOGRAPIIICA I. DICTIONARY. 

organized, he accepted the same position in that institution. At the time of writing he is just 
rounding up his first score of years in the same official bank position. He is one of the best 
financiers in the county of La Salle, and has an extensive circle of acquaintances and friends. 

Mr. Sutherland is a stockholder and director, as well as cashier of the bank, and is also treas- 
urer and a stockholder of the Peru City Plow Company, which has a capital of $120,000, and is 
quite flourishing. He was married in 1868 to Miss Mary Maze, daughter of Samuel N. Maze, cap- 
italist, of Peru, and they have one daughter and one son. 



v\ 



WILLIAM H. COLE, M.D. 

KEWANEE. 

/ILLIAM HENRY COLE, at one period a leading educator in Tioga county, New York, 
' and now a physician and surgeon in Henry county, this state, is a son of Cornelius 
Debois Hasbrouk Cole, M.D., and Sylvia (Walker) Cole, his birth being dated at Owego, 
Tioga county, October 19, 1836. His father is of Holland descent, and was named for a promi- 
nent member of the Knickerbocker family, Doctor Debois Hasbrouk. The father of Cornelius 
was John Cole, a soldier in the continental army, and whose venerable gun, carried in those days, 
is still in the Cole family. Sylvia (Walker) Cole is a native of New Hampshire, and is of Scotch- 
English lineage. Both parents of William are still living, their residence being Bradford county, 
Pennsylvania. Cornelius Cole was a teacher, like his son, before he studied medicine. He 
received his medical degree at Geneva, New York, and was in the practice of his profession most 
of the time in Bradford county, for more than thirty years. During the civil war he was surgeon 
of the i72d Pennsylvania infantry, and at the close of the service the regiment presented him with 
an elegant watch and chain. 

Our subject obtained most of his literary education at the Owego Academy, and the Ovid 
Collegiate Institute, his course of studies including the higher mathematics and physical sciences. 
He commenced teaching a countr)'^ school at seventeen years of age; at about twenty-four became 
principal of the Owego public schools, and held that position for nine consecutive years, being 
one of the most successful teachers in Tioga county. Before his nine years were up he was 
elected county school commissioner, and held that office three years. So well pleased were the 
teachers of the county with him that at the end of the three years, th'ey presented him with a full 
set of silver. 

Our subject was reared among gallipots, and as early as fourteen years of age made up his 
mind that he should one day be a physician. During all the years that he was attending school 
and teaching, he was dipping occasionally into medical books, and while serving as commissioner 
he gave all the time at his command to the same class of studies. He read more or less with his 
father, and also with Doctor Ezekiel Daniels, twenty years ago an eminent physician in Owego; 
attended his first course of lectures in the Buffalo Medical College, and his second at the Long 
Island College, Brooklyn, and there received the degree of doctor of medicine, in June 1873. 
About that time he also took a special course in surgery, under Professor William Warren Green, 
of Portland, Maine. 

Doctor Cole settled in Kewanee in September of that year, and for nearly ten years has given 
his time very faithfully to the practice of his profession. Since boyhood he has been, so to speak, 
a medical student, and it is safe to say that he was never more studious than at the present time. 
He enjoys his profession, and practices it con amore. He has an inquiring mind, and knows how 
to feed it judiciously. His course as a physician is upward. He is one of the most scientific men 
in Kewanee, and an instructive talker. The doctor takes some interest in politics, and was at one 
time chairman of the republican township committee of Kewanee. He has also held some offices 
in the Congregational Church, of which he is a member, and up to a very recent date was a con- 
stant worker in the Sunday-school cause. 



I 



UNITED STATES BIOCRAP/frCAr. DICTIONARY. lO^ 

Doctor Cole was married in Newark Vallev, in November, i860, to Miss Bessie Rounseville 
Watson, a native of Richtord, Tioga county. New York, They have a son and daughter living, 
and had one son, Herman, killed by accident when thirteen months old. Haydn S. is a cadet at 
West Point, and Mary E. is attending the local schools. 

Doctor Cole has one sister, Caroline E., the wife of Dennis Porter, of Rockford, Michigan. 
When he was a teacher he was accustomed to address county and state teachers' associations, and 
most of his productions of that class were published in the educational periodicals of the state of 
New York, and had a wide circulation among the educators of the land. 



BENJAMIN N. SMITH. 

W'lODSTOCK. 

BENJAMIN N. SMITH, judge of McIIenry county, is a grandson of Lieutenant William 
Smith, an officer in the revolutionary army, who came from Ireland with his father about 
1746, settling in Connecticut; and a son of Captain Nathaniel Smith, who had command of a 
com[iany of soldiers, and who aided in raising the siege of Boston in the second war with Eng- 
land, anfl who settled in Chemung, McHenry county, Illinois, in 1838. There, August 13, of that 
year, our subject was born, his mother being Mary Bentley, a native of Rensselaer county. New 
York. Her father was Colonel Caleb Bentley, a prominent officer in the Continental army, and 
stood by the side of General Washington through all those trying times. A brother of Mrs. 
Smith, Judge Darius Bentley, died in Chemung county, New York, in November, 1881, aged 
ninety-four years. Mrs. Smith is still living, being in her eighty-seventh year, and draws a pen- 
sion on account of her husband's services already mentioned. She has her second sight ; reads 
fine type with the utmost ease, without glasses, and her mind and memory are seemingly as clear 
as when she was in middle life. She lost her husband in November 1864. 

Mr. Smith received an academic education, including the classics and higher mathematics, at 
Bigfoot, McHenry county, and in the spring of i86o went to California, and was absent from the 
state between two and three years. Returning in the winter of 1862-63, he enlisted as a private 
in company E, 95th Illinois infantry, purposing to go into the field, but was detailed at Spring- 
field to the headquarters state rendezvous Illinois volunteers, which was short of clerical help 
just then, and he was there retained until the war closed, having charge, most of the time, of a 
room containing ten or fifteen clerks. 

Mr. Smith is a graduate of the law department of Michigan University, receiving the degree 
of bachelor of laws in 1866. While at Ann Arbor, he was at one period president of the Jeffer- 
sonian Society, which was connected with the literary department of the University, and his 
standing while in that institution was in all respects highly creditable. He has been in the 
steady practice of his profession at Woodstock since leaving the University, and has made it a 
success. 

As a lawyer he is clear-headed and well posted, and before a jury talks directly to the point, 
and has great weight. His candor, logical acumen and persuasive eloquence are powerful helps 
to him in his profession. Being fairly installed in law practice, in October, 1866, Mr. Smith mar- 
ried Miss Abbie B. Dake, of Woodstock, and they have four children. He filled the offices of 
mayor of Woodstock, and member of the school board one term each ; in 1869 was elected 
judge of the county of McHenry, and having served three full terms of four years each, he is at 
the time of the writing of this sketch serving his thirteenth year by virtue of a change in the con- 
stitution of the state. He is an impartial judge, and quite popular in the county. While digni- 
lied without being especially grave in his official capacity, in the social circle he is decidedly 
humorous, genial and entertaining. 

Judge Smith is a firm republican, and sometimes takes the stump near the close of an exciting 
and important campaign. He is not only well read in' law and politics, but in the rules of elocu- 



IQ. UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

tion ; is familiar with the masters of eloquence, Grecian and Roman, as well as British and 
American, and whether at the bar or on the platform, he has but few peers outside of Chicago in 
this part of the state. Those who have known him longest, state that from boyhood, public 
speaking has been almost a passion with him, and his progress in that art has surprised his most 
intimate and hopeful friends. There is no other Fourth of July orator in these parts, for whose 
service there is such a demand, or who can eclipse him on such an occasion. Judge Smith is a 
Royal Arch Mason, and a member of Calvary Commandery. He is also a member and officer of 
the Methodist church, and an eminently useful citizen of McHenry county. 



HON. JOHN C. SHERWIN. 

A URORA. 

JOHN CROCKER SHERWIN, lawyer and late member of congress from the fourth district, 
is a son of James Sherwin, farmer, and Lydia M. (Crocker) Sherwin, both natives of the state 
of New York. His great-grandfather, Parker, shouldered his musket at the opening of the revo- 
lutionarv war, and was at Lexington, Concord, Bunker Hill, etc., and his maternal grandfather, 
John Crocker, was in the second war with England. Our subject was born at Gouverneur, New 
York, February 8, 1838, and was educated at the Wesleyan Seminary in his native town, and 
Lombard University, Galesburgh, Illinois, graduating from the latter institution in 1862. He 
taught a country school six consecutive winters prior to receiving the degree of bachelor of arts. 
On taking his degree he went immediately into the service, enlisting as a private in company H, 
89th Illinois infantry, and was mustered out as a non-commissioned officer, after serving a few 
weeks less than three years. About a year before the war closed he was offered a commission, 
but for some reason refused to accept it. 

On returning from the war Mr. Sherwin read law at Aurora with Messrs. Wagner and Can- 
field ; was admitted to practice in 1867, and was for some time in company with one of his pre- 
ceptors, Hon. Eugene Canfield. Mr. Sherwin was city attorney ; served one term as county 
clerk, and in 1878 was reelected to the latter office, but resigned to represent his district in the 
forty-sixth congress. He was reelected to the forty-seventh, and served through that term, which 
expired in 1882. He was the author of the apportionment bill under the tenth assessment, 
having charge of it in the house. At the request of the committee on education, he introduced 
the bill on national or common school education, which has been reported upon favorably by the 
committee. 

The congressional record of Mr. Sherwin is highly creditable to himself, and was eminently 
satisfactory to the body of his republican constituents. Mr. Sherwin married, in 1865, Miss Edith 
V. Whitehead, of Peru, this state, and they have buried two children, and have three living. The 
family attend the LTniversalist Church, of which Mr. Sherwin is a liberal supporter. 



NELSON LANDON. 

\VA UKEGAN. 

ONE of the noteworthy landmarks of Lake county is Nelson Landon who settled here about 
forty-seven years ago, and was one of the county commissioners, with Leonard Gage and 
Thomas A. Payne, to locate the county seat at Waukegan. His father, Rufus Landon, of Ger- 
man birth, was in the first and second wars with England,, going into the former at sixteen years 
of age; settled in Salisbury, Litchfield county, Connecticut, where he served as selectman, and 
was one of the leading farmers in that town. There Nelson first saw the light, January 26, 1S07, 
his mother being Sarah (Hunt) Landon, who was of English pedigree. Both parents are sleep 
ing in the old. burying ground at Salisbur)'. 



I 



United states biographical d/C7Ionary. 



105 



Nelson Landon received a very limited English education in a district school, which he 
attended during the winter term only, after he was old enough to do farm work. He remained 
at home till twenty-one years old, when he went to New Haven, Vermont, and spent two years in 
a country store. In 1832 he started westward, halted a short time at Niles, Michigan, then, con- 
tinuing his westward course into Indiana, put up a store on the prairie near where La Porte, 
Indiana, now stands, and soon afterward built the first store on the present site of that city, and 
opened the first stock of goods ever offered for sale there. Eighteen months later, in the autumn 
of 1835, Mr. Landon made another westward hegira, this time sweeping round Lake Michigan 
into Lake, then Cook county, Illinois, which has since been his home. In the spring of 1836 he 
squatted on a large tract of unsurveyed land, in the town of Benton, and there eventually opened 
a first-class farm of 1400 acres, eight miles from Waukegan, bearing another name, which then 
had a dim prospect of becoming the county seat. While a resident of Benton, Mr. Landon held 
the office of justice of the peace for several years, but he never had to injure his health in attend- 
ing to an excess of duties in that line. 

May 28, 1867, Mr. Landon lost his first wife, Phebe (Phelps) Landon, whom he had married 
September 16^ 1833, and who had cheerfully shared with him the trials and privations of frontier 
life. Two years afterward, in September, 1869, he married Louisa M. Ryder, of Waukegan, in 
the same year settling in this city. Here he is living entirely at his ease, and in very comfortable 
circumstances. The office of county supervisor for a short time, is, we believe, the only public 
post which he has held since leaving the farm. He is a liberal supporter of the Presbyterian 
Church of Waukegan, and has an open hand for the needy, being a man of kindly impulses, and 
much respected. 

Mr. Landon had five children by his first wife, four of whom were living at the time of her 
demise. One of them has since joined her in the other world. The three still surviving are all 
daughters, and very pleasantly situated. When Mr. Landon left Benton he gave the farm to his 
children, and Phebe Jannette, the oldest daughter, is married to George P. Kellogg, and lives on 
the old homestead; Emily J. is married to William M. Hoyt, of Chicago, and Helen Josephine is 
living with her sister in that city. 

HON. MILES S. HENRY. 

STERLING. 

MILES SMITH HENRY, for many years one of the leading citizens of Sterling, and mayor 
of the city at the time of his death, November 26, 1878, was born in Geneva, Ontario 
county. New York, March i, 1815. His father was Charles William Henry, a graduate of Prince- 
ton College, New Jersey, and in his day a prominent merchant. His mother, before her mar- 
riage, was Penelope Potter, granddaughter of Judge Potter, of New Jersey, who gave an exten- 
sive tract of land to the Quakers, and who was a firm friend of Jemimah Wilkinson, one of the 
nursing mothers of Quakerism in this country. 

Mr. Henry was a schoolmate and roommate of Stephen A. Douglas for three years at the Can- 
andaigua Academy; finished his education at Hobart College, Geneva; studied law with Hon. 
John C. Spencer, Canandaigua; came to the West in 1834, stopping a short time in Chicago, then 
a small, unpromising village; went to La Porte, Indiana, and purchased an interest in the then 
developing village of Michigan City; finished his law studies at La Porte with Hon. Gustavus A. 
Everts, who was afterward circuit judge in northern Indiana, and there our subject commenced 
practice. 

In 1843 he married Miss Philena N. Mann, a niece and adopted daughter of Judge Everts, and 
in that year formed a partnership with the judge, and they emigrated to Platte county, Missouri. 
But Mr. Henry was not pleased with the country, and in the spring of 1844, at the suggestion of 
his old friend, Judge Douglas, he came to Illinois, and halted at Macomb, McDonough county, 
where he commenced practice in company with Hon. Jesse B. Thomas, circuit judge. We learn 



I06 UNITED STATES B/OCRAPM/CAL OrCTIOMARV. 

from the Sterling "Gazette " that at the close of the August term of the court that year, Mr. Henry 
came to the Rock River country on an exploring tour; attended the session of the court held at 
Lyndon, Whiteside county, and was so pleased with the Rock River Valley that he settled at 
Sterling, the new county seat. In October of that year he brought his family here, living one 
year in the upper town, then known as Harrisburgh, the next year building him a stone house on 
Third street, near Cedar, where he died, the material for the house being hewn out with his own 
hands. In 1852 he opened a bank, and in 1854 formed a partnership with Lorenzo Hapgood, and 
the firm of M. S. Henry and Company continued in the banking business until 1861, our subject 
keeping his law office open all these years. 

In 1854 he was elected to the legislature on what was known as the people's ticket, and which 
the next year was merged into the republican ticket. In the legislature Mr. Henry favored the 
election of Abraham Lincoln for United States senator, and voted for him until a compromise can- 
didate was taken up, when he cast his vote for Lyman Trumbull, who was successful. Mr. Henry 
was an intimate friend of Mr. Lincoln, and regretted to the end of his days the failure to send 
that great statesman to the senate. In the state legislature our subject was one of the champions 
of the first free school law of Illinois. 

He was a delegate in 1856 to the national convention which nominated Fremont and Dayton, 
though his first choice \ssa McLean and Lincoln. The next year Governor Bissell appointed him 
bank commissioner, a post which he held until the breaking out of the civil war. In the same 
year, 1857, he was elected president of the Sterling and Rock Island Railroad Company, holding 
that office till 186 1, when, for various reasons, the enterprise was abandoned. 

He tendered a regiment of cavalry to his country's service in iS6i, but the cavalry wing, in 
General McClellan's view, was sufficiently full, and in 1862 Mr. Henry was appointed paymaster 
in the army, which position he held, with the rank of major, until the rebellion collapsed. 

He now engaged in the oil business in West Virginia and in the manufacture of salt at Bay 
City, Michigan, being for three years president and general manager of the salt company in that 
place, exhibiting meanwhile business capacities of a very high order. 

His wife died in 1870, and in October, 1871, he married Mrs. Emily J. C. Bushnell, widow of 
Major Douglas R. Bushnell, a civil engineer who aided in surveying several railroads in west- 
ern Illinois. Major Bushnell went into the service in 1861 as captain of company B, 13th Illinois 
infantry, and was promoted to the rank of major. He was at the siege of Vicksburg, in the bat- 
tle of Lookout Mountain, etc., and was killed at Ringgold, Georgia, while leading on his brave 
men to victory, November 27, 1863. He was one of the true heroes of the state. The maiden 
name of Mrs. Henry was Edson, her native place being Randolph, Vermont. Her father. Captain 
John Edson, was an officer in the war of 1812-4. The Edsons are a noted military family. One 
of them was Captain Alvin Edson, of the marine, an intimate friend of General Scott. He was 
a graduate of West Point, as was also his son. Major J. H. Edson, who belonged to the regular 
army and served during the late war. Mrs. Henry, then the widow Bushnell, was appointed post- 
mistress of Sterling, February 6, 1865, and was holding that office at the time of her second 
marriage, she being the first woman that ever held that office under presidential appointment. 
She possesses nicely framed the autograph letter of President Lincoln appointing her to that 
office. It was obtained by her friend, Hon. E. B. Washburne. 

Prior to the death of his wife, in 1869, Major Henry had resumed the practice of his profes- 
sion in company with Caleb C. Johnson, they being in partnership till his death. He was mayor 
of the city at that time, and also a director of the second ward school. He made a very efficient 
municipal executive, and was foremost in every project tending to advance the pecuniary, educa- 
tional and moral interests of the city. He was a member of Grace Episcopal Church. 

As a lawyer he was very sympathetic, and an indefatigable worker for the interests of his 
client. In any cause, legal or other, which he espoused, and which he believed to be right, his 
energy and persistency were simply astonishing. He was attorney for the Chicago and North- 
western Railroad Company. At the time of the death of Major Henry the bar association of 



H 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. iQj 

Whiteside county passed a series of resolutions paying proper tribute to his legal talents, etc., and 
Mr. McCartney, one of the oldest members, made a very feeling speech, and was followed by 
Judge Eustace. The city council also passed a series of resolutions, among which was the 
lollowing: 

Risohh-(/. Thai the deceased has left us the memory of his royal friendship; that we shall esteem it one of the 
privileges of life that we intimately knew him, and our present sadness is mitigated by the thought that he is happy in 

Those everlasting gardens 
Where angels walk and seraphs are the wardens: 
Where every flower, brought safe thro' death's dark portal, 

Becomes immortal! 

Major Henry, when mayor, in September, 1878, called a meeting of the citizens of Sterling to 
aid the sufferers at the South, caused by the prevalence of the yellow fever, and was the leader in 
raising funds at that time. The last public speech that he ever made was at the time when the 
free iron bridge between Sterling and Rock Falls was opened, another enterprise in which he was 
among the foretnost men. He was president of the Sterling Burial Case Company. 

Mrs. Henry has had a beautiful Italian marble monument erected to the memory of her lamented 
husband, and a year after his death the following poem from her pen appeared in tlie Chicago 
" Tribune ": 

IN MEMORIAM. 

Oh, pale white flowers, one year ago to-day 
Upon a coffined form in fragrant bloom ye lay. 
I cannot bear the faint perfume ye shed. 
Since soft it floated o'er my precious dead. 

Oh, manly form that bore an angel's grace, 
And crowned its glory with an angel's face, 
I see thee lying there with bated breath. 
Thy grand life yielded to the conqueror — death! 

I rail aloud to thee in wild despair; 

I plead with God in agony of prayer; 

I hold thee close, my heart and lips to thine. 

But still 1 catch no word, or look, or sign. 

Oh, rare, pale lips that mine so oft have pressed; 
Oh, tender hands in mine so oft caressed; 
Oh, loving eyes o'er which the white lids close, 
And God has set the seal of death's reposel 

No more shall loving hand, or lip, or eye. 
Meet mine in tender glance or sweet reply; 
No more that form or face shall greet my view 
And thrill mv soul with rapture ever new. 

How can I call thee dead, my own, my own ? 
Though the dear lips are mute, the spirit flown. 
Although I see upon thy forehead fair 
That God's own hand has placed death's signet there. 

Peace, murmuring heart, thy Father knoweth best! 
His hand alone can lead to perfect rest. 
Beyond the valley, dark and shadow deep. 
He giveth my beloved peaceful sleep. 
Steklim;, Illinois, November 27, 1879. Emily J. C. Henry. 

It may not be improper to here add that Mrs. Henry has a good deal of skill in versifying, and 
that she wrote a clever decoration hymn to the tune "America," which was sung on decoration 



I08 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

day, May 30, 187 1. Other metrical pieces from her pen show no ordinary degree of merit. She 
has also a beautiful crayon portrait of her husband, executed by herself from a small photograph, 
and which is an admirable piece of artistic work. Her parlors are decorated with water and oil col- 
ors and crayon specimens of her skill in that line of art. It is fortunate that she can find, in such 
tasty and refining study, a way of passing portions of her lonely hours and partially soothing her 
sorrows. 

NAHUM E. BALLOU, M.D. 

SANDWICH. 

NAHUM ENON BALLOU, physician and surgeon and scientist, is a son of Nahum and 
Anna (Phelps) Ballou, and was born at Plymouth, Chenango county. New York, September 
16 1822. His father was born in the same town, and was a tanner and currier and shoe manu- 
facturer. His grandfather was Daniel Ballou, who belonged to the New Hampshire branch of 
the Ballou family. Hi-s mother was a native of Homer, Cortland county. New York, and a daugh- 
ter of Enon Phelps, who was at the massacre of Wyoming. She was a sister of William W. 
Phelps, who was a strong anti-Mason, and published at Canandaigua the " Ontario Phcenix," an 
anti-Masonic paper. Reading a copy of Joseph Smith's bible, he became a Mormon, and followed 
that new sect in its peregrinations from Kirtland, Ohio, to Far-West, Missouri, Nauvoo, Illinois^ 
and Salt Lake, Utah Territory, he being the only member of the family who adopted that peculiar 
belief. He had no inconsiderable lyrical talent, and composed the first collection of hymns used 
by the Mormons. On the opening of the University of Deseret, at Salt Lake Cit)', he was 
appointed to the chair of Latin and Greek, and distinguished himself as an able writer, as well as 
brilliant linguist. He was a priest after the order of Melchizedek, speaker of the legislative 
assembly of Utah, and materially gave character to, and shaped the church polity of the Latter 
Day Saints, and died several years ago at the age of seventy-four years. 

In 1830 Nahum Ballou moved with his family from Chenango to Orleans county, same state, 
and settled at Carlton, where our subject spent his youth, finishing his literary education at 
Gaines and Yates Academies, in the last named county. He had meanwhile picked up the shoe- 
maker's trade at home, and for some time alternated between pounding the lapstone and bran- 
dishing the pedagogue's ferule, whichever for the time being paid the best. He read medicine 
at Albion with Drs. Nichoson, Paine and Huff; attended his first course of lectures at Geneva, 
New York, and finished at Berkshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Doctor H. H. 
Childs, president, receiving the degree of doctor of medicine in 1846. 

Doctor Ballou practiced ten years at Carlton; while there attended a course of lectures at the 
Buffalo Medical College; settled in Sandwich in 1856, and has here been a successful physician 
and surgeon for twenty-six years. He has always had a large business, and long ago attained a 
high standing in the profession and as a scientist. He is a good classical scholar, having for 
years been taking private lessons in the Latin and Greek languages. He has also considerable 
skill in metrical composition, his elegies in particular being tender and wholesome in tone, and 
almost faultless in measure. 

The doctor is a member of the Ottawa, Illinois, and the Cleveland, Ohio, Academies of Science, 
and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; is a practical meteorologist, 
having already published thirty years' observations, using all needful physical instruments; is 
associate editor of the meteorological department of " Our Home and Science Gossip," published 
at Rockford, this state, and is president of the Naturalist Association of Sandwich. Ichthyology 
and the arachnida are his specialties in natural history, he having devoted a great deal of time to 
the study of fishes and the spider. 

The doctor is in correspondence with several eminent scientists in Europe, as well as in this 
country, and is well known among scholars in natural history on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. 
He has written many essays on medical. science and other subjects, which have been published in 




~-^^ss§# 



^«S¥S*^ ■ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. Ill 

different periodicals, and which have received a wide circulation and high commendation. Some 
of them have brought him valuable prizes, notably those on agricultural and horticultural sub- 
jects. Perhaps the most useful of these prize essays was on " Dairy Husbandry," which was 
published in the proceedings of the Illinois State Agricultural Society. He is statistical corre- 
spondent of the United States Department of Agriculture; has managed a meteorological station 
at Sandwich for more than a quarter of a century, and for eighteen years reported to the Smith- 
sonian Institution, and for five years to the United States Signal Service. 

During all the thirty-six years that the subject of this sketch has been in the practice of his 
profession, it seems almost unnecessary to state that he has led a very busy life. While in west- 
ern New York, during the administration of President Fillmore, in addition to his professional 
rides, he held the post of custom house otficer of the Niagara district, and since 1863 he has been 
United States pension surgeon, a position in which his great skill in that line has shown to good 
advantage. He is also health officer of the city, and chairman of the board of health, positions 
which he is admirably adapted to fill. He was one of the originators of the Sandwich Fair, and 
its secretary for fourteen years. 

Doctor Ballou has probably the largest medical and miscellaneous library in De Kalb county^ 
it being especially full and rich in medical science, surgery, natural history and belles lettres. He 
is a member of the Presbyterian church, and stands high socially and morally, as well as profes- 
sionally. He was first married in 1850, to Miss Catherine Maria Fuller, of Carlton, an acquain- 
tance of his early youth, and she died in April, 1877. His second marriage is dated November 
10, 1879, his present wife being Mrs. Calista (Clark) Byington, also of Carlton, another lady embraced 
in the circle of his youthful acquaintances. Her mother was the first white child born in Ridge- 
way, Orleans county. His deceased wife was an active member of the Presbyterian church, as is 
also his present wife. The doctor has a beautiful southern home at Lawtey, on the Gulf and 
Transit railroad, in central Florida, with a large orange grove and other attractions, and he and 
his wife have already spent one or two winters there. 

Doctor Ballou is remotely related to that eminent divine, the late Rev. Hosea Ballou, with 
whom the Garfields are also connected by marriage, the martyred president's mother being a 
Ballou. The doctor's oldest brother, Hosea M. Ballou, of Carlton, New York, is custom house 
officer of the Rochester district, and his youngest brother, Daniel R. Ballou, a wealthy farmer 
near Sandwich, and a captain in the civil war, is president of the board of trustees of the Jackson- 
ville Asylum for the Insane. The whole family are republicans, and sprung from the best whig 
stock in the Empire State. 



PETER VAN SCHAACK. 

CHIC A CO. 

THE senior member of the firm of Van Schaack, Stevenson and Company, the leading drug 
house of the Northwest, is a descendant of one of the oldest Knickerbocker families of New 
York. He is the son of Hon. Henry Cruger Van Schaack, the author of several revolutionary 
memoirs, a prominent contributor to the leading historical magazines of the country, who has 
been for more than sixty years an eminent member of the New York bar, and who has frequently 
lectured before the historical societies, both of New York and Chicago. The grandfather of 
Peter Van Schaack, after whom he was named, and from whom he inherits his indomitable pluck, 
was the famous blind lawyer of New York. He was a remarkable man, a profound lawyer, an 
accomplished scholar, and one of the worthies of New York legal history. While temporarily 
residing in London, he was designated by the attendants at his. lodgings as "the gentleman with 
a hard name." , 

He was born in March 1747. At the age of fifteen yeai'S he entered the freshman class of 
King's (now Columbia) College, in the city of New York, It was there he formed an interesting 



JJ2 UXITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

and valuable acquaintance with John Jay, afterward the first chief-justice of the United States. 
As an illustration of Mr. Van Schaack's friendship with Governor Jay, no better evidence can be 
given than Jay's own letter, penned at Paris in 1782. It was while the latter was engaged on his 
mission as one of the five commissioners to negotiate peace with Great Britain, and while the 
former was. with heroic fortitude, suffering from the fear of total blindness that constantly stared 
him in the face, that Jay wrote his old college chum, "While I have a loaf, you and your children 
may freely partake of it. Don't let this idea hurt you. If your circumstances are easy, I rejoice ; 
if not, let me take off their rougher edges." Mr. Van Schaack's circumstances were easy, but Mr. 
Jay had good reason to think otherwise, and it is certainly a rare instance of elevated and disin- 
terested friendship. 

Mr. Van Schaack survived his old friend three years, and Mr. Jay's epitaph fell from the blind 
man's lips. While at college he received several premiums for scholarship, and ranked first in 
his class, and sixty years after his graduation the following toast was drunk at the anniversary 
meeting of the alumni of his alma mater, and which deserves to be mentioned for its appropriate- 
ness and classic beauty: "Peter Van Schaack, admired for his knowledge of the law, and for his 
classical attainments, and beloved for the virtues which adorn our nature. Qiiis jure pcritior, qiiis 
virtute prastatitior ? ' ' 

He formed an early matrimonial alliance with the ancient and distinguished Cruger family of 
New York city. His brother-in-law, Henry Cruger, the colleague of Edmund Burke, in the Brit- 
ish Parliament, was the first American member of that most august assembly, having been elected 
with Burke in 1774, to represent the city of Bristol in the English House of Commons, while 
sojourning in England. 

At the January term, 1769, of the New York supreme court, he was licensed to practice as an 
attorney. Shortly after his admission to the bar, unlike most young attorneys, he found a rap- 
idly increasing business intrusted to his charge. Respected for his talents, and with an ambitious 
nature and a reputation unsullied, bringing to the profession habits of industry, and a disciplined 
mind, and having also an extensive and influential family connection, the world looked bright 
upon the dawn of his professional career, and little he thought of the gloomy night of darkness 
in store for him. It is rare that a young attorney has entered upon his professional career under 
such flattering circumstances, but rarer still that human nature has met life's vicissitudes with 
such heroic fortitude. 

In 1773 Peter Van Schaack was appointed to the important and responsible office of collect- 
ing and revising the statute laws of the colony of New York. The execution of the work was 
intrusted to him solely, and it was performed in a manner highly creditable to his judgment and 
industry. At this time he was only twenty-six years old. His revision embraced the legislation 
of the colony from the year 1691 to 1773, inclusive, being a period of upwards of eighty years. 

The assiduity with which he applied himself to this work had an unfavorable effect upon his 
vision, and he was always of the opinion that it was a leading cause of his subsequent blindness, 
and with which he was threatened soon after the completion of this work, and the dread of which 
was ever before him. At an early day his vision had become so much impaired as to render nec- 
essary the employment of an amanuensis. He continued, however, in the active practice of his 
chosen profession for twenty years afterward, by which time the dreaded storm had overtaken 
him. But he still clung to the life boat, and lived up to his chosen family motto. 

During a good portion of his life he was totally blind, and occupied himself with training 
others for the profession which he had practiced for more than forty years. Nearly a hundred 
young gentlemen were educated at the feet of this learned lawyer, many of whom became emi- 
nent members of the bar. One of his pupils was Judge William Kent, the only son of the chan- 
cellor. Another was Frederic de Peyster, late president of the New York Historical Society, and 
to whom he wrote in his eighty-third year: " You see that like an old coachman, who love:, the 
smack of his whip, I still have some professional regards ; indeed, I have some professional occu- 
pations, as I have two students on whom I bestow much of my time and attention, of which 1 
trust they will enjoy the fruits." 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. II3 

He continued to give counsel in his profession, and occasionally gave a written opinion in 
critical cases, until he had reached four score. He might be seen in his study with his law stu- 
dents around him imparting instruction nearly up to the time of his death. His blindness did 
not shorten his days, for he lived until September 27, 1832, dying at his native Kinderhook in the 
eighty-si.xth year of his age. 

Mr. Van Schaack was extensively familiar with English literature, and was probably the finest 
Latin scholar in the state of New York, and was extremely partial to the writers of the Augustan 
age; of these Virgil was his favorite. He could repeat many of the Eclogues and a great portion 
of the if^neid, and he had the minutest part of the story at his tongue's end. So, also, he could 
recite large portions of the odes and epistles of Horace, and of the orations of Cicero in the origi- 
nal. His opinions and other papers on legal subjects were always drawn up with logical preci- 
sion, and in a style of peculiar purity and elegance. These accomplishments, so rare in the legal 
profession, and so ornamental when possessed, in connection with his profound knowledge of the 
law, procured for him from Columbia College the honorary degree of doctor of laws. 

Such was the vigor of the ancient tree, from which has sprung the branch whose remarkable 
career we now sketch. It is a matter worthy of note that the mother of Peter Van Schaack, the 
younger, was as remarkable as a woman as his father and grandfather were among men. She 
was the mother of fourteen children, and was made always happy in the singular reverence and 
affection of them all. She was a woman of refinement and culture, and possessed the rare accom- 
plishment of elegant conversational powers, combined with great energy of character. To her do- 
mestic virtues, a household well ordered by her care, a numerous family trained by the strenuous 
authority of love to lives of honor and usefulness, bear the best witness. Added to her domestic 
virtues she was distinguished for a notable kindliness of temper, gentle courtesy, great benevo- 
lence and deep piety. She was married at the age of seventeen, and was called to rest from her 
labors August 31, 1876, after being blessed in a most happy married life of nearly fifty years. She 
was a native of Southwick, Hampden county, Massachusetts, and a daughter of Chauncey Ives, an 
officer in the war of 1812, and a gentleman of great refinement, energy and decision of character. 
Her grandfather Pelton was a soldier in the revolutionary war. 

Peter Van Schaack, whose career we now record, was born at Manlius, New York, April 7, 
1832. He attended the academy at that place till about fourteen years old, when, stimulated by 
a worthy ambition, he boldly set out upon the business of his life. From a very early age he had 
developed a great preference for the drug business, and as soon as he could get permission he 
entered a drug store in Albany, New York, as a clerk. Here he made very rapid progress, and in 
the year 1849 went to New York city, and engaged in business there, but the climate not agreeing 
with his health, in 1856 he went to Charleston, South Carolina, and established a wholesale and 
retail drug house. He soon had a very large and lucrative business, commanded the confidence 
of the trade, had unlimited credit in New York, and most brilliant prospects for the future, 
when the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter sounded the death knell of all his busi- 
ness hopes. He had the wisdom to foresee the trouble in store for all northern men within the 
rebel lines, and without delay sent his wife and two little children north. He remained till mid- 
summer, when he was compelled to abandon all his possessions, and went to Europe. On his 
return he visited General Gilmore, and was present at the bombardment of Charleston by the 
gunboats under his command. He had the satisfaction to see his store with what remained of 
its contents unconfiscated, consumed by the fire of the Union shells. 

It may be well to mention here that of all his possessions in Charleston he brought away 
scarcely anything, but after the close of the war he recovered the life-size image of a negro, which 
stood as a sign in front of his store, holding the brazen mortar and pestle. That oaken corpse of 
defunct hopes still stands in the yard in the rear of his residence in Chicago, minus head and 
arms, knocked off by one of Gilmore's shells, thrown over three miles, from the Swamp Angel, in 
1864. It is a melancholy memento of what Judge Tourgee calls " A Fool's Errand," but invaluable 
to him and his family as a proof of the indomitable energy and skill of the head of the house who 
so rapidly and surely snatched victory from defeat, and replaced a lost fortune by a greater one. 



ti4 



VNITED STATES S/OGK'.I P/flCA L DICTIONARY. 



While being entertained by General Gilmore at his headquarters, on Morris Island, Charleston 
Harbor, he shared in the common anticipation of an easy victory and the speedy termination of 
the rebellion, but after a fruitless waiting of some months he gave up the hope and returned to 
New York. Here he remained in business about a year, but in the spring of 1864 came to Chi- 
cago, and established "The Old Salamander Drug House," an establishment whose name and solid 
reputation has penetrated to every drug store of the Northwest. As an unmistakable indication 
of the strength of his character and of its solid foundation in the principles of honesty and 
uprightness, it may be mentioned that Mr. Van Schaack steadily refused to leave his old home in 
Charleston until all his business indebtedness at the North, as well as at the South had been paid 
in full. As an illustration of this it may be stated that the gold that went to pay his last northern 
account had to be bought at a premium of eighty-six per cent. 

But adverse fortune seemed bent on his overthrow, and after he became fully established in 
Chicago, but before he had recovered his losses consequent upon the rebellion, the terrible Lake 
street fire, in the winter of 1868, came and swept all away for the second time. Everything but 
honor, reputation and energy went down in the fury of the flames. But "The Old Salamander 
Drug House" justifies its reputation, and the next day, phcenix-like. it had arisen from the 
ashes and stuck out a new shingle. 

Mr. Van Schaack, who is, by the way, a great wag, informed the trade, on a large sign board 
placed in front of the ruins of his old store, that, "on account of the intense heat," they had 
removed to new quarters, and could hereafter be found at the corner of Randolph street and 
Michigan avenue. The drug house of Van Schaack, Stevenson and Company, although having 
sustained heavy losses in the great Chicago fire of 187 i by the total destruction of their store and 
warehouse, paid one hundred cents on the dollar, and immediately resumed business upon as 
sound a basis as before. After the fire, when mercantile houses were at a great extremity to 
secure temporary facilities for carrying on their business, Mr. Van Schaack found a large and 
commodious church, which had recently been vacated, and thinking that a building once ded- 
icated to religious uses would be still further consecrated b}' the pure incense of genuine drugs 
and patent medicines, the firm made that their resting place until their new store, on the old site, 
at the corner of Lake and Dearborn streets, was completed. 

For a period now of nearly twelve years fortune has continued to smile on them, and the 
house has reached the pinnacle of prosperity, and may be said to be second to none in their line 
in the Northwest. His energy and executive ability are remarkable To witness the celerity 
and vim with which he dispatches business makes an easy-going man feel like stepping off the 
track to let the train go by. Few men have either the energy or the will-power to battle as he 
has done with the outrages of an adverse fortune, and conquer them all while still a young man. 
He has been the living embodiment of persistent energy and indomitable pluck, and has 
triumphed over obstacles and disasters which would have crushed ordinary men. 

His whole life has been a grand illustration of the motto of his family, '' Siipc/ciiiJa fortmia 
fereiu/o." This has been the philosophy of his life, as it was that of his grandfather, Peter Van 
Schaack, and interpreted by his own language and the events through which he has passed, means 
that "fortune is to be overcome by enduring it with patience and fortitude." 

In the fall of 1857 Mr. Van Schaack contracted a happy matrimonial alliance with Miss Louise 
Smith, the only child of J. Calvin Smith, a wholesale merchant of New York city, and a gentle- 
man of great education and fine social position. Her grandfather was the well-known Isaac T. 
Storm, the founder of the firm of Storm, Smith and Company, one of the oldest mercantile 
houses in America. Four sons and one daughter, the latter recently happily married, are the fruit 
of this union. Mr. Van Schaack gives employment to three sons in his immense establishment. 
His second son, Henry Cruger Van Schaack, is one of the rising young attorneys of Chicago, and 
bids more than promise to keep up the legal reputation of the family. He has a fine legal mind, 
is a great student and a fluent orator, and will make his mark as "a court advocate. He is one of 
the trustees of his ahna inatcr, the Chicago University, and is associated with his uncle, Corne- 



A 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I15 

lius Van Schaack, a well known and successful attorney of this city, and an officer under General 
Sheridan in the late war. In 1880 Mr. Van Schaack took his entire family with him to Europe 
for an extended trip. The eldest son, however, continued his travels into Egypt, and furnished 
the "Times" and European journals with a series of very brilliant letters from the ancient land 
of the Pyramids. He is a gentleman of fine mind and extensive information, and his letters were 
widely read and greatly admired. Politically Mr. Van Schaack is a democrat, but not an office- 
seeker, nor a slave to party. With his natural, sturdy independence he follows his own inclina- 
tions, and votes for the best man, regardless of party. He is by nature, however, an inveterate 
foe to oppression and without reverence for ancient abuses, however strongly intrenched in cus- 
tum. This makes him a reformer, and hence, while a member of Christ Episcopal Church, he 
took sides heartily in the reformed movement headed by Bishop Cheney, and, as a member of 
the vestry, stood by him in the subsequent successful struggle with Bishop Whitehouse over the 
possession of the church property belonging to the congregation. 



NATHAN E. LYMAN. 

ROCk'TORD. 

NATHAN ELIJAH LYMAN, president of the People's Bank of Rockford, was born in Rush- 
ford, Allegany county, New York, November 17, 1834, being a son of Reuben L. Lyman, 
a farmer, of New York birth, and Mary C. (Kimball) Lyman, a native of Vermont. His grand- 
father, Elijah Lyman, was a soldier in the second war with England, and his great-grandfather, 
Gideon Lyman, in the first. The Lyman family came from Highongar, England, near the close 
of the seventeenth century, and our subject is descended from John Lyman, which branch settled 
at Northampton, Massachusetts, spreading thence into New York and the western states. 

Nathan was educated at the Rushford Academy, having among his schoolmates Hon. Henry 
M, Teller, United States senator for Colorado, and Hon. Thaddeus C. Pound, member of congress 
from Wisconsin. 

Mr. Lymap taught school three years in his native state, and in 1S55 came to Illinois, locating 
at Erie, Whiteside county, and there engaging in mercantile pursuits. In 1861 he removed to 
Livingston county, and aided in founding the old Fairbury Bank, which afterward became the 
First National Bank of Fairbury. 

In 1873, at thirty-eight years of age, Mr. Lyman was elected president of the People's Bank 
of Rockford, and immediately removed to this city. He has proved an able manager of this insti- 
tution, and is making it a grand success, it being one of the most substantial banks in Winnebago 
county. 

Mr. Lyman is treasurer and one of the directors of the Rockford Boot and Shoe Manufactur- 
ing Company, of which he was one of the founders; is one of the proprietors of the Rockford 
Cutlery Company, and a member of the firm of Lockwood and Lyman, who are manufacturing 
screen doors, green wire cloth, brass and iron wire cloth, door springs, etc., these all being pros- 
perous enterprises. Mr. Lyman is also treasurer of the Home Building and Loan Association, 
another thrifty institution. He has likewise the same office in the Merchants and Manufacturers' 
Mutual Insurance Company. The burdens of office seem to be heaped upon him, but he has 
spirit sufficient for them all. 

Sunday is a busy day with him, as well as the six week days, for he is superintendent of the 
Court street Methodist Sunday school, of which church he is a member and very liberal supporter, 
and we doubt if any labor^is performed by him with more cheerfulness and zest than that of the 
day of rest. "Mr. Lyman is known," writes a friend, "as an earnest Christian worker, ready for 
every good word and work. Sincerely devoted to the interests of the city, the church and his 
home, there is not to be found a busier man in Rockford. His advice is sought in matters of 
business, and the various official relations he sustains to the church attest to the high esteem in 



Il6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

which he is held. His genial nature wins him many warm friends. Mr. Lyman is greatly inter- 
ested in the local schools, and was at one period president of the city board of education. He 
has held the office of city treasurer for two or three terms. 

Mr. Lyman married, March 30, 1857, Rachel A., daughter of Joseph Weaver, one of the leading 
citizens of Erie, Illinois, and they have three children. 



JOHN H. BEAUMONT, M.D. 

FREEPORT. 

JOHN HENRY BEAUMONT, homoeopathic physician and surgeon, one of the oldest medical 
practitioners in Stephenson count}', was a native of Washington county, New York, being born 
at Sandy Hill, February 12, 1818. His father was William Beaumont, a millwright; his grand- 
father was Daniel Beaumont, a revolutionary patriot and soldier of French pedigree, and his 
mother was Deborah Harris, a native of New York state. When John was five years the family 
moved to Champlain, Clinton count}', where the son was educated in the common school, doing 
also some work on a farm which his father owned. At an early age he began to take much inter- 
est in surgery, which he studied in private, much to the detriment and even destruction of certain 
live animals in and about the pig-sty. In his studies in this branch of the healing art, he received 
some encouraging words from his cousin. Doctor William Beaumont, that eminent surgeon of the 
United States army, who gave the first insight into the theory of digestion, and is the highest 
authority on that subject in this countrv. 

The family of William Beaumont fell into the westward current when their son John was 
twenty-two years of age, and the father, mother, and ten children found a new home in Elkhart, 
Indiana, in 1840. Of this large family of children but one survives the doctor, James Beau- 
mont, of Kidder, Missouri, who was present at his brother's funeral. 

It was about four years later when the subject of this sketch accepted employment with his 
uncle, Deacon Josiah Beaumont, of Joliet, in this state. In 1863 he settled in Freeport, where he 
died February 24, 1883. 

He was a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy, and in 1870 was president of the 
Illinois Homoeopathic Medical Association, being well known in this state, and having many 
prominent medical friends in other states. The doctor wrote occasionally for medical peri- 
odicals, mainly reports of cases in connection with his practice. He was a member of the Presby- 
terian Church, and a man of excellent standing. 

He married in 1844, Miss Alcista Melissa Bebee, a native of Starksborough, Vermont, and they 
had three children, all settled in life: Emma, married to George W. Clark, merchant, Freeport; 
Rose Ann, married to Doctor L. M. Currier, of Sycamore, Illinois, and John Flanders Beaumont, 
M.D., a graduate of the Homoeopathic College, Philadelphia, and of the Ophthalmic Hospital, New 
York, who is practicing at Minneapolis, Minnesota, making a specialty of the eye and ear, and 
being a young man of much promise. 



ALEXANDER BRUCE. 

MARSEILLES. 
ALEXANDER BRUCE, banker and railroad contractor, is a native of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 
r\. a son of George and Ann (Brown) Bruce, and was born July 30, 1827. His mother was a 
native of Banff, Scotland. His father and grandfather were millers and mill-wrights, and when 
he had finished his education (common English) he learned the same trade. In 1844 he left the 
old country, came directly to Lockport, this state, and there worked at his trade until 1852, when 
he moved to La Salle, and took charge of the construction of bridges on the Illinois Central rail- 
road, which was then building. The first train to enter La Salle went in from Chicago on the 
Rock Island road, March 6, 1853. 



UNITED STAIF.S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 117 

In 1855 Mr. Bruce moved to Marseilles, continuing the same business, in which he has been 
engaged most of the time for more than a quarter of a century. He has had contracts on more 
than a dozen of roads, principally the masonry of bridges, and is one of the most energetic and 
competent business men in this part of the state. In 1864 he commenced buying and shipping 
orain, operating at different points, principally at Seneca, La Salle county, and Henry, Marshall 
county, building up in a short time a very extensive business, and becoming the leading grain 
shipper in this section. 

In 1873 Mr. Bruce became a stockholder in the First National Bank of Marseilles, and has 
been its president ever since. It is a well managed institution, solid and popular, and doing a 
good business. Mr. Bruce has held a few municipal offices, giving a reasonable portion of his 
time to the discharge of such duties, but has never been a seeker after honors in that direction. 
He seems to have aimed to become a successful business man, and has succeeded admirably. In 
politics he early became a republican, voting for General John C. Fremont in 1856, and for 
Abraham Lincoln in i860 and 1S64. He married Mary Smith, a native of Scotland, in 1854, and 
they have six children. 

Mr. Bruce came to the United States with very little means, save a desire to find something to 
do, and a good constitution to back up that desire when work was found. His accumulations 
are the result of wise plannings and business-pushing propensities. 



HENRY L. BENNETT. 

GENEVA. 

HENRY LEROY BENNETT, a prominent flour manufacturer and enterprising man, and a 
son of Stephen Bennett, miller, was born at Lisle, Broome county, New York, June 6, 1828. 
His mother was Robey Green, whose father was an officer in the revolutionary war, and whose 
mother was the wife of three revolutionary officers, and aided in preparing many a meal for General 
Washington. She drew a pension till her death, which occurred at ninety-eight years of age. 

Henry was educated in a district school, having very limited opportunities, and acquiring a 
business education by his own exertions as the exigencies arose. He left home at seventeen 
years of age, learned the milling business at Oswego, New York, and was engaged for several 
years in starting mills at various places in that state. Mr. Bennett came to the West in 1855, and 
made, at Piano, Illinois, the first flour ever manufactured for Lewis Stewart ; also the first flour 
made at Sandwich. He started the mill for Detcher and Wyman, of Amboy, the latter member 
of the firm being General Wyman, who was killed at Vicksburg. 

In 1859 Mr. Bennett commenced for himself at Avon, Fulton county, where he did a success- 
ful business for eight years, removing thence to Geneva in 1866. Here he bought, in company 
with his brother, of C. B. Dodson, the City Mills, now known as the Bennett Mills, then having 
three run of stone, and since greatly enlarged. The mills now have eight run of stone, and 
rollers equivalent to three run, and are running night and day, usually the year round, turning 
out one hundred and sixty barrels every twenty-four hours. 

Among the most popular brands made in these mills are the Geneva Belle patent, and the 
Oracle, straight white winter, which, with other cheaper brands of his, are well known all over 
this part of the countr)-. So excellent is the quality of his flour, and so great is the demand for 
it, that he is sometimes behind in his orders, which is slightly annoying to a prompt business 
man like Mr. Bennett. He is one of the best practical millers in the state, having given thirty- 
five years to the closest study of the business, and acquired a complete mastery of the art. He 
takes pride in his trade, gives his time assiduously to it, and hence the difficulty of eclipsing him 
in the manufacture of choice brands of flour. 

Mr. Bennett has, at sundry times, done some valuable work in the town council of Geneva, 
and is a first-class business man, but he evidently does not covet office. He is a straight republi- 
can in politics; a Unitarian in religion and an upright, substantial citizen. 



Il8 UNITED STATES BIOGRAriTICAT. DICTIONARY. 

He first married in 1848, Miss Isabel Marsh, of Constantia, Oswego county, New York, and she 
died in 185 1, leaving one son, Adalbert Bennett, now living in Constantia; and the second time in 
1853, Miss Helen E. Bliss, also of Constantia, having by her four children: Alice, the wife of C. 
W. Gates, of Geneva, and Isabel J., George H., and Fred Elmer, who are all at home. 



JACOB HAISH. 

DE A' A LB. 

AMONG the self-instructed, self-made and eminently successful citizens of De Kalb county, 
Illinois, may be safely ranked the gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of 
this sketch. He is a native of Bonddish, Germany, dating his birth March 9, 1827, and is a son of 
Christian and Christena (Laman) Haish, men>bers of the farming community. The family came 
to this country when Jacob was nine years old, and settled in Crawford county, Ohio, where he 
received a limited English education, and had a generous experience in swinging an ax, his father 
opening a farm in the woods. He aided in clearing land and tilting the soil until nineteen or 
twenty years of age, when he pushed westward into Illinois, and made a halt at Naperville, Du 
Page county, where he worked a few seasons at first as a farm hand. While there, in 1848, he 
married Miss Sophie Brown, of that county, and a year later came into this county, locating on a 
farm in Pierce township. A few years afterward he moved into the village, now city, of De Kalb, 
and after working awhile as a house carpenter, a trade which he had picked up, he went into 
the lumber trade, at the same time taking contracts as a builder, and doing a thrifty business. 

In 1873 he made his first attempt to attach a barb to wire, in December of which year he filed 
his first patent, which was issued January 20, 1874. Improvements were made from year to year, 
and half a dozen patents in all of his have been issued, fairly entitling him to rank among the 
prominent inventors of the present decade. Taking a choice of the lot of his inventions, he has 
since been manufacturing steel barb fencing on the best principle and devices, the same being 
the famous S patent, and is meeting with almost marvelous success. 

Mr. Haish built his first barb wire factory in 1874, a humble, unpretending structure, which 
he enlarged from year to year, and in 1881 he put up a building one hundred by three hundred 
feet in length, and two stories high, and now gives employment to a hundred workmen, and is 
turning out from twenty-five to thirty tons of steel barb wire daily. This is the state of things 
in May, 1882, and very likely before this work gets into the hands of its patrons, the capacity of 
his shops may be doubled. 

When Mr. Haish's new factory was first completed, the editor of a local paper thus spoke of it: 

"The new factory just completed, wherein is manufactured the world renowned Pioneer S 
Barb Steel Fence Wire rivals any establishment of the kind in the West as the most perfect in all 
its appointments, and the most casual observer will be startled at the effort displayed to intro- 
duce all the modern improvements of the age. It is no extravagance of language to say that a 
finer equipped factory is not in existence. It has an obelisk one hundred and twenty-five feet in 
height, from the summit of which you may look down the inside of a less pretentious structure 
twenty miles distant. This obelisk is both ornamental and useful, serving as an advertisement and 
guide to the wanderer, and as a smoke stack to the factory. The building covers forty thousand 
square feet of floor space ; is two stories in height, with a frontage on Sixth street of one hundred 
and twelve feet, and three hundred feet on Main street. The structure is built of pressed brick of 
the French Renaissance order of architecture. 

To see what science has accomplished, let us walk through the building. Vou are led natur- 
ally to where the gem of an engine is running, so perfect in its movements that no sound indi- 
cates that it makes a speed of one hundred and ten revolutions a minute. It is of the Buckeye 
pattern, of the latest approved design, one hundred and fifty horse power, capable of running one 
hundred barb fence machines with the needed complement of lathes, drills, spoolers, planers, saw- 



UNITED STATES RrOGRAPHICAI- DICTIONARY. _ 121 

ing and Ijoring machines, and one sixteen Brush electric light machine. Just beside the engine 
are two immense tubular boilers, adorned with a net work of valves and pipes, intricate enough 
to the ordinary observer, but all serving their place. One set leads to the large water tanks, 
another to supply steam for heating the building, another for an outlet to the chimes or whistles, 
whose musical power will awaken the dead memories of the old croakers to the fact that De Kalb 
stands out preeminent as a town of push and energy, and the near future will reveal that improve- 
ments have only commenced. Just in range with the above comes the dynamo, which generates 
the electricity to feed the thirty carbons for lighting the factory, the opera house and principal 
streets of the city. 

This plant, including engine,' boilers, steam pipes, radiators and coils for heating the entire 
building, reaches the sum of one hundred thousand dollars. Starting at one end of the building 
you may look down the distance and see fifty barb fence machines in active operation. On the 
floor above fifty more machines will be placed in motion, as Mr. Haish finds already that his 
calculations for space w'ere too small, and he will need to add largely to his works ; hence in the 
not distant future the old hay press lots will have to pay tribute to the growing demands of wire 
and other articles of merchandise it is intended to manufacture. 

Mr. Haish was the first person to introduce barb wire into the country, and to enamel and 
coat it, and in his line of manufacture, is one of the foremost men of the world. Steel wire fenc- 
ing has become extremely popular, especially in the land of prairies, and Mr. Haish is using the 
best wire that can be produced, and is putting a superior article in the market, hence his success 
is simply astonishing. He had a tremendous struggle in introducing it, manfully stood the brunt 
of the battle for years, and is now reaping the rich reward of his indomitable energy and perse- 
verance. 

HON. JOHN CLARK. 

so M ON A UK. 

JOHN CLARK, banker and farmer, and late member of the legislature, dates his birth at Had- 
dam, Middlesex county, Connecticut, February 8, 1821. His father, George Clark, a farmer, 
was born in the same town, and this branch of the Clark family was among the first settlers on 
the Connecticut River. Joseph Clark, the grandfather of John, participated in the struggle for 
independence. George Clark married Emily Smith, and they had a family of ten children, of 
whom John was the third child. He finished his education in the local academy; came to Illinois 
in 1842; taught school five winter terms and one summer term in De Kalb and La Salle counties, 
entering land meantime and improving it when not teaching. 

At the end of five years Mr. Clark returned to Haddam, and remained there eight years, 
teaching one winter, and marrying Miss Amelia B. Shailer, daughter of John Shailer, February 
29, 1847. His principal business during the period spent at the East was farming. In the spring 
of 1856 he returned to De Kalb county, and settled on one of his farms, two miles from Somo- 
nauk. For a few years he gave his time and devoted his energies almost exclusively to agricul- 
tural pursuits, and he now has four farms, all within five or six miles of Somonauk, all under good 
improvement and all rented to prudent parties. During the last seven or eight years much atten- 
tion has been given to the dairy business, there being from fifty to sixty cows on these farms. 

Since 1870 Mr. Clark has resided in the village of Somonauk. While living on the farm he 
was for some time assistant school director, and also supervisor of the town of Somonauk for a 
long time. A few years ago, in company with other parties, he organized the Somonauk Wind- 
mill Company, the firm name being Clark and Company, a prosperous institution. 

In February, 1880, he engaged in the banking business with others under the firm name of 
Clark, Wright and Stevens, an institution which has been prosperous from the start. Mr. Clark 
is president of the bank. 

In the autumn of 1880 he was elected a member of the legislature from the late thirteenth dis- 
13 



CO 

wi 



122 UNITED STATES BIOCRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. 

trict, which was composed of De Kalb, Kendall and Grundy counties. These are all republican 
unties and he is a democrat, and he owed his election to the minority representation, his party 
isely concentrating their votes mainly on him. He has usually been quite active in politics, 
rarely failing to attend a county convention, and often being a delegate to congressional and state 
conventions. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and was for years secretary of the Somonauk Lodge, 

No. 646. 

As already intimated, Mr. Clark got possession of a little land here at an early day, and but a 
little at first, his means being quite limited; but he was reared in habits of industry; was early 
inured to solid farm work; had instilled into his mind the lessons of prudence and economy, so 
commonly taught by New England parents, and he has been, successful because he early began to 
save his earnings, and has been a shrewd, yet conscientious and straightforward manager. 



HENRY B. PLANT. 

LA SALLE. 

HENRY BENJAMIN PLANT, son of Benjamin and Sarah (Mason) Plant, was born in Utica, 
Oneida county, New York, January 11, 1831. His father was born in Utica, and his grand- 
father, Benjamin Plant, Sr., in Connecticut. The family were early settlers in Oneida county. 
Two great-grandfathers. Mason and Potter, were in the revolutionary war, commencing at Bunker 
Hill, and his maternal grandfather was in the second war with the mother country. His grand- 
sire, Arnold Mason, was an early canal and railroad contractor, and was engaged in the 
construction of many public works in the East. Sarah (Mason) Plant was a sister of ex-Mayor 
R. B. Mason, of Chicago. 

Henry received an academic education in his native city ; was on his father's farm till seven- 
teen years old, when he engaged in civil engineering, commencing in Connecticut on the 
Naugatuck railroad, and was subsequently on the New York and New Haven, the Vermont 
Valley and on preliminary surveys in Pennsylvania. In 185 i Mr. Plant came to Illinois, and was 
chief engineer of one of the divisions of the Illinois Central road, with headquarters at Blooming- 
ton and Decatur, being thus engaged until the completion of that road. 

In 1854 he went to Hastings, Minnesota, and engaged in banking and real estate. While he was • 
in that state the land grant railroads were building, and Mr. Plant was appointed by Governor 
Sibley as engineer to inspect and report upon several roads, he being thus employed until 1858, 
when he returned to Illinois, and for about a year was engaged in contracting on the Illinois 
Central road. After that he was appointed engineer on the Chicago and Alton road, assisting 
his uncle, R. B. Mason. 

A year later, i860, Mr. Plant became assistant superintendent of the Logansport, Peoria and 
Burlington road ; was soon afterward appointed general superintendent of the same road, and 
holding that position when Sumter fell. In 1861 he went into the service of his country, as 
second lieutenant, battery I, 2d artillery, and was in for three years, when ill health compelled 
him to resign, he being completely broken down. Before leaving the field he was promoted to 
the rank of first lieutenant. He served under Generals Buell, Rosencranz, and Sherman, and was' 
in Sheridan's division a considerable period of time. 

Soon after he had recovered his health, Mr. Plant spent some time at Cairo, in this state, and 
was in the employ of Halliday Brothers, and from this firm he went to St. Johns, Perry county, 
Illinois, as superintendent of the coal mines, and while there he was married in April, 187 1, to 
Miss Carrie Neely, of Du Quoin, and they have two children. 

In the spring of 1872 Mr. Plant removed to Joliet and engaged in the lumber and planing mill 
business. In August, 1876, he was appointed receiver in a case in the United States court — the 
case of the Northern Illinois Coal and Iron Company, he expecting to return to Joliet within a 
year. He still has charge of the property, which is part of the estate of Henry L. Young, late 



A 



U.VrrED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I 23 

of New York city, deceased. In addition to managing that property, he is also manager of a 
corporation which was formed to wort: the mines, likewise still continuing his interests at Joliet. 
Mr. Plant is a republican, but no place hunter, and has managed, thus far, to keep out of all 
civil and political offices. He has been engaged in a variety of industrial pursuits ; has held, as 
it is here seen, responsible posts in different branches of business, and he has always shown him- 
self faithful and trustworthy as well as efficient in the discharge of his duties. His energy of 
character and executive ability are well matched -by his integrity and high sense of right and 
justice. Truer men than he are scarce in La Salle. 



WILLIAM H. THATCHER. 

MORRISON. 

\ T /ILLIAM HENRY THATCHER, treasurer of Whiteside county, dates his birth at Ithaca, 
VV New York, January 13, 1829, his parents being William and Anna (Peckens) Thatcher. 
His father was from Sussex, England, and his mother from Connecticut. Her father, Isaac Peck- 
ens, was in the war of independence. When William was two years old the family moved to 
Owego, New York, where he received an academic education. William Thatcher was a mason 
and builder, and also owned a farm, on which the son worked more or less until of age, teaching 
school four terms. 

In 1 85 1 he went to Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he was bookkeeper, etc., for a large mining 
firm for three years. In the spring of 1855 he came to Dixon, Illinois, and was a clerk for Var- 
ney and Gilman, general merchants, until the autumn of that year, when he went into partnership 
with them, and had charge of a branch store at Sterling, where he remained for fourteen years. 
While in business there he held, for several years each, the offices of city treasurer and clerk of 
the city council. 

In the autumn of 1869 Mr. Thatcher was elected county treasurer, and has held that office for 
thirteen consecutive years. He is a straightforward, trustworthy man, and the voters of White- 
side county have unlimited confidence in his integrity as well as capacity. His politics are inde- 
pendent republican. 

Mr. Thatcher attends the Universalist church, and is a man in all respects of irreproachable 
character and of generous and warm impulses. His social qualities are excellent; his manners 
are cordial and agreeable, and his popularity in the county is no surprise to any one who knows 
him. 

He married, in January, 1866, Miss Louisa Lukens, daughter of William E, Lukens, of Rock 
Falls, Illinois, and they have one daughter, Gertrude, who is attending to her literary and musical 
education. 

HORACE .S. LELAND. 

SPRINGFIELD. 
ORACE SAMUEL LELAND, proprietor of the Leland House, and one of the best known 



H 



hotel keepers in Illinois, dates his birth in Landgrove, Vermont, July 26, 1S36, his parents 
being Aaron P. and Submit (Arnold) Leland. His father was an extensive stage proprietor and 
mail contractor forty and fifty years ago, and was well known in the New England States and 
New York as an energetic and thoroughgoing business man. Both parents of Horace were 
natives of New England. His great-grandfather was John Leland, a noted Baptist minister and 
author, of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, a man of large brain, great sagacity and strong will 
power, and a sort of oracle among the common people of western Massachusetts in the early days 
'if the republic. He once (1801) sent Thomas Jefferson a cheese, out of pure regard for the 
author of the declaration of independence, then just seated in the presidential chair. The Leland 



I2J. UNITED STAIF.S [UOG R A PIIICA I. DICTIONARY. 

family were originally from England, two brothers coming over soon after the settlement of Ply- 
mouth and Boston. The maternal grandfather of James was Judge Samuel Arnold, of London- 
derry, Vermont, an eminent jurist in his day. 

When our subject was quite young the family moved to Ohio, and afterward went to New 
York. He finished his education in Cleveland, and when only twelve years old we find him in 
the Clinton Hotel in New York city. In 1854, when the Metropolitan Hotel was opened, he 
became its cashier, and for eighteen years was connected with that public house, thirty years 
ago a far up town and huge institution. 

In 1867 Mr. Leland came to Springfield and opened the Leland House, then just completed 
by a stock company, and leased it for ten years, under the firm name of H. S. Leland and Com- 
pany. In 1876 he and his brother-in-law, N. B. Wiggins, purchased the property, and are sole 
proprietors. The Leland has about two hundred rooms, spacious, airy and inviting, the house 
being elegantly furnished throughout. It is the rendevous of the political magnates of the state, 
a favorite with travelers generally, and is second in quality to no hotel in Illinois, outside of 
Chicago. 

Mr. Leland grew up in a public house; has lived in one constantly for nearly forty years, and 
would be at home nowhere else. He has perfected himself in this art, — for it is an art to keep 
a model hotel, — and he has made many friends in many states outside of Illinois. He keeps out 
of politics, craves no office, attends to his own business, and yet has a deep interest in the com- 
munity in which he lives. He is generous toward local churches and benevolent institutions, the 
poor and the unfortunate, and is, in short, a neighborly man among a neighborly public. 



HON. HENRY S. HUDSON. 

VORAAILLE. 

HENRY SUMNER HUDSON, judge of the county court of Kendall county, is a son of 
Joseph and Rachel (Eddy) Hudson, and dates his birth at Oxford, Worcester county, Mas- 
sachusetts, May 13, 1827. Both of his parents are still living, his father being in his eighty- 
seventh, and his mother in her eighty-sixth year. Himself, his father and his grandfather, John 
Hudson, were born in the same house, the Oxford homestead having been in the hands of the 
Hudson family for about six generations. The progenitor of the family came over from England 
with a small colony which had a grant of land, and settled in Worcester county in the early part 
of the seventeenth century. The Eddys were also a Massachusetts family. 

Henry Sumner was reared on his father's farm ; prepared for college at the Leicester Acad- 
emy, and is a graduate of Amherst College, class 1849. He taught school both before going to 
college and during vacations; commenced studying law at Worcester with Judges Barton and 
Bacon, immediately after receiving his college diploma ; a few months later went to Newton, 
New Jersey, and there taught an Academy for eighteen months, pursuing his legal studies at the 
same time; returned to Worcester, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1851, and there 
practiced until 1856, being of the firm of Matthews and Hudson. In that year he came to Chi- 
cago, and was in practice there for six years, part of the time in company with Andrew Garrison. 

In 1862 Mr. Hudson settled in Kendall county, locating at first in Oswego, where he remained 
until the autumn of 1865, when he was elected judge of the county court, and removed to York- 
ville, the county seat. He has held the office of judge for seventeen consecutive years ; has just 
entered upon his fifth term, and is giving eminent satisfaction to the people, being one of the 
most popular men in the county. He has also had at the same time more or less practice in the 
circuit afid supreme courts, and has shown himself to be a sound as well as well read lawyer, and 
true to his clients. He is scholarly, yet modest and unassuming, perfectly upright and straight- 
forward in all his transactions, and has won his way to the confidence of everybody who knows 
him. 



UNITED STATES B/OGRA PHIC.4 1 DICTIONARY. I 25 

Judge Hudson is a republican of whig antecedents, and has been quite prominent in Kendall 
county politics, having often been a delegate to district and state conventions. He is a man of a 
good deal of influence in social as well as political circles ; has always borne a high character for 
purity of life, and is much esteemed by his many friends throughout the county and wherever 
known. Judge Hudson was married in Chicago, in 1858, to Miss Hannah E. Dayhoff, a native 
of Ohio, and they have two children, Lizzie H. and Joseph E., both at home. 



c 



CANTLEY W. STEWART, M.D. 

KIRK WOOD. 

ANTLEY WALLACE STEWART, an experienced physician and surgeon, and a man of 
marked skill in his profession, is a Kentuckian by birth, first seeing the light in Madison 
county March 2, 1823. His father was James Stewart, a farmer, born in Charles county, Mary- 
land, and his mother was Helen Nichols, whose father shared in the perils and hardships of the 
first war with the mother country. When Cantley was six years old (1829) the family moved to 
Callaway county, Missouri, where he was reared on a farm, receiving a common English educa- 
tion, and teaching school two or three winters. When he had reached his majority he com- 
menced studying in Saint Louis county for his profession. He attended lectures at McDowell's 
College, Saint Louis ; practiced at Lancaster, Schuyler county, Missouri ; attended another 
course of lectures at Saint Louis ; received his medical degree (1857), and was still in practice at 
Lancaster when the civil war began. In February, 1862, he went into the service as surgeon of 
the second Illinois cavalry, and served about eighteen months. 

In 1863 Doctor Stewart came into this state, practiced six years at Olena, Henderson county, 
and in 1869 settled in Kirkwood, then Young America. His business here is good, as it was in 
Olena and in Missouri. He holds no civil or political offices, and lets nothing interfere with his 
professional duties ; is a Freemason, but has attended no meetings of a lodge since coming to 
this state. Years ago he wrote a few articles for medical periodicals. 

The doctor has always been very assiduous in attending to professional calls, and has not 
been off duty more than four months in thirty years, and then he was out of health. The doc- 
tor's professional labors have at times been very trying to his constitution, and his life has been 
one of self-sacrifice, he wearing himself out to strengthen the constitution and lengthen the days 
of others. In 1844 Doctor Stewart was joined in wedlock with Miss Lucy A. Davis, of Missouri, 
and she died August 2, 1877. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and an 
active Christian up to the time of her departure for her heavenly home. She was the mother of 
eight children, six of whom survive her. They are all married but Bitula, who is keeping house 
for her father. The doctor has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for forty years, 
but has rarely been able to devote that amount of time to church work that his heart would 
prompt him to give. 

HON. JONATHAN H. BAKER. 

MA COMB. 

JONATHAN HASKELL BAKER, judge of the McDonough county court, dates his birth at 
Walpole, Cheshire county. New Hampshire, May 8, 1817, his parents being Edward and Anna 
(Haskell) Baker, both natives of Massachusetts. To the ordinary drill of a district school Jona- 
than added a single term in a select school at Alstead, in his native county. When quite young 
he lost his father, and took care of himself after he was nine years old, being bound out to a 
farmer, with whom he lived until seventeen. From that age until twenty-one he was a clerk in a 
store at Alstead. In the spring of 1838 he left New England, and settled in Macomb, then little 
more than a four corners. 



126 CNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. 

Mr. Baker did not come west to suck his thumbs, but was ready for any respectable service 
that turned up. The first month here he worked in a brick yard; was then a clerk in a store one 
year, after which he became deputy clerk for James M. Campbell, who was holding different 
county and other offices. 

From 1842 to 1855 Mr. Baker was engaged in mercantile pursuits, holding also the office of 
postmaster during the administration of President Polk, 1845-9. From 1858 to 1861 he was clerk 
of the county court, during the same time doing more or less in the real estate business in part- 
nership with others. After the war he engaged once more in merchandising. 

Mr. Baker had a taste for legal studies, to which he gave considerable attention, although he 
was never admitted to the bar. Yet he was in the law practice from 1868 to 1877 with Hon. Wm. 
H. Neece, now a member of congress from the eleventh Illinois district. In the last named year 
he was elected county judge, and was reelected in 1882. The duties of that office he is discharg- 
ing with promptness and fidelit)', and to the general satisfaction of the public. The same is true 
in regard to every office which he has ever held. He was the first notary public in McDonough 
county, being appointed about 1850, and also at an early period held the office of public adminis- 
trator for several years. 

Judge Baker has always acted with the democratic party, and voted for Stephen A. Douglas 
in 1838, the first time he was a candidate for congress, being beaten by Hon. John T. Stewart. 
He is a member and trustee of the Universalist Church, a man of solid character, and held in 
great esteem b)' his large circle of acquaintances. 

Judge Baker was married in 1843 to Miss Isabella Hempstead, of Macomb, and they have four 
children: Clarissa A., the oldest daughter, is the wife of Charles V. Chandler, banker, Macomb; 
Mary C. is the wife of E. L. Wells, hardware merchant, Macomb, and Isabella and Joseph Has- 
kell are attending school. 

HON. DENNIS CLARK. 

ABINGDO.X. 

ONE of the early settlers in Knox county, Illinois, and a prominent official of the county, is 
Hon. Dennis Clark, county judge for the last seventeen years. He is a nativ^e of Davis 
county, Indiana, a son of Walter and Mary (Young) Clark, and was born August 14, 1817. His 
father was born near Harper's Ferry, his mother in New Jersey. His grandfather came from Ire- 
land, with two brothers, before the outbreak of the colonies against the mother country, and he 
and one of the brothers took up arms against King George. Dennis lost his mother when he was 
not more than five years old, and a year or two afterward his father moved to Wabash, Illinois, 
where he was a trader for two years. The family then removed to Vermillion county, Indiana, 
near Eugene, where the father was engaged in farming, and running a brick yard. 

About 1828, when Dennis was eleven years old, his father took the family to the mining region 
of Wisconsin, where he was poisoned and laid up on account of drinking mineral water, and our 
subject, being the oldest living child, had to take charge of the family, making trips of fifty miles 
with an ox-team, to provide food. The next season, 1829, they left Wisconsin, moved to Saint Louis, 
Missouri, and thence to Sangamon county, this state, and in the same year our subject was bound 
out to a farmer, where he became dissatisfied, and in 1833 he tied up his worldly goods in a small 
bundle, and without observing many of the courtesies of polite society, left, hauling up in Knox 
county, near Abingdon. That was nearly fifty years ago, and Dennis was only sixteen years old. 
A good deal of life was still before him, and although he had done some literary browsing as he 
wandered from place to place, he was not in the least degree puffed up with the amount of 
knowledge which he had accumulated. After he had earned a little money by working for a 
farmer for $5 a month, he went to school in Warren count)', after which he taught one winter 
term, it being the first school ever taught in Indian Point township, and subsequently attended 
the Cherry Grove Seminary, near Abingdon, since moved to Lincoln, Logan county, and grown 
to a college. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



1 27 



For some years he now alternated between farming in the summer, and teaching in the winter, 
being part of this time captain of a militia company. In 1845 he married Miss Martha Meadows, 
of Warren county, and taught several winter terrns after taking that important step. Farming now 
became his chief occupation for some years, varied only by episodical recreations in a justice's 
court; for during- this period he did considerable fumbling of law books. Finally in 1866 
he came out a full-fledged attorney-at-law, prepared for flights into any of the courts of the state. 

During the civil war he was enrolling officer, and labored faithfully to make comfortable the 
families of absent soldiers. In the autumn of 1S65 he was elected judge of the county of Knox, 
and he has behaved himself so well that his constituents still insist on his holding that office, his 
home being all the time at Abingdon, ten miles south of Galesburgh. He is a faithful official and 
has the fullest confideiTce and high esteem of the citizens of the county. 

Judge Clark is a republican of whig antecedents, casting his first presidential vote for Henry 
Clay in 1844, and his last for General Garfield in 1880. 

As the result of the marriage consummated in 1845, Judge and Mrs. Clark have five sons living 
and five children buried; they have two adopted daughters living. Walter H. and William B. are 
married, the former being one of the editors and proprietors of the "Abingdon Argus," and the 
latter a farmer in Shawnee county, Kansas. Buford, Horace, Loren and the orphan girls are on the 
home farm. 

JAMES L. CAMPBELL. 

CHIC A GO. 

JAMES LAFAYETTE CAMPBELL, real-estate dealer, and father of the house of correction 
bill in the Illinois legislature, is a native of the Empire State, being born in the town of Cale- 
donia, Livingston county. May 19, 1831. His father, William Campbell, was a Vermonter by 
birth, and remotely of Scotch extraction. His mother, whose maiden name was Hannah Ladd, 
was a native of New Hampshire. She is still living. Her husband died December 15, 1880, aged 
eighty-four years. 

Mr. Campbell came to Illinois in 1850, and subsequently removed to Iowa, finishing his edu- 
cation in the academic department of the upper Iowa University, at Fayette, in that state, and 
teaching school for nine or ten terms in Fayette and Delaware counties. He read law with Hon. 
Milo McGathery, of West Union, Fayette county; was admitted to the bar at that county seat 
in June, 1862; settled in Chicago in the autumn of that year, and was graduated from the law 
department of the University of Chicago in 1866. After practicing his profession for two years 
he engaged in the real-estate business, which he has since followed very closely, and with a fair 
measure of success, though having, like others in the same line, his ups and downs. Campbell 
avenue and Campbell park, on the west side, were named for him. 

Mr. Campbell represented the twelfth ward in tl^ city council from December, 1869, to Decem- 
ber, 187 1, and while in that body was impressed with the necessity of reform in the management 
of the bridewell, which was being run at an expense to the city of $50,000 to $100,000 a year. He 
made frequent attempts to have the matter investigated, but was defeated through the influence 
of the ring. Finally, on his motion, a committee of the common council was chosen, of which 
he was made chairman, and authorized to visit different reformatory institutions, and to make a 
report. This they did. 

In order to effect this reform, Mr. Campbell became a candidate in 1870 for the legislature, 
whither he was sent, and where he introduced and secured the passage of the house of correction 
bill, doing away with the bridewell system, and introducing the present self-supporting system of 
management, and thus saving to the city annually more than $50,000, as shown by the reports of 
the superintendent for the last seven or eight years. 

Although the writer has known Mr. Campbell for nearly a quarter of a century, he can recall 
no act of his life for which he is entitled to more credit than for his persistent efforts in securing 
the extinction of the bridewell system, so tempting to public plunders. In 1873 Mr. CampbelL 



128 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

was again elected alderman of the twelfth ward, and served two and a half years, being, as usual, 
faithful and efficient in his duties to the public. He is a republican in politics, and a Master 
Mason, being a member of Blair Lodge. 

He was married July 19, 1859, to Miss Sophronia R. Crosby, daughter of Rev. J. W. Crosby, 
of Iowa, and they have one son, who has just finished his literary education, and is studying for 
an artist. 

WILLIAM S. CHERRY. 

STREA TOR. 

WILLIAM SLOAN CHERRY, general superintendent of the coal mines at Braidwood and 
Streator, is a son of William Cherry, a native of Ireland, and a music teacher, and Mary 
(Sloan) Cherry, who was of Irish parentage. He was born July 9, 1837; was educated in the 
graded and high schools of that city, and after serving an apprenticeship at the machinist's trade, 
took a course of studies in the Polytechnic Institute, Philadelphia, paying particular attention to 
mining and mechanical engineering. While working at his trade as a machinist, he went into 
the coal regions of Pennsylvania, and was engaged there in mining, and alternated l)etween work- 
ing at his trade in Philadelphia, and in the coal regions, until the war broke out. 

In 1 86 1 he enlisted in the engineer corps of the United States nav}', and was in the service, in 
all, a period of seven years, being the last two years in the South Atlantic squadron, off the coast 
of South America. On leaving the navy Mr. Cherry turned his attention to the manufacture of 
white lead, at Wilmington, Delaware, carrying on that business between two and three years. 

In the autumn of 1871 Mr Cherry came to Illinois, and with the exception of one year since, 
spent in the general office of the Chicago, Wilmington and Vermilion Coal Company, has resided 
in Streator, his position here being that of general superintendent of the mines. Both' by educa- 
tion and experience he has especial fitness for this office, and is managing it to the entire satis- 
faction of the parties concerned. He is a man of great business tact and ability. 

When he was called to Chicago he was holding the office of town school trustee, being presi- 
dent of the board. That post he had to resign on account of leaving, and we cannot learn that 
he has accepted any other civil office. He is a director of the Streator National Bank, a Royal 
Arch Mason, a member of the Presbyterian church, a man of solid parts, and a highly esteemed 
citizen. 

In 1872 he was married to Miss Mary D. Godfrey, of Philadelphia, and they buried two chil- 
dren in infancv, and have three living. 



REV. HIRAM WASHINGTON THOMAS, D.D. 

QUI C A GO. 

THE subject of this sketch is the son of Joseph and Margaret (McDonald) Thomas, who were 
well-to-do farmers in Hampshire county. West Virginia. On his father's side he is of Ger- 
man and Welsh, and on his mother's Scotch and English extraction. Hiram is the fourth in a 
family of six children, having three brothers older and two sisters younger than himself, and was 
born among the mountains of West Virginia, April 29, 1832. 

When but a year old the family removed to Preston county, near the Maryland line, where he 
grew to manhood. He was naturally of a slender constitution, with a massive brain overtopping 
his body, and it was fortunate that his childhood and early manhood was spent on a farm among 
the rugged mountains. The out-door active life of a farmer toned up his physical to a reasona- 
ble equality with his mental constitution, so that he has been able to bear an amount of intellec- 
tual work, surpassed by few, and at the age of fifty years his vigor is unimpaired and his personal 
appearance still youthful. The educational facilities of his native place were, fortunately perhaps 
for him, meager and primitive, and he was left to the very necessary work of preparing a consti- 






■^yl^^^c^ 



J 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I3I 

tution for future use. The thirst for knowledge was, however, so great in him, that at the age 
of sixteen he went one hundred miles on foot to Hardy county, Virginia, and worked nights and 
mornings for a winter's schooling at a little village academy. Two years after one Doctor Mc- 
Kesson, of his neighborhood, took him under his private tutelage for two years, after which he 
attended the Cooperstown, Pennsylvania, academy, and subsequently the Berlin Seminary, in the 
same state, then under the direction of J. F. Eberhart, now a member of the People's Church, 
Chicago, and a fast friend of the doctor's. 

On removing to Iowa he continued his studies privately under Doctor Charles Elliott, formerly 
president of the Iowa Wesleyan University, and Professor W. J. Spaulding, at present the presi- 
dent of that institution. His studies have, however, never been discontinued. Like all men of 
mark, he has never graduated, but expects to remain a student to the end of life. The greater 
part of his knowledge of books he has acquired since he began to preach, and has facilitated his 
work greatly, and fastened his acquirements in his memory by making immediate use of them as 
fast as acquired, a most admirable method. 

His mother was a devout Methodist, and his father a Quaker. The moral tone of the family 
was exceptionally high, and its religion both practical and intensely devotional. At the age of 
of eighteen Hiram became converted, and began soon after to preach. Like many other great 
preachers he had the conviction from childhood that he must one day preach, and, although he 
fought against it long and energetically, yet when the time came he succumbed and entered into 
the work. 

He at first joined the Pittsburgh conference of the Evangelical association, or German Meth- 
odists, with whom he remained till in 1856 he joined the Iowa conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. 

March 19, 1855, he married Miss Emmeline C. Merrick, an accomplished young lady of Demp- 
seytown, Pennsylvania. Her people were Presbyterians, and Methodist preachers, though pop- 
ular with the sam; class who used to hear Christ " gladly," were, nevertheless, at that period 
considered rather among the proletariat. The union was, however, a happy one, and through all 
the extraordinary trials of the life of an itinerant Methodist preacher on the frontier, the}^ have 
found in each other an unfailing source of strength and consolation. 

In the autumn of 1854 his parents sold out their Virginia home, removed to Washington 
county, Iowa, and bought a tract of land. Thither Hiram followed them the following spring 
with his young wife and the rest of the family. The summer was spent opening a new 
farm, house building, etc., the young preacher working faithfully seven days to the week, six on 
the farm, and one in the pulpit. In the fall, that scourge of a new country, congestive chills and 
fever, brought him and his faithful wife to the verge of death, but as he firmly believes, his life 
was spared in answer to prayer; whether his faithful spouse was included in the petition, or is 
indebted to the efficacy of a stronger vital organization for her escape, is not recorded, but it is 
certain thit she too was spared to remark that there was little left of Thomas but a handful of 
bones and a tuft of red hair. 

But he was not ordained to bury himself or his talents in Iowa soil, and speedily relinquished 
the. farm entirely for the pulpit, and entered fully upon the arduous life of a Methodist itinerant. 
For several successive years he managed to eke out a subsistence for himself and family on $300 
a year. The leading charges of Marshall, Fort Madison, Washington, Mount Pleasant and Burling- 
ton enjoyed the benefit of his labors, besides two years spent as chaplain of the state penitentiary. 
In 1869 he was transferred to the Rock River conference, and stationed at Park avenue, Chicago 
After three years he was appointed to the First Church (Methodist Church Block) of the same 
city, where, likewise, he remained three years. He was then sent to the First Church of Aurora, 
for two years, and next to Centenary Church, Chicago, where his term expired in October 1880. 
His early preaching gave promise of all his later fame. He always drew large congregations, and 
the churches flourished under his care. It was predicted many years ago by astute friends that 
he only had to be transferred to a large city to acquire a national reputation. He has captured 
14 



1-12 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

every place in which he has preached, and his success in Chicago is only a repetition of his career 
on a smaller scale in the villages and towns of his earlier ministry. There have usually been 
many demands for him, and a spirited rivalry between the leading churches of his conference, as 
there is now between cities and denominations. 

Doctor Thomas has been a man of sorrows as well as of privations and arduous labors. Of 
seven children born to his home but one survives, now a young man of promise, attending Rush 
Medical College in Chicago. His large personal experience in the school of grief has opened a 
door for him into the hearts of the afflicted and desolate, few not tempered in the same school can 
enjoy. He was born and reared in humble life; he drew his first breath among the freedom- 
inspiring mountains; he had his long- struggle with poverty, and is familiar with its trials and 
temptations; he has mingled with the lowly, and become familiar with their wants and woes, and 
no fame, honor, or pelf of his later years can lift him above the common people in his sympathies 
or his labors. He began his life with them, he has spent it for them, he will close it among them. 
This is the secret of his heresy, it is the secret of his power. And had not Methodism " progressed " 
out of its primitive simplicity and liberality it would not have scandalized and wronged itself by- 
expelling him from among them. However, it gave him a broader field and probably increased 
his usefulness by breaking down for him the wall of partition which the church unconsciously 
erected between her ministers and the people, and casting him with her ban upon him into the 
bosom of the people whom he loved. At the funeral of John W. Coon, the famous billiardist, 
long before the infamous heresy trial took place, he expressed himself in the following manner, 
which, in view of the succeeding events, seems almost prophetic. At least it shows the drift of 
his sympathies, and proves him to be too great in mind and heart to be hedged about by the nar- 
row confines of any church or formulated creed : " Nothing pains me more," he said, " or gives me 
more anxious thought than that the world's great need, and religion's great gift, man's want and 
God's fullness, cannot be brought together. It rests upon me with such a weight that I have 
sometimes almost felt that God calls me to a ministry at large outside of the church that I might 
get near to the hearts and homes of the people." 

The expression of such sentiments could not but make him very popular among those who most 
need human sympathy and ministerial counsel and assistance, and naturally the narrow bigots of 
his own class would look with increasing disfavor upon him. He would be regarded by the 
Scribes and Pharisees with jealousy, anger and suspicion, in proportion as it became manifest 
that "the common people heard him gladly." It hence became early manifest that a separation 
must sooner or later come — the drift of events could not be checked. With the deepening of 
his sympathies for humanity came the inevitable broadening of his religious, or rather theologi- 
cal, views of truth and his understanding of the Scriptures. He who is a lover of mankind, and 
is in sympathy with the gentle inspiration of the works of nature, must get a continually expand- 
ing view of nature's God, and must interpret his Bible in harmony therewith. Hence, Doctor 
Thomas found his view of the doctrines of inspiration, atonement and future punishment under- 
going a change, and before he was himself fully aware of it his heart and brain had revolted 
against the absurdities of plenary inspiration, substitutionary atonement and eternal torment. 
With him to study, to learn and to preach were necessary steps in a process continually going on. 
He never waits to inquire how truth will be received, what will be its effects upon himself. He 
only asks if it be truth; his duty to proclaim it he never questions. 

His opposers did not stop to inquire if his views were truth, nor yet whether they were con- 
trary to the essentials of Methodism, but placed the issues of their cause against him upon the 
standards of the church, and themselves determined the standards. There could be but one issue 
to such a trial. The trial itself is the most unimportant portion of the history we write, yet 
faithfulness to the record demands a place in their pages. It is difficult to ascertain the date of 
the earliest expression of heresy by the doctor, and it is of little moment. It is probable that 
his early popularity arose from his human and rational view of God, the Bible and its teachings, 
which came to him unconsciously, and was expressed as unconsciously and as naturally as he 



UNITED STATES BIOGKA PIIICAL DICTIONARY. I 33 

breathed. However, rLimors of his unsoundness were heard as far back as 1865, while j'et in Bur- 
lington, Iowa, and on that account an effort was made to prevent his transfer to Chicago. 

It was not, however, until he became the pastor of the First Church that his liberal views 
attracted general notice. His nearness to the people and his popularit)' among publicans 
and sinners, who flocked to hear him, and many of whem he reformed, gave offense. Besides 
this he did a good deal of undenominatibnal work. He originated the Philosophical Soci- 
ety of Chicago, and was its second president. This society was organized soon after the 
great fire, and held its meetings for a time in the Methodist Church Block. It was composed of 
such men as Judge Booth, Professor Rodney Welch, Doctor Samuel Willard, General Buford, 
Doctor Edmund Andrews, Rev. Joseph Haven, E. F. Abbott, J. W. Ela, Professor Austin Beir- 
blower, and two hundred or three hundred more — orthodox, liberal, skeptics, spiritualists, .athe- 
ists, catholics and all the shades between these. Its discussions were not always orthodox, as 
might be expected, and Doctor Thomas was held responsible for every variation therefrom. 

He affiliated with liberal-minded people outside of his own church; preached a rousing ser- 
mon in defense of Professor Swing, followed it with one on Hell, something after the example of 
Henry Ward Beecher; sometimes preached for the Universalists and Unitarians; organized an 
undenominational preachers' meeting called the Round Table, and in general conducted himself 
in a way which indicated that he could no longer, "after the straighter sect of our religion, live a 
Pharisee." 

When, therefore, in the fall of 1S75, his term at the First Church in Chicago expired, the com- 
plaints had grown so loud in certain quarters that lie was sent out of the city to Aurora. There 
was a great storm of indignation raised about this. His own church, the newspapers and the 
general public believed it was designed to injure and ultimately to ruin him. Several large and 
wealthy churches of other denominations offered him places. Charges in other conferences 
sought his services, but he went quietly to his new appointment, and soon built up a large con- 
gregation in Aurora. Persistent efforts were, however, made to get him back to Chicago, and 
with final success, for he was appointed to Centenar}' Church in 1S77. Immediately this society 
became one of the largest in the Northwest, and other clergymen claimed that their congrega- 
tions were rushing off to Centenary Church and getting Thomasized. During all this time he 
was lecturing throughout the Northwest, giving during the lecture season one or two lectures a 
week in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and occasionally other states. This spread both his 
fame and his opinions, and multiplied both his friends and his enemies. But the crisis of his 
religious affairs was approaching. 

When the next conference met at Mount Carroll, in October, 1878, the subject of Doctor Thomas' 
recent utterances was privately discussed, and a plan carefully matured in secret to bring the 
matter to a head. With characteristic boldness, and rejoicing in his own freedom. Doctor Thomas 
preached before the conference a sermon, in which he took occasion to give free expression to his 
peculiar views and criticise the narrowness of some of his brethren. 

A committee on conference relations was appointed, something unusual in Methodism, with 
special reference to this case. This was a sort of star chamber before which complaints might 
be secretly brought against any minister, and some one, unknown to anybody except the commit- 
tee, mad? charges against Doctor Thomas, and an adverse case was worked up. The committee 
reported the case to the conference, and there was much discussion of the matter, but finally the 
presiding bishop. Doctor Foster, cut the matter short by asking all those to rise to their feet who 
felt that no loyal Methodist could preach such a sermon, an unwarrantable proceeding, asking, as 
it did. judgment before trial. A large majority nevertheless of the conference stood up, and set 
themselves right on the question of heresy before the world. A resolution offered by W. H. Strout 
and A. Gurnay was then adopted, asking Doctor Thomas either to abandon his objectionable 
teaching or withdraw from the church; in other words, to become a h\'pocrite and stay in, or 
remain an honest man and go out. He very properly refused to do either, thinking probabh' 
that the church was in need of honest men. 



124 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

A committee was then appointed to consult with the doctor, and made a minority and a 
majority report. Rev. S. A. W. Jewett thereupon offered a series of resolutions as a substitute 
for both, which was adopted by a vote of eirhty-five to nineteen, and which disposed of the case 
for that year. It is too long to insert here, but sums up the matter by regretting that the doctor 
won't do as they wish, and hoping that he won't preach any more heresy, and declaring that they 
will let the matter rest for the present. Doctor Thomas was returned to Centenary Church, 
preached in about the same vein as before, but when conference met in October, 1879, in Chicago, 
there was no disposition to reopen the case, and he was returned to Centenary Church for the 
third year. The fires of opposition, however, continued to burn, and there was a growing deter- 
mination to get rid of him, but an increasing uncertainty how to do it. They were anxious to 
avoid a heresy trial, and there was some talk of sending him to some obscure charge in the 
country, where he would have no alternative beyond accepting obscurity or withdrawing from the 
church. The popular outcry raised against this proposal, however, rendered it impossible to exe- 
cute it, and there was nothing to do but either to restore him to full confidence or to tr}' him for 
heresy. This was the situation when the conference met in October. 1880, at Rockford, Illinois. 

At almost the very opening of the conference this case was taken up and his'character passed. 
It was hoped that this action would end the matter, but it was equally unsatisfactory to his ene- 
mies and to his friends. His friends determined he should be relieved entirely from censure, and 
his enemies determined he should be expelled. R. D. Sheperd offered a resolution nullifying the 
action of censure by the conference of 1878. This was laid on the table and followed by a series of 
resolutions offered by W. H. Tibbals, requesting him to immediately withdraw from the church. 
They were promptly passed by a vote of 96 to 45, seventy-five members being absent or refusing to 
vote. The next da)- Doctor Thomas read his reply in which he recited his faith and manner of 
life, and refused to withdraw. 

A committee was appointed to consider his reply. This they did, and recommended that the 
whole case be turned over to the presiding elder of Doctor Thomas' charge, Elder W. C. Willing, 
of the Chicago district. This recommendation was adopted, and Doctor Willing proceeded after 
the adjournment of the conference to make up his committee. Meanwhile Doctor Thomas asked 
and received a supernumerary relation pending the action of the committee. At Doctor Thomas' 
request Doctors Jewett and Hatfield were appointed his prosecutors. The court met in Septem- 
ber, 1881, in the Methodist Church Block, and proceeded to give him a preliminary trial. Rev. 
Doctors Miller and Bennett, of Iowa, and Axtell and Sheperd, of Rock River conference, were 
his defenders, but the case went against him, after an examination of several days, and he was 
suspended from the ministry. At this preliminary examination there were three charges of 
heresy: the atonement, inspiration and future punishment, and the doctor was found guilty upon 
all three counts. According to Methodist usage, the decision of this lower court was sent up to 
the conference which met in October, 1881, at Sycamore, Illinois, for final adjudication. 

On assembling. Doctor Willing announced the decision of the lower court, and moved a com- 
mittee of fifteen to try the case. The bishop appointed the following gentlemen as that commit- 
tee: Doctor Fowler, chairman; T. P. Marsh, M. H. Plum, Louis Curts, Henry S. Martin, John 
Roods, M. McStokes, F. F. Farmiloe, George W. Winslow, C. W. Croll, Robert Beatty, Isaac 
Lineberger, Rufus Congdon, J. M. Clendenring, F. A. Harding and E. M. Boring. Doctors Park- 
hurst and Hatfield were the prosecuting counsel, and Miller and Bennett, of Iowa, and Axtell and 
Sheperd, of the Rock River conference, were on the defense. 

The trial began at the opening session, October 5, and continued at intervals till October 10, 
when, as was anticipated, he was again found guilty and expelled both from the ministry and the 
church. The committee, however, did not sustain the charge upon the question of the verbal 
inspiration of the Bible, but acquitted him on that count. Upon the atonement the vote stood 9 
to 6, and on future punishment 11 to 4. 

Shortly before the meeting of the conference at Rockford, in 1880, the following Chicago gen- 
tlemen met and pledged themselves to be responsible for the expenses of a service in the central 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



135 



part of the city; Judge Samuel Boyles, John R. Floyd, S. F. Requa, A. V. Hartwell, Ira Brown, 
Gerard Bassett, L. H. Turner, J. A. King, A, A. Waterman, B. G. Gill, F. Q. Ball, H. C. King, E. 
A. Blodgett, Edgar L. Swain, D. H. Daniels, E. B. Holmes, James Grassie. Accordingly Hooley's 
Theater was engaged, and to it Doctor Thomas went after the action of that conference. A large 
congregation greeted him at once, and he has continued to hold services there with great success 
till the present time. 

Upon this expulsion by the conference at Sycamore, although it endangered his right of appeal 
to the judicial conference, yet he felt it his duty to continue his work, and did so. .As he feared, 
so it turned out, the judicial conference which met at Terre Haute, Indiana, December 6, 1881, 
refused to entertain his appeal on precisely this ground, and hence the decision of the conference 
at Sycamore stands final. 

To his new relation the doctor and the public have both become accustomed and are well sat- 
isfied. He still instructs large audiences every Sunday, at Hooley's Theater, and multitudes all 
over the country read the printed reports of his utterances in the Monday papers, with profit. His 
influence and popularity are unabated, and his enemies look on and wonder how long it will last. 



FRANCIS H. BLACKMAN, M.D. 

GENEVA. 

FRANCIS H. BLACKMAN, phj^sician and surgeon, is a son of Francis Wilson Blackman, a 
farmer, now living in Jackson, Crawford county, Iowa, and Clarissa (Warne) Blackman a 
native of New Jersey, and he was born at Naperville, Du Page county, Illinois, August 28, 1846. 
His grandfather, John Blackman, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and his -grandmother in 
Vermont. His ancestor on the mother's side. Sir Henry Warne, for some reason came to this 
country, and settled in New Jersey, and his descendants are now scattered over the western as 
well as eastern states. John Warne, maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was one 
of the earliest settlers in Naperville. 

Our subject was educated at Clark Seminary, Aurora, Warren's Institute, Warrensville, and 
Lawrenceville University, Appleton, Wisconsin, which latter institution he left in the freshman 
year, on account of ill health. His attendance at Clark Seminar)- was both before and after 
going to the university. While pursuing his studies, he worked on his father's farm during vaca- 
tions, and taught one winter term at Winfield, in his native county. 

Doctor Blackman began his medical studies with Doctor O. D. Howell, of Aurora; at the end 
of two years went to Chicago, and worked two months in the chemical laboratory of Professor C. 
Gilbert Wheeler; entered the Chicago Medical College in the spring of 1868, and was graduated 
in March, 1870, as first prize essayist, he having the best inaugural thesis. During the last half 
of his last year in the medical college. Doctor Blackman was resident physician of the Mercy 
Hospital, vi'hich is connected with that institution. 

On receiving his degree of doctor of medicine, he located at Geneva, April, 1870, where he soon 
built up a remunerative business. His practice is general, yet he has a large share of the surgical 
cases in the vicinity, and enjoys an excellent reputation for skill in that and every other branch of 
the healing art. He is examining surgeon for pensions in Kane county; a member and at one time 
was president of the Fox River Medical Society, and is also a member of the Illinois State Med- 
ical Society, and the American Medical- Association. One of his most important operations 
reported was that of tracheotomy, which he performed twice in 1877, and the first, we believe, of 
the kind performed in the Fox River Valley. 

Doctor Blackman has been a school director since the spring of 1881, the only office, we 
believe, that he has held in Geneva, he attending very closely to professional studies and practice. 
He is a stanch republican, and sometimes, during an exciting political canvass, is quite active. 

Doctor Blackman married, June i, 1S71, Miss Julia A. Cole, daughter of Samuel R. Cole, then 



136 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

of Riverside, Cook county, Illinois, now of Longmont, Colorado. She was a member of the first 
class which was graduated at the Women's Medical Hospital, Chicago, February, 187 1, and prior 
to graduating spent three years with Doctor Mary H. Thompson, physician-in-chief to that hos- 
pital. They have one child, a daughter, Julia Mary, nine years old. Doctor Blackman has, we 
believe, reported a few cases for the Chicago "Medical Journal," but only such as were deemed 
of decided interest and importance. 



HON. JAMES M. CAMPBELL. 

MACOMB. 

JAMES MORRISON CAMPBELL, the oldest settler in Macomb still living liere, is a native of 
Frankfort, Kentucky, his birth being dated August 22, 1803. His parents were John R. and 
Margaret F. (Self) Campbell. His grandfather, Robert Campbell, came to this country with his 
wife, Nancy Campbell, from Argyleshire, Scotland, in 1773, and when, two years later, war with 
England commenced, he took up arms against the mother country. Robert Campbell settled in 
Virginia, where both parents of James were born. They moved to Kentucky about the begin- 
ning of this century, and when the son was about four years old the family moved from Frank- 
fort to Mechlenburgh county, where the)' remained about two years. 

In 1809 John R. Campbell, who was a blacksmith by trade, came into this state and settled at 
Shawneetown, and while there, in 181 2-4, he was a lieutenant of rangers, fighting against the 
Indians, whom the British had instigated to raise the war whoop. When peace was declared 
Lieutenant Campbell did not return immediately, and his wife, supposing him to be dead, 
returned with her little family of three children to her old home in Frankfort. To her great joy 
her husband soon joined her. The Frankfort Seminary was then a popular institution, and in it 
James was kept for four years, under a first-class disciplinarian. Professor Keene O'Hara. In 
1822, when only nineteen years old, Mr. Campbell was appointed deputy postmaster at Frankfort, 
holding that post between five and six years under James W. Hawkins, one of nature's noblemen. 
Resigning his position in the postofiSce, our subject went to Lexington, and not long afterward 
received a mail bag with a suit of clothes in it from, his friend, the postmaster. 

Not being successful in finding a situation in Lexington, Mr. Campbell returned to Frankfort, 
and in the spring of the next year (1828) went to Shelby county, Kentucky. The next winter he 
started for Galena, Jo Daviess county, this state, but spent that winter at Nashville, Tennessee, 
reaching the lead mines in August, 1829. His uncle, William Campbell, was then the general 
agent of the government as receiver of the rents of the mines at Galena, and the nephew was 
with him a few months, and then went into the office of the circuit and county clerk, remaining 
in that situation until the spring of 1S31. On the first day of April of that year he reached 
Macomb, which then had a population of four persons — Rev. John Baker, a Baptist minister, 
wife and two little daughters — Mr. Campbell swelling the population to five. Where the public 
square now stands the last year's grass was six feet tall, and besides the cabin of Mr. Baker there 
was no building of any kind within nearly a mile of where Macomb now stands. In 1831 there 
were not more than fifty voters in the county. 

Mr. Campbell came here with commissions in his pocket from Judge Richard M. Young, for 
clerk of the circuit court, and was appointed by Governor John' Reynolds to the offices of judge of 
probate, county recorder, and notary public, and was appointed clerk of the county criminal court 
by the county commissioners in 1831, but there was not much county business just then 
to be done, and he built a log house on what is now Jefferson street, and opened the first store in 
McDonough county. He was also appointed the first postmaster in Macomb. He was also 
appointed the first notary public and the first judge of probate, but these two offices he refused to 
accept. The offices of circuit and county clerk, recorder and postmaster he held for eighteen 
years, except an interim of three months in the postoffice. Not long afterward he become clerk 
of the county commissioners' court, and held that office fifteen years. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I37 

During the Black Hawk war (1832) Mr. Campbell was in Major Bogart's battalion, and served 
to the end, the pay being eighty-six cents a day for himself and horse for eighty-six days. In 
1S46 he was appointed assistant commissary, and assigned to the 3d regiment Illinois infantry, but 
lie did only three months' service in the Mexican war. He was a member of the constitutional 
convention in 1847; was elected to the state senate in 1852, and was a member of the finance com- 
mittee diu'ing the four years that he served in that body. 

Mr. Campbell was originally a whig, but took exceptions to Mr. Clay's speech (1832) against 
ihe preemption of lands to actual settlers, and has since acted with the democratic party, serving 
many years on the county and state central committees. He was a delegate to the national con- 
vention in 1856 when Mr. Buchanan was nominated, and again in i860 when Mr. Douglas was 
nominated, was a member of the nation'al democratic convention in Charleston, South Carolina, 
and at Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Campbell has done a good deal of valuable work in the city 
council and in the board of supervisors, and in many ways, as is here seen, he has served his con- 
stituents, always with faithfulness and marked ability. 

A few months after coming to Macomb, in August, 1831, Mr. Campbell was married at Saint 
Charles, Missouri, to Miss Clarissa Hempstead, who died in 1842, leaving one son and four daugh- 
ters, three (the son and two daughters) of them still living. In 1843 he was married to Mrs. 
Louisa F. Berry, a daughter of John Farwell and a sister of L. G. Farwell, of Macomb, he having 
by her three sons and one daughter, all yet living. His first, Mary Eliza, was the first female 
child born in Macomb. These facts and many others we gather from Clarke's History of 
McDonough County. 

It was Mr. Campbell's pen which drew the original plat of the town, which was adopted by 
the commissioners, and he named every street in the city. He is thoroughly identified with the 
history of this city and county. He built the first store, the first frame house, the first three 
school houses and the first public hall in Macomb; was the first postmaster in the county, the first 
county clerk, recorder, etc., and has been the first and foremost man in many important enter- 
prises. He owns several buildings in the city, and their rent affords him ample support in his 
old age. Although in his eightieth year, his mind is clear, his memory good, his health fair, and 
he seems to have no compunction in living beyond the prescribed age of man, as laid down in 
the Scriptures. 

The county histor}? gives him credit for being a kind and affectionate husband and father, a 
public-spirited citizen, liberal to the poor, and one of the most generous-hearted men who ever 
lived in Macomb. It is safe to say that no man in McDonough county is better known or more 
generally and more highly respected. 

HON. WILLIAM H. NEECE. 

MA COMB. 

WILLIAM HENRY NEECE, member of congress from the eleventh district, and a promi- 
nent lawyer in McDonough county, is a son of Jesse and Mary D. (Maupin) Neece, and 
was born in Sangamon county, this state, February 26, 1831. Two months later the family moved 
into this county. His father was a native of Kentucky; his mother of Virginia. They were 
worthy members of the agricultural class; reared their children in habits of industry, their farm 
being two miles south of Colchester and nine miles from Macomb, the county seat. Jesse Neece 
died in 1869; his wife in 1837. 

Our subject was engaged in agricultural pursuits most of the time, until nearly of age, receiv- 
ing meanwhile an ordinary English education, such as a country school could furnish. From 
1850 to 1852 he had some experience in chopping in the valley of the Illinois; in pork packing at 
Frederic, and in breaking prairie on the Tennessee prairie, in this county. In the spring of 1852 
Mr. Neece commenced teaching, and wound up his professional career in this line in the spring 
of 1853, never, we believe, counting himself a brilliant success as a pedagogue. 



I_58 V/WITED STATES BlOGRAniTCAL DICTIONARY. 

At the date just mentioned he started for the Pacific coast with his older brother, George W. 
Neece and family, crossing the plains by ox team, and reaching Portland, Oregon, early in the 
autumn of that year. The next month William^went to California, and failing as a miner, became 
a cook in a restaurant at Sacramento. In the spring of 1S54 he engaged in mining with his 
brother, near Grass Valley, moving thence to Nevada county, and there remaining until the 
spring of 1855, when he returned to McDonough county. In the autumn of the next year he 
became purchasing agent for the firm of J. H. Baker and Company, real estate dealers in Macomb, 
and was thus employed for one year. 

On May 3, 1857, he was married to Miss Jeannette Ingles, of McDonough county, and the same 
year he commenced the study of law with Hon. John Simpson Bailey, since judge of the circuit 
court, and in 1858 was admitted to the bar. He still applied himself very closely to his legal 
studies, and in a few years began to rise in his profession. Says a writer in Clarke's History of 
McDonough County: "In criminal practice Mr. Neece has secured an enviable reputation, and 
there has not probably been an important trial for murder in this county for a number of years 
in which he was not engaged." This writer then proceeds to cite the trial of the Bonds, of 
Thomas Johnson and of Tuttle, criminal causes familiar to the citizens of this part of the state, 
and in which Mr. Neece w^on much applause for the ability which he displayed, he being in all 
cases retained for the defense. In civil practice Mr. Neece has also been very successful. He is 
a rising man in law as well as politics. 

In 1864 and again in 1870 Mr. Neece was elected to the state legislature, serving one term each 
time. He was also a member of the last constitutional convention, being elected in 1868; was 
the democratic nominee for congress in the old tenth district; was elected to the state senate in 
1878, serving four years, and in the autumn of 1S82 was elected to congress in a strong republican 
district. We believe Mr. Neece has never been a candidate for any office when he did not run 
ahead of his ticket. He made a valuable member of both branches of the legislature, serving 
four years in each house, and his legal acumen, plain common sense and great industry gave him 
an honorable position in the constitutional convention. His experience in these bodies will be of 
service to him in his new sphere of legislative work in the national house of representatives, and 
his friends are sanguine that he will make not only an honorable but brilliant record in that hon- 
orable body. His character in ever)' respect stands well. 



HON. MARK BANGS. 

CHICAGO. 

MARK BANGS was born in Hawley, Franklin county, Massachusetts, January 9, 1822, his 
father being Zenas Bangs. The latter originated on Cape Cod ; settled early in western 
Massachusetts on a rough, barren mountain farm, where he raised a large family, of which Mark 
was the youngest child. By farming in summer, and making shoes in winter, the father, with the 
aid of his older boys, managed to maintain his large family in reasonable comfort and respecta- 
bility. His wife died in the fall of 1827, and he himself in the spring of 1828, leaving our subject 
at once without parents and patrimony. Zenas Bangs was an orthodox Congregationalist, and 
his taking his son into church upon one arm, and a big Bible under the other, as we have heard 
the son say, is among his earliest recollections. He was a public-spirited man, taking an active 
part in the affairs of his town and county, and for several years was the chosen representative of 
his town in the general court at Boston. In the autumn of 1828 Mark emigrated with an older 
brother to western New York, and at the age of seven was put out to live with a farmer of Mon- 
roe county, near Rochester. 

Here he soon learned to milk the cows and saw the wood, and became a general factotum about 
the premises, going to school several months in each year until he was ten, at which time he 
became a regular farm hand, working early and late, except about four months in the winter, 




hiQyr-/<. t% 



Ct^t^ 



C^ 



UNITED STATES BrOGRAPIIICAL DICTION A KV. I4I 

which were spent in the district school. From the age of fourteen to that of eighteen he worked 
upon a farm for an older brother, summer and winter, about three vears of which were occupied 
in clearing up and opening a farm in the wilds of Michigan.^,^--m eighteen he returned to the 
state of New York, worked one summer by the month at farming; taught school in the winter; 
spent a year at school in Rochester, and thus continued, being prepared to enter college in the 
autumn of 1844. But instead of doing so he took a boyish freak, and embarked for Illinois, 
thinking to make his fortune. He reached Chicago in October, 1844, remained there two or 
three months ; became disgusted with its location and general appearance, and left for the more 
central portions of the state, where he spent the time for two years or more in running a thresh- 
ing machine, farming and teaching a singing school and district school. In the spring of 1847 
he went back to Massachusetts ; taught a few classes in the English and classical -school of his 
brother in Springfield, while he read law in the office of Judge Henry Morris. In the autumn of 
1849 he returned to Illinois, settled at Lacon, Marshall county, and spent one year as clerk and 
bookkeeper in a dry goods store, meantime pursuing his legal studies. At the end of that year 
he entered the law office of Ira I. Fenn, of Lacon ; was soon admitted to practice, and became a 
partner of Mr. Fenn, under the firm name of Fenn and Bangs. This was about 1851. January 
I, 1852, Mr. Bangs was married to Miss Harriet Cornelia Pomeroy, second daughter of Deacon 
Samuel Pomeroy, who was a brother of Rev. Augustus Pomeroy, the founder of the First Presby- 
terian Church of Lacon, and was himself a member, and for several years an elder, in that 
church ; afterward became a deacon of the First Congregational Church. 

Mr. Bangs was from the first an anti-slavery whig. From the time he was admitted to the 
bar he took a more or less active part in local and state politics, and was one of the very first to 
move in the organization of the republican party, being a delegate to a state convention held in 
Springfield, Illinois, for the purpose of considering measures for the organization, from both of 
the old parties, of a new national party, that should unite and embody the entire anti-slavery ele- 
ment of the country. Owen Lovejoy was a member of that convention. Many persons of dis- 
tinction in the state, who have since done active and honorable service as republicans, stood aloof 
from that convention, fearing its strong and prominent views on the slavery question. From 
thai time Mr. Bangs became an active, radical republican, engaging earnestly in every political 
campaign, either local or general from 1855 until 1875. 

In March, 1859, he was elected judge of the twenty-third judicial circuit of Illinois. In 
August, 1862, he presided at the republican convention, held in Galesburgh, at which Hon. Owen 
Lovejoy received his last nomination for congress, and that fall made with him the campaign, 
the severity of which doubtless cost Mr. Lovejey his life. In the fall of 1862 Mr. Bangs formed a 
partnership with Thomas M. Shaw, now state senator from that district, which continued for fif- 
teen years, during which time the firm of Bangs and Shaw, and later Bangs, Shaw and Edwards, 
held a leading position at the bar and in the legal business of Central Illinois. 

In June, 1862, Mr. Bangs, with four other citizens of the state, originated and set in operation 
the celebrated Union League of America, of which he was chosen president, and he spent much 
of the year following, in organizing branches and granting charters, among which was a charter 
for the organization of the National League at Washington, District of Columbia. In the autumn 
of 1869 he was elected to the state senate, which had its share of the work of adopting our state 
legislation to the new constitution. In February, 1873, he was appointed by Governor Beveridge, 
judge of the circuit court of Putnam, Marshall, Woodford and Tazewell counties, to fill a vacancy 
occasioned by the death of Judge Richmond. 

In December, 1875, he was called without previous knowledge or solicitation on his part by a 
unanimous request of the republican delegation in congress, to the position of United States 
attorney for the northern district of Illinois, which position he held until September i, 1879, at 
which time he resigned. Most of the following year he spent looking after some small mining 
interest, and in search of health among the mountains of Colorado. October 20, 1880, Judge 
15 



142 UNITED STATES B/OGRAP/f/CAL DICTIONARY. 

Bangs entered upon a law practice in Chicago with Major Joseph Kirkland, a well known citizen 
of Chicago, under the form of Bangs and Kirkland, which still continues. 

During the two short periods that Judge Bangs presided on the bench as circuit judge he was 
happy in having won the confidence and respect of both the members of the legal profession 
and litigants in his circuit, not only by his urbanity, but by the knowledge of the law which he 
evincedi^and the correctness and impartiality in his rulings and decisions in all cases brought 
before him as judge. The subject of our sketch brought these same too rare qualities with him 
to the performance of his professional duties as attorney, on his retirement from the bench, and 
consequently his professional services were sought in almost every contested case in his county 
by one or the other of the litigating parties. As judge or attorney Mr. Bangs was industrious 
and untiring in his researches and efforts to find the law and the facts of cases, in his determina- 
tion to know the very right of the matters in litigation, and by such means he was rarely unsuc- 
cessful in cases where he was employed as attorney or counsel. 



MAJOR FREDERICK A. BRAGG. 

CHICAGO. 

FREDERICK AUGUSTUS BRAGG, one of the prominent dealers in real estate in Ciiicago, 
is a son of Joel and Margaretta (Kohl) Bragg, and dates his birth at Unadilla. Otsego county, 
New York, July i6, 1829. His grandfather was in the first war with the mother country, his 
father in the second, and himself and his elder brother. General Edward S. Bragg, member of con- 
gress from Wisconsin, were in the late civil war, the whole family being of the best patriotic stock. 
Joel Bragg was a farmer, and the son gave his youthful energies to the cultivation of the soil, 
until seventeen years old, except when at school. He received an academic education at Franklin 
and Gilbertsville in his native state, and then went into the navy as purser's steward on the United 
States sloop of war. Saint Louis, holding that position for two years. At the end of that time his 
father was dangerously ill, and consequently Frederick resigned and returned to New York. 

In 185 I Mr. Bragg came to Chicago, and became deputy city clerk, under his brother-in-law, 
Henry \V. Zimmerman, retaining that situation until 1855, when the office of superintendent of 
assessments was created, and he was elected to fill it. He held it for nine years. Just before the 
civil war broke out, and while still holding the other post, he was elected first assistant engineer 
of the fire department of Chicago, which he resigned to go into the service. 

In May, 1861, with the rank of 2nd lieutenant, he raised a company of infantry at Chicago, 
and the Illinois quota being full he went into the 6th Missouri, and on being mustered in was 
promoted to ist lieutenant, company I. A few months later he was promoted to the captaincy of 
company A. About three years later he was again promoted, this time to the rank of major. He 
had command of the regiment at Chickasaw Bayou, and was wounded in the face by the acci- 
dental bursting of a shell on the Union side. 

Major Bragg had command of a brigade a portion of the time in .Sherman';; march to the sea; 
was in the service four years and six months, and was mustered out at Little Rock, Arkansas, in 
October, 1865. He never missed a battle or a march of his regiment, and never had a day's sick- 
ness while in the service. His regiment was attached to the first brigade, second division of the 
15th army corps of the army of the Tennessee, during the entire war, and he was with Sherman 
from the battle of Shihih until the close of the unpleasantness. He was offered further promo- 
tion several times during his term of service, but declined it. 

On leaving the army Major Bragg returned to Chicago, and has since been engaged in the 
real estate business, dealing mainly in city property, and making a successful and highly credita- 
ble record. His sales in a single year (1881) amounted to more than $4,500,000. He has the 
unlimited confidence of parties with whom he has business transactions, and is a fair and strictly 
honorable dealer, 



UNITED STATES BtOGRA PIIICAL DICTIONARY. I 43 

Major Bragg is a democrat, and years ago was quite active in the party, holding the office 
of city collector before the war. Latterly business has had the precedence over everything else, 
and that is one reason why he has made it so brilliant a success. He is a Master Mason. 

Major Bragg married in 1867 Miss Catherine E. Gallagher, of Ohio, and they have had three 
children, losing two of them. 

FRANCIS W. HANCE, M.D. 

FREE FOR T. 
RANCIS WATERMAN HANCp, one of the older class of medical men in Stephenson 



F 



county, Illinois, first saw the light in Belmont county, Ohio, July 23, 1825. His father, John 
Ilance, a farmer, was born in Marylapd, and participated in the second war with England, from 
which country the family immigrated to the American colonies. The mother of Francis was 
Mary Ann Mackall, who was of Scotch extraction. He was educated at Franklin College, Athens, 
Ohio, taking a full course, yet substituting extra mathematical studies for the Greek language; 
read medicine with Doctor W. J. Bates, of Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia); attended lec- 
tures at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and there received the degree of doctor of 
medicine in 1849. In July of that year he married, in Ohio, Mary B. Chamberlain, who was from 
Elmira, New York. She died in 1873. Doctor Hance practiced medicine for three years at 
Bridgeport, in his native county, and in the spring of 1853 settled in Freeport, where he did a 
large general business, including a liberal share of surgery, until 1875, when his health failed and 
he went to California, spending nearly two years in that delightful climate. 

The doctor returned to Freeport on the last day of 1876, with his health nearly reestablished, 
and he is still in the practice of medicine and surgery, having, we believe, about as much business 
as he could desire. During most of his life his professional duties have been e.xacting, and he 
has had little time to attend to other matters. He held the office of mayor in 1861, the only civil 
position that we can hear of his having accepted since he became a resident of this city. He has 
held most of the offices in the Stephenson County Medical Society, and stands well among the 
medical fraternity. 

While the civil war was in progress, after the battles immediately preceding the siege of Vicks- 
burg, the doctor received a telegram from the adjutant-general of the state asking for his ser- 
vices at the South. He obeyed the summons on a two hours' notice, and spent six or seven weeks 
at the hospitals in the vicinity of Vicksburg. With the exception of this short absence from 
home, and the period spent in California, the doctor has usually been found at his post in Free- 
port, ready to attend to the calls of suffering humanity. His l<:)ng residence here, and his skill 
in his profession, have secured for him a wide circle of friends. 



EMERY S. WALKER. 

ClIICA GO. 

VERY few lawyers as young as Emery Staniels Walker, whose name heads this sketch, will be 
mentioned in this volume; nor does he go in so much as a representative of the legal pro- 
fession as a sample of a self-reliant, self-educated, studious young man, ambitious to develop 
whatever is worth developing in the inner man. He has an inquiring mind of the philosophic cast; 
is fond of scientific as well as legal studies, and is a perfect miser of time, making good use of all 
his waking hours, and hence is steadily growing in knowledge and in intellectual strength. 

Mr. Walker is a native of Whitefield, Coos county. New Hampshire, and was born September 
29, 1856, his parents being Franklin P. and Betsey (Wales) Walker. His paternal great-grand- 
mother was Hannah Dustin, whose remarkable exploit with the Indians is familiar to the Ameri- 
can reader. Franklin Pierce Walker, who was named for the only President of the United States 
that New Ilamjishire has ever had, was a hotel keeper in different towns in tlie northern part of 



144 



UNITED STATES BlOCRATtnCAL DICTIONAkV. 



that State; and up to thirteen years of age Emery picked up what Icnowledge he could in district 
schools; then went to Boston, where he had an opportunity of slightly replenishing his intellec- 
tual stores in a private school; but he is largely self-taught, and still allows himself no vacation 
in his studies. 

In 1876 Mr. Walker came to the West, and read law awhile, with himself for preceptor, while 
engaged in other pursuits, in order to earn an honest livelihood, and he was finally graduated at 
the law department of the University of Chicago in June, 1881. Since that date he has been in 
practice by himself in this city, doing a moderate and increasing business. He is thoroughly 
trustworthy, parties having transactions with him giving him credit for the strictest integrity and 
punctilious regard to every promise and engagement. He belongs to that class of men — none 
too common in the world — who are equally attentive to debtors and creditors, and are prompt to 
cancel an obligation, even to a borrowed postage stamp. If honesty is personified in any member 
of the legal fraternity in Chicago, it is in Mr. Walker. 

He is a member of the Philosophical Society of Chicago, and takes much interest in its pro- 
ceedings, as might be inferred from what we have already written; but with his legal studies and 
business nothing is allowed to interfere, and he is rising in his profession. 

Mr. Walker is deeply interested in the cause of temperance, often lecturing in public on that 
subject. He has been president of a temperance organization and is a member of tine or more 
secret orders devoted to that noble cause. 



BENJAMIN F. CRUMMER, M.D. 

WARREN. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CRUMMER, the leading physician and surgeon at Warren, Jo 
Daviess county, is a native of this county, being born at Elizabeth, September 18, 1848. His 
father is James Crummer, a farmer, born in Wilmington, Delaware, and son of Thomas Crum- 
mer, who was from the North of Ireland; settled at first in the state of Delaware, and came to Jo 
Daviess county about 1830. His remains lie in the old burying ground at Elizabeth. 

The mother of our subject was Araminta D. Tart, a native of Tennessee. Her father, Ben- 
jamin Tart, came to the Galena lead mines as early as 1828; was in the Black Hawk war in 
north-western Illinois (1832), and a member of the enterprising firm which started the first lead 
smelting works at Elizabeth. 

Young Crummer supplemented a common-school education with one year's attendance at the 
Mount Carroll Seminary and two or three terms at a commercial college in Dubuque, Iowa. He 
studied medicine with Doctor Caldwell, at Elizabeth; attended lectures in the medical department of 
the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor; there received the degree of doctor of medicine in April, 
1869, and practiced his profession in his native town for six or seven years. During that period, 
he spent the winter of 1874-5 '" attending lectures in the medical department of the University 
of New York, from which institution also he received a diploma. He also took private lessons in 
surgery of Frank Hastings Hamilton, M.D., then professor of surgery in Bellevue Hospital Medi- 
cal College. 

In the spring of 1876 Doctor Crummer moved to Warren, in the same county, where, as at 
Elizabeth, he has an extensive ride, but over a less hilly and a more comfortable section of coun- 
try. Warren is only half a mile from the line of Wisconsin, and his rides extend several miles 
into that state. His business, good almost from the start, is increasing from year to year, and the 
people have great confidence in his skill. He is a growing man. 

The doctor has the best medical library in Jo Daviess county, and as he is a man of studious 
habits, it is almost superfluous to say that he makes good use of his books during the brief inter- 
vals of leisure at his command. He contributes occasionally to medical journals, and to the work 
of the Illinois State Medical Society, of which he is a member. He holds at the present time the 
otfice of secretary of the Jo Daviess County Medical Society. 



I 



VMITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAkY. 1 45 

Doctor Crummer has a high appreciation of the value of education, and takes much interest 
in the cause, being at this time a member of the Warren school board. He is a thirty-second 
degree Mason and an Odd-Fellow, having passed all the chairs in the latter order. 

The wife of Doctor Crummer is Mary L., daughter of Rev. Richard Donkersley, a native of Eng- 
land, and formerly of the Providence (Rhode Island) Conference. They were married in Febru- 
ary, 1.S71, and have one-son, Henry Le Roy, aged eleven years. 



MORTIMER D. HATHAWAY. 

ROCIIELLE. 

THE gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch is attorney for the 
Chicago and Iowa Railroad Company, and one of the leading lawyers in Ogle county. He 
hails from Yates county, New York, being born in the town of Barrington, ApribaS, 1832. His 
father, (Gilbert Hathaway, Jr., a farmer, was born in the same county, and his grandfather, Gil- 
bert Hathaway, Sr., was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in which state the family originally 
settled. The mother of Mortimer was Delia Boardman, a native of Seneca county, New York. 

The subject of this sketch was educated at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, Lima, New York, 
and by a private tutor in the classics at Penn Yan, his course of studies being nearly equal to 
that of a college curriculum. He taught school three winter terms ; commenced reading law at 
Penn Yan with Abram V^Tt^arpending; came to Rockford, Illinois, in 1854, where he was engaged 
awhile in mercantile pursuits ; finished his legal studies with Orrin Miller, of Rockford, where 
he was admitted to the bar in December 1857. He practiced four years in that city, and in 1861 
settled in Rochelle. Here he has been eminently successful, and has made an honorable record 
in his profession. He is both a good office and court lawyer, being a wise counselor, and a man 
of much influence with an intelligent jury. He has had a varied experience in business matters, 
and has always shown himself, not only capable, but perfectly reliable and trustworthy. Mr. 
Hathaway has been attorney for the Chicago and Iowa Railroad Company for ten or twelve 
years. He is thoroughly imbued with public spirit and enterprise, and organized, January i, 
1872, the Rochelle National Bank, of which he has been the president since the end of the first 
year. It is a solid, well managed institution, and a credit to the county, owing its good reputa- 
li(jn in no inconsiderable degree to the oversight of our subject. 

Mr. Hathaway is of the democratic school of politics, and in 1878 was the nominee of his 
party for congress, running in a district of which every county was strongly republican. He was 
run simply to keep up the party organization, and drew the full democratic vote. He has done 
some good work as a member of the local school board, and takes a deep interest in educational 
and all other public matters calculated tci promote the welfare of the community. He joined the 
Free Masons many years ago, and took the degrees, including the Sc(jttish Rite, while a resident 
of Penn Yan, New York. Mr. Hathaway married, in 1862, Miss Martha Piatt, of Franklin county, 
Massachusetts, and they have four children. 



T. N. HASSELQUIST, D.D. 

ROCK ISLAND. 

THE president of Augustana College and theological seminary. Rock Island, is a man of solid 
scientific and theological attainments, and is doing a good work in educating young men, 
largely Swedes, for the gospel ministry, and other positions of usefulness in this country. He 
was born in southern Sweden, March 2, 1816, being the son of Nels and Cecelia (Swanson) Has- 
selquist. His parents belonged to the agricultural class. He was educated in the University of 
Lund, southern Sweden, spending three years in preparatory study in Christianstad, four in the 
college, and two in the theological department, graduating from the last named school in 



% 



1^6 VNtTED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

1839, and was ordained the same year. After having charge of a Lutheran congregation in his 
native land for thirteen years, in September, 1852, Mr. Hasselquist came to this country, and for 
thirty years has been laboring here zealously for the advancement of the church and of higher 
education. For nearly eleven years he was pastor of a Swedish Lutheran congregation at Gales- 
burgh, this state. From 1863 to 1875 he was at the head of a Lutheran college and seminary at 
Paxton, Ford county, a Norwegian as well as Swedish institution. In 1870 the Norwegian pastors 
withdrew from the Augustana synod, and the Norwegian pupils from the school. 

The expectation that a large Swedish population would settle in and near Ford county, was 
not realized; the tide tended toward Rock Island county, anci in March, 1873, it having been 
determined to remove the school, about nineteen acres of picturesque bluff land in eastern Rock 
Island, one mile from Moline, was purchased; and in the autumn of 1875 the school was removed 
from Paxton and opened at Rock Island, our subject remaining its president. He teaches theol- 
ogy. New Testament exegesis, homiletics, etc., and the institution is thriving under his adminis- 
tration. He has twelve assistants in the several departments; teaching iS done in the English as 
well as the Swedish language, and there is a fair representation of American pupils, whose 
parents speak in strong terms of praise of the school. 

The buildings are pleasantly situated on the side of the bluff, with a pleasant campus on the 
north. The library is quite large, the apparatus sufficient for general purposes, and the college 
and seminary seem to have a hopeful future. 

Seueral years ago Muhlenburg College, Pennsylvania, conferred upon president Hasselquist, 
the degree of doctor of divinity, an honor well merited and accepted in meekness. 

In 1852 Dr. Hasselquist was married to Miss Eva Helena Cervine, a native of Sweden, and she 
died in April, 1881, leaving three children, two sons and one daughter, one daughter having pre- 
viously left for her heavenly home. 

LUKE E. HEMENWAY. 

MOIJXE. ' 

LUKE EDGAR HEMENWAY, postmaster at Moline, is a son of Francis S. and Clara (Tur- 
j rill) Hemenway, and was born in Shoreham, Addison county, Vermont, August 7, 1816. 
His father and his grandfather, Samuel Hemenway, were house carpenters in early life, and after- 
ward farmers. His mother was a native of Shoreham. The progenitor of the Hemenway family 
in this country, was Ralph Hemenway, who came to this country in 1634, and settled in Roxbury, 
now a part of Boston, Massachusetts. He was a prominent man, and held different town offices. 
The head of this immediate branch of the family was Daniel Hemenway, of Shrewsl)ury, Massa- 
chusetts. Samuel Hemenway, the grandfather of Luke, moved to Shoreham near the close of the 
last century, and his remains lie in the old burying ground in that town. 

The school days of our subject ended in his fifteenth year, and the rest of his educatic^n he 
picked up afterward. He was a clerk in a store for his uncle, Sidney S. Hemenway, at Rochester 
and Barnard, both in Windsor county, Vermont, until 1838, when he came to Illinois, and was in 
mercantile business at Grand Detour, Ogle county, until 1843, when his health failed, and he was 
obliged to leave the store, and seek out-door employment. Prior to that time he was for a few 
months a partner of John Deere, in the manufacture of steel plows. He farmed for himself 
between three and four years, and then was engaged in selling agricultural implements. 

In August, 1855, Mr. Hemenway settled in Moline, and for four years had the management of 
John Deere's office. In 1859 he commenced the manufacture of chairs, then of grain-cleaning 
machines, and out cif that small beginning has since grown up the large establishment of Barnard 
and Leas Manufacturing Company. 

In June, 1864, Mr. Hemenway went into the army with the one hundred days men, having 
command of company H, i32d Illinois infantry, which was engaged in doing guard duty at 
Paducah and Smithland, Kentucky. He was in business for the Moline Plow Company from 
1870 to 187s, when his health again failed, and he was out of business for a year or two. 



I 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I^^ 

April I, 1877, he took charge of the Moline postoffice, and is managing it with great satisfac- 
tion to the public. Years ago he was a township trustee, and later an alderman, school director, 
etc. His interests have always been strongly identified with Moline, and he is one of its most 
respected citizens. He has always been a republican, and is a Blue Lodge Mason. 

Mr. Hemenway was married June 23, 1842, to Miss Jane E. Marsh, of Bethel, Windsor county, 
Vermont, and they have four children, three sons and one daughter. Fred C, the eldest son, is 
superintendent of Christy's cracker factory. Rock Island; Charles F. is cashier of the Moline 
National Bank; George H. is a house carpenter. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Ellen M., the second 
child, is the wife of Joseph M. Christy, cracker manufacturer, Rock Island. 



ANDREW J. O'CONOR. 

LA SALLE. 

ANDREW J. O'CONOR, lawyer, is a son of Andrew and Bridget (Doyle) O'Conor, and was 
L born in La Salle, July 17, 1852. Both parents were from Ireland, and his father, who 
was a school teacher, died in the year in which the son was born. The mother is still living. 
Andrew received a collegiate education at the Seminary of Our Lady of Angels, a Catholic insti- 
tution near Suspension Bridge, New York ; read law in La Salle with his present partner, James 
W. Duncan, and was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1876. The firm of Duncan and 
O'Conor does business in all the state and federal courts, and that business is second in extent, 
probably, to that of no legal firm in La Salle county. In 1882 they opened an office in Ottawa, 
the county seat, where Mr. Duncan now resides. Their business at both places is highly pros- 
perous. Although still quite young in his profession, as well as in years, Mr. O'Conor has few 
peers as an advocate, in his native county. He is a rising man. 

While Mr. O'Conor was studying his profession, he was elected clerk of the city court, and 
resigned that office at the end of a year and a half to accept his present oftice of city attorney. 
The duties of this office he is discharging with marked ability, and to the general satisfaction of 
the public. He is also school treasurer of Peru and La Salle, which are in one congressional 
district. Mr. O'Conor is an active and influential politician of the democratic school, and is a 
member of both the county and state central committees of his party. 

Our subject is a stockholder in the Union Coal Company, and in the City National Bank, and 
one-third owner of the gas works both at La Salle and Peru. He was married, October 22, 1876, 
to Miss Mary I. L. Duncan, sister of his law partner, and they have four children, two sons and 
two daughters. 

MAJOR WILLIAM G. BOND. 

MONMOUTH. 

WILLIAM GRIMSLEY BOND, sheriff of Warren county, dates his birth April 2. 1823, in 
Jackson county, Alabama, his parents being John and Mary (Grimsley) Bond. His father 
was a farmer, born in Tennessee; his grandfather, Jesse Walton Bond, was also a farmer. When 
William was very young the family came into Morgan county, this state, where he lost his mother. 
He recollects seeing her only as she lay dead. His father was in the Black Hawk war, 1832, and 
about the close of that year the family moved to Warren county, and settled on a farm in what is 
now Greenbush township, where both father and grandfather died. William was very small when 
the family came into this county, but he assisted in opening a farm, getting ver)' little schooling, 
most of it in the summer time before he was large enough to be of much service as a farm hand. 
He never went to school where the house had a floor, consequently it could not be made comfort- 
able in the winter time. His education has since been obtained as business required him to master 
certain branches, He is a well informed man. 



148 ■ UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

In the spring of 1845 Mr. Bond married Miss Elizabeth Henry, and was still engaged in farm- 
ing when the war broke out. He went into the army in August, 1862, as captain, company H, 83d 
Illinois infantry; was promoted to the rank of major in the spring of the next year, and for two 
years had command of the regiment, the colonel and lieutenant-colonel being on detached duty. 
His military record is second to that of no man who went into the army from Warren county. 
Major Bond received two slight wounds in the second engagement at Fort Donelson, in February, 
1863, and was severely wounded in the left thigh by a minie ball, at the battle of Pulaski, in 
October, 1864, in a fight with General Forrest. He was mustered out with his regiment at 
Nashville, July, 1865, and for three years was in the quartermaster's department, engaged most 
of the time in taking up the federal dead and moving them to national cemeteries. Subsequently 
he was in the revenue department in Tennessee, having much of the time charge of distilleries as 
government store keeper. 

Returning to Illinois he became deputy sheriff of Warren county at the close of 1874, and held 
that position two years. He was elected sheriff in the autumn of 1876, has since been twice 
reelected, and at the time this sketch is written he is just closing up his sixth year in that office. 
He is regarded as the most vigilant and efficient sheriff that the county has ever had, and is well 
known in other states, as well as in Illinois. When he once gets on the track of a culprit, there 
is no peace, and not much sleep until that culprit is caught. Before the war Major Bond was a 
Douglas democrat; he has since been a republican. He was a member of the county board of 
supervisors for some 3'ears, and resigned when he went into the army. 

His first wife died in 1863, while he was in the tented field, leaving four children, and he soon 
afterward sold his farm. January i, 1868, he was married to Mrs. Mary E. (Taylor) Moore, widow 
of Lieutenant Isaac V. D. Moore, of the 7th Illinois cavalry, who was killed near New Madrid, Mis- 
sissippi, April. 1862, while bravely fighting for his country. 



E 



EDWIN EVANS, M.U. 

STREATOR. 

DWIN EVANS, one of the leading citizens of Streator, dates his l)irth at New Durham, 
Greene county. New York, October 6,1821, being a son of Rev. William Evans, a Presby- 
terian minister, born in Brattleboro, Vermont, in 1790, and Harriet (Linsley) Evans, a native of 
Durham, New York. The father of Rev. William Evans moved from Brattleboro, Vermont, to 
Sidney, Delaware county, New York, and died there in 1S41. The son preached many years, and 
when too infirm to occupy the pulpit, in 1848 came to Illinois with a son, and died at Pontiac in 
1867. His widow died in Streator in 1882. Edwin received an academic education, and pursued 
his studies two years in the college course; then read medicine at Owasco, Cayuga county; 
attended lectures at Geneva, and the medical department of the University of New York, and 
received the degree of doctor of medicine from the latter institution in 1846. 

Doctor Evans commenced practice at Walden, Orange county, where he married, in 1849, 
Jessie S. Capron, daughter of Seth M. Capron, a prominent woolen manufacturer, and in 1851 
left his native state, came to Livingston county, this state, and for four years was engaged in 
farming. Returning to his practice in Livingston county, he continued it for eight years, doing 
at one period all the surgery done in that county; then dropped medicine once more, and was 
engaged in specidation and general business. 

In 1 868 Doctor Evans settled in Streator; practiced medicine four years; turned his attention 
to the real estate business, and has made it a marked success, dealing exclusively in local 
property. He was early appointed one of the town trustees, and was for some time president of 
to superintend the building of that elegant and substantial structure, the gift of Colonel Ralph 
the board. He is also president of the high school board of trustees, being appointed expressly 
Plumb, and costing about $30,000. The doctor has put up a score of buildings in this place. 




r 



't^ 



'^^^^^-^^ 



UNFTED states BIOGRAPinCAL DICTIONARY. I^j 

more than a dozen of them large stores, and he was just the man to supervise the erection of such 
a pubHc edifice. 

He has devoted much time to developing local interests; is president of the Streator Glass 
Works, Ituilt for the manufacture of window glass; is also a stock-holder in the Streator National 
Bank; is a thorough-going business man, full of public spirit, and has done and is doing a liberal 
share in building up this city. He has given a great deal of time to railroad matters, going from 
town to town, and laying the matter before the people. Fifteen years ago not a railroad visited 
Streatiir; now no less than five companies run trains into this city, to carry away its coal, bring 
ill men handise, etc. The doctor did good service in aiding Colonel Plumb to get the first roads 
here. He is a member of the State Natural History Society, and of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, and occasionally reads papers before these societies. He has 
given much attention to geology, particularly the subterranean water system; has collected a 
list of ail the deep wells in the state, and can tell froTn what formations water will flow, and 
determined where artesian wells are practicable. A correspondent of the Vineland, New Jersey, 
"Independent," Professor J. W. Pike, thus speaks of the subject: 

"I visited Streator, and discoursed to two good houses, one evening on Mazon Creek and 
another on California Gold. To Doctor E. Evans the citizens of Streator are indebted for the 
four courses of lectures I have given there. He is a man of remarkable business energy and 
executive ability, and when he espoused the cause of the lectures, fourteen years ago, their success 
was assured. Now geology is taught in the cit}- schools. * * * Doctor Evans is an able geolo- 
gist, and has made artesian wells his special study. No other man has massed and arranged the 
facts bearing on subterranean water circulation of the geological basin west and south of Chicago 
at all to compare with his work." 

Doctor Evans is not only thoroughly posted on this subject, but is a well informed man gen- 
erally, and an interesting converser. A stranger visiting Streator, and wishing to post himself 
on geology and r)ther scientific topics, will do well to spend an hour or two with Doctor Evans. 
He has a large collection of fossils and minerals, and a well selected and choice library, especially 
rich in scientific works. The doctor is very cordial and communicative; a gentleman, in short, 
of the old school, anfl of the best type. 



JAMES H. WALLACE, M.D. 

MONMOUTH. 

T AMES HARVEY WALLACE, physician, son of Robert Wallace and Eleanor Stewart (Shaffer) 
J Wallace, was born in the township of Lack, Juniata coimty, Pennsylvania, November i6, 1834. 
Robert Wallace was born in Ireland, and came to tliis country when about three years old. His 
grandfather was a Scotchman, who emigrated to Ireland at the time of the persecution. The 
great-grandfather of Eleanor S. Shaffer was from Germany. The father of our subject was a 
farmer, but the son did not manifest any partiality for agricultural pursuits. As far as we can 
ascertain, he was of a studious turn of mind, and early inclined to the medical profession. He 
received a good academic education at the Vermilion Institute, Hayesville, Ohio, at the same 
period teaching school during the winter term, in all seven winters. 

He read medicine at Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, with Doctor T. H. Baker; attended one 
course of lectures at the medical department, Universit}' of Buffalo, and one course in the Ohio 
Medical College, Cincinnati, where he received the degree of doctor of medicine, July 2, 1862. In 
October of that year he was married to Miss Sarah Jane Troutman, of Wooster, having just 
commenced the practice of his profession at Lakeville, Holmes county, where he remained be- 
tween one and two years, and then settled in Canaan, Wayne county. 

In 1873 Doctor Wallace took a post-graduate course of lectures at Jefferson Medical College, 
Philadelphia, devoting special attention to gynecology, or diseases of women, a branch of med- 
ical science in which he has attained marked proficiency and skill. He then (1873) located at 
16 



1^-2 VNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

SmithviUe, Wayne county, where he remained three years, and then left Ohio, settling in Mon- 
mouth in April, 1876. Here he has been in general practice, but devotes a good deal of attention 
to gynecology, in which branch he has a fair amount of business. 

The doctor gives no time to secret societies; seldom fails to vote the republican ticket; never 
accepts a civil or political office, and gives his time to his medical books and fresh periodicals 
when not making his professional visits. He is a progressive man, thoroughly wedded to his 
profession, and constantly growing in reputation. He is a member of the Ohio State Medical 
Society, of the American Medical Association, and of the Military Tract Medical Society, Illinois, 
and Monmouth Medical Club. 

The doctor and Mrs. Wallace have five children living, and have buried two, Charles Robert, 
the second child, and Clarence Leroy, the youngest. The names of the living are George Elvin, 
Franklin Emmett, Carrie Luella, Anna May and Lewis Eugene. The doctor and his wife are 
members of the Presbyterian church, and the latter devotes a portion of her leisure time to Chris- 
tian labor in connection with home and foreign missions and different benevolent societies. 



NATHANIEL HALDERMAN. 

MOUXT CARROLL. 

THE subject of this sketch, the first mayor of Mount Carroll, and for nearly forty years a 
prominent citizen of the county, was born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, May i, 
181 1, his father being Henry and his mother Tamer (Johnson) Halderman. His grandfather 
came from Germany. Nathaniel Halderman had limited school privileges in his youth, but was 
self-disciplined, and gave himself a fine business education, taking care of himself after he was 
sixteen years old. He learned the milling business in his native state, where he lived until 1841, 
in the spring of which year he settled in Carroll county, this state. The present site of Mount 
Carroll was then a woods, but there was water power here on Carroll Creek, and here he pitched 
his tent for life, and made a splendid record as a business man. 

In April, 1842, was laid the foundation of the flouring mill, which was running in the Novem- 
ber following, and with the exception of si.x months he had an interest in that mill from the time 
it was started until his death, June 27, 1880. 

We learn from the Carroll county "Herald" of July 2, 1880, that Mr. Halderman was one of 
the company that started the first store in Mount Carroll. " He was a member of the firm of Wm. 
Patterson and Company, lumber merchants in this place, from 1865 to January, 1880; also one of 
the firm of M. E. Harnish and Company, lumber and coal dealers at Lanark, Illinois, from 1868 
till 1878; of the firm of N. H. Halderman and Company, 1872 to 1873, and a partner in Graham, 
Halderman and Company, commission merchants at Milwaukee, from 1873 to 1878. Besides 
these the deceased was for a number of years engaged in the work of distilling, and also con- 
ducted the grain and stock business in his own name at the elevator, near the depot, in Mount 
Carroll. This last business was purchased from B. P. Shirk in 1865, and Mr. Halderman con- 
tinued it untif July, 1879.. From that period up to the hour of his death he was a member of 
the firm of J. M. Shirk and Company, millers. He held the office of county treasurer for a 
period of twelve years, and was the first mayor of Mount Carroll." 

The milling company built the first courthouse and presented it to the county, the county seat 
being at first at Savanna. The original town was plotted and laid out by Mr. Halderman, three 
additions being made afterward by him and his partner, John Rinewalt. He was one of the most 
enterprising men that ever lived in Mount Carroll, and took great pride in pushing forward manu- 
facturing and other business interests calculated to build up the town. Although fifty years old 
when the civil war broke out, he kept a soldier in the army during the four years, thus showing 
his patriotism. 

A few years after coming to Mount Carroll he joined the Presbyterian Church, and some years 



i 



UNITED STATES BIOCRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I 53 

afterward transferred his connection to the Baptist Church, of which he was a member at the 
time of his death. He was a liberal supporter of the Gospel, and a man of generous impulses. 
He gave a thousand dollars at one time to the University of Chicago, and also contributed funds 
to the observatory of that Baptist institution, and to other literary amd benevolent institutions. 

Mr. Halderman was twice married, first, in October, 1845, ^^ Miss Elizabeth McCoy, who died 
in November, 1873, and the second time, in August, 1875, to Miss Mary T. McCoy, a sister of his 
first wife. He had five children by the first wife, losing two of them. Nathaniel Herbert, 
the eldest son living, is on the old homestead in Mount Carroll, and engaged in the grain and 
stock and milling business; Rebecca T. is the wife of Captain J. M. Adair, of Springfield, Illi- 
nois, and Hattie is with Mrs. Halderman. He left two children by the second wife: Edwin M. 
and Mary Dell. 

E. FLETCHER INGALS. A.M., M.D. 

CIIICA GO. 

ONE of the eminently successful medical men of the younger class in this city is Ephraim 
Fletcher Ingals, a native of Lee county, this state. He is a son of Charles Francis and Sarah 
(Hawkins) Ingals, and was born September 29, 1848. His father, who is a farmer, was born in Con- 
necticut. His mother is a granddaughter of Captain Hawkins, of the revolutionary army, who 
served not only through the war, but was in the service in all for ten years. Our subject received 
a first-class academic education at Amboy, the Normal University, and Rock River Seminary, at 
Mount Morris; studied medicine in Chicago with his uncle. Doctor Ephraim Ingals; attended lec- 
tures at Rush Medical College, and was graduated in February 187 i. 

For eighteen months Doctor Ingals acted as interne physician to the Cook county hospital; 
since which time, until three years ago, he was in general practice. He now devotes his attention 
almost exclusively to diseases of the throat and chest. He had previously made' these branches 
of the healing art an especial study, and he is having noteworthy success in their treatment. In 
future he will devote his time wholly to the specialties mentioned, in the treatment of which he 
has already distinguished himself. 

Doctor Ingals is the author of a work entitled, "Lectures on Diagnosis and Treatment of the 
Diseases of the Throat and Chest and Nasal Cavities," published in New York in 1881, and con- 
taining four hundred and thirty pages. The press generally commend the work in strong terms. 
We make a few extracts: 

"The author has performed his tiisk with more than ordinary success. Unquestionably his 
work will meet the needs of large numbers of medical men and medical students. We trust it 
may stimulate all to a more correct appreciation of the value of this kind of study. The author's 
arrangement of facts is excellent. Clearness and conciseness add not a little to the attractiveness 
of every page." — Detroit Lancet. 

"Professor Ingals, in the preparation of this work, has availed himself of every source of 
information at his command, and has overlooked nothing which would be of value to the student 
or practitioner. It will be found a complete treatise on the subject of which it treats." — Cincin- 
mxti Medical News. 

"The text comprises all that is necessary to be acquired by the student, and will be of use to 
the physician in practice for ready reference." — Ohio Medical Journal. 

Doctor Ingalls is a member of the local medical societies, the American Medical Association, 
and the American Laryngological Association, and is vice-president of the last named national 
society. He holds the position of professor of laryngology in Rush Medical College, and that of 
professor of diseases of the throat and chest in the Woman's Medical College. Very few young 
men of his age in this city have an equally high standing with our subject in the medical profes- 
sion. 

A writer in one of our Chicago weeklies thus speaks of Doctor Ingals: 



je^ UNITED STATES BWCTAP/IICAL DICTIONARY. 

"One of the distinguished specialists among the medical fraternity of Chicago is Doctor 
E. F. Ingals. There is perhaps no other class of diseases which has been such a scourge to the 
human race as those which attack the throat, lungs and organs of the chest, and it is only of late 
years that the science of medicine has been able to do more than mitigate them; to eradicate 
especially diseases of the throat and lungs has been considered beyond human skill. Until 1S57 
it had been found impracticable to directly examine the larynx, and up to this period compara- 
tively little was known to medical sciences of diseases of this most delicate and important organ 
and their proper treatment. For example, up to the period mentioned only seventy cases of tumors 
of the larynx had been reported. Since then, under recent discoveries and advancement in the 
knowledge of this heretofore almost unknown region of the human system, thousands of cases of 
tumors of the larynx have been successfully treated and cured by means of direct practical sur- 
gery. Consumption, that 'great scourge of the human race,' has carried far more victims to the 
grave than all the epidemics that have visited and devastated the world. It is not many years 
since consumption was a disease found in every community and regarded everywhere as hope- 
lessly fatal. One has but to notice the immense fortunes made by inventors of patent medicines 
for the cure of diseases of the throat and lungs to understand how widespread and universal is the 
disease that seeks alleviation and cure from the use of such nostrums. It is therefore a hopeful 
omen of coming relief to suffering humanity when such men as Doctor Ingals make a life-work 
of the study of the causes and cure of thiswidespread and fatal class of diseases. Doctor Ingals 
is an authority all over the country on this subject, and his book on ' Diseases of the Chest, Throat 
and Nasal Cavities" is pronounced by competent critics a most valuable addition to medical 
science. Its clearness and conciseness make it interesting even to the non-professional reader. 
Doctor Ingals spent the summer of 1873 in Europe, where he went for the benefit of both mind 
and body. The degree of master of arts was conferred on him by the Chicago University in 1878. 
For two years he held the position of managing editor of the Chicago ' Medical Journal and 
Examiner,' having been appointed to that position by the Chicago Medical Press Association 
in 1877." 

Doctor Ingals was married in 1876 to Miss Lucy Ingals, of Chicago, and they hive one son. 



HON. ANDREW HINDS. 

LENA. 

ANDREW HINDS, lawyer, and an old resident of Stephenson county, dates his birth at I^den, 
L Laninille county., Vermont, July 25, 1822, his parents being Eli and Sarah (Willcy) Hinds, 
both natives of the Green Mountain State. His father was a soldier in the second war with Eng- 
land, and fought at Lundy's Lane, Ontario, under General Scott. The Hindses are an old Massa- 
chusetts family, and Andrew's grandfather, Eli Hinds, Sr., was one of the early settlers in Ver- 
mont. Our subject finished his education at the Johnson Academy, in his native county, where 
he attended several terms, taking up the higher mathematics, Latin, and some of the physical 
sciences. He began teaching school at eighteen years of age, and continued to teach for eight 
consecutive winters. 

He read law at Johnson with J. J. Beardsley; was admitted to the bar in Lamoille county in 
1847, and after practicing with Mr. Beardsley for a few months, his health failed, and he left 
Vermont for the West, halting a short time near Mineral Point, Wisconsin. In January, 1848, he 
settled in the town of Oneco, twelve miles northeast of Lena, where he bought land and began 
to turn the sod, hoping by that means to get his physical strength restored. In this endeavor he 
succeeded. 

While a resident of Oneco, Mr. Hinds served his constituents in a great variety of offices, town 
and county. He was supervisor of the town for a score of j'ears; a school director, justice of the 
peace, and notary public; county treasurer in 1S56-57; county judge from 1869 to 1873, and a 
member of the legislature in 1879-80, 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 1 55 

In April, 1880, Mr. Hinds left his farms, consisting in all of between five and six hundred 
acres, in the hands of sons and sons-in-law, and moved into the village of Lena, purposing, we 
believe, to take the world easy. This he is now trying to do, and is succeeding in a measure. 
But he has in this part of Stephenson county many friends, who have a great deal of confidence 
in his judgment as a lawyer, and his wisdom as an adviser, and the result is that he has all the 
legal business that he requires for his health. 

Mr. Hinds is a member of the Christian church, and a man not only versed in the law, but in 
the gospel. He is a very earnest temperance man, and the author of what is known as the 
"Hinds Bill." April 8, 1849, he was joined in marriage, in Stephenson county, with Miss Sarah 
Giblcr, from Ohio, and they have eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, all living in 
Stephenson county. The four daughters and four of the sons are married, the four sons being on 
farms. 

Mr. Hinds came into this county thirty-four years ago, with less than $50, and not a very 
robust constitution. But he has been a wise investor and a prudent manager; has reared a fam- 
ily of eleven children in habits of industry, and has placed himself in comfortable circumstances 
years ago. He has made a success of farming; has been repeatedly honored by his fellow-citizens 
with offices of trust and responsibility, and as he has lived an upright as well as industrious life, 
the autumn of his days is gliding away with a liberal tinge of mellow sunshine. 



JOHN D. CAMPBELL. 

POLO. 

JOHN DANIEL CAMPBELL, lawyer, is a native of Old Paltz, Ulster county. New York, and 
J was born July 21, 1830. His father, Henry Campbell, a farmer, was also born in that state, 
and died in Middletown, Delaware county. New York, in 1840, and his mother, whose maiden 
name was Rachel Martin, survived her husband more than thirt)' years, dying in Buffalo Township, 
Ogle county, Illinois, in 1872. The family moved to Middletown the year after John's birth, and, 
losing his father nine years afterward, our subject was thrown entirely upon his own resources for 
his support. 

Leaving home, he worked at fanning in the summer and attended school during the winter 
terms until seventeen years old, when he taught the public school at Margarettville, Delaware 
county, during the winter term (1847-8). The next spring he became a student at Hanford's 
Seminary, in the same county, remaining there one year. He then became principal of the Hobart 
public school, and was teaching there when he was appointed to represent the county of Dela- 
ware in the state normal school, Albany, from which institution he was graduated in the spring 
of 1-850. 

We learn from the history of Ogle county (Chicago, 1878) that on leaving the normal school 
Mr. Campbell became principal of the public school at Verplanck, Westchester county, New York, 
and two years later superintendent of the West Farms Union School, in the same county, which 
latter position he also held two years. During this period he gave the leisure time at his com- 
inand to Blackstone, and he now entered the law office of Hon. Edward Wells, of Peekskill, 
where he remained until the summer of 1855, when he was examined before the supreme court 
(July 3), and was admitted to practice in all the courts of New York. 

Believing that the West presented a promising field for a young attorney and counselor-at-law, 
in the autumn of 1855 Mr. Campbell came to the young railroad village of Polo, where he has 
been in steady practice for twenty-seven years, and has made a highly creditable record in the 
legal profession. His standing at the bar and in the community is high, and he has often been 
called upon to hold offices of trust and honor, such as mayor of the city and city attorney, not 
to mention posts held by him in the town before Polo was incorporated in i86g. 

From 1861 to 1865, a period covering the civil war, he was the editor and proprietor of the 



156 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Polo "Press," and made it a fearless exponent of the patriotic sentiment of Ogle county. His 
scholarly attainments were shown to good advantage in journalism. For nine years he was a 
member of the board of education, a position for which he has peculiar fitness, being an old 
teacher, and in which he made himself especially useful. 

In 1862 Governor Yates appointed him enrolling commissioner. In 1872 he was elected 
state's attorney of Ogle county; was reelected in 1876, both times without a dissenting vote. 
For eight years he was elected by the board of supervisors as attorney for the county, when he 
declined to serve any longer. The people of Polo are strong prohibitionists. Mr. Campbell has 
always been a teetotaler, and hence the desire of his neighbors to keep him in the office of state's 
attorney. 

Mr. Campliell has passed all the chairs in the subordinate lodges of Odd-Fellowship, and also 
through the encampment. The wife of Mr. Campbell was Miss Mary Elizabeth Cutts, daughter 
of Captain Hiram Cutts, late of Ogle county, and they have two daughters, Juniata and Mignon- 
ette, both receiving an excellent education. The elder is a student at the Industrial University, 
Champaign. 

CAPTAIN D. L. HARRIS. 

GALENA. 

THE oldest settler in Galena, Illinois, still living here, is Daniel Smith Harris, a native of 
Delaware county. New York. His birth is dated at Courtright, July 24, 1808. His father 
was James Harris, who was born in Connecticut in 1777, and died in Galena in 1829, and his 
mother was Abigail Bathrick, who was born in Delaware county. New York, in 1782, and died at 
Galena in 1844. The paternal grandfather of our subject lived to be ninety-eight years old, and 
the maternal to one hundred and four. James Harris moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1816. We 
learn from the " History of Jo Daviess County " that James Harris and his son, Daniel Smith, 
left Cincinnati, April 20, 1823, on a keel-boat, the Colonel Bumford, and came to Galena, with 
provisions and mining outfits, having on board from seventy-five to eighty tons, and that they 
reached this place June 20, being just two months in making the trip, now a twenty-five or thirty 
hours' ride by rail. 

Captain Harris, by which title he is known all over the country, had done, in Ohio, a little 
browsing on the lower branches of the tree of knowledge, and after he reached here, then in his 
sixteenth year, he became almost immediately interested in mining; yet he managed, a little 
later, to do some studying, and acquired a fair knowledge of the common English branches. In 
August, 1823, a short two months after reaching Galena, aided by an Indian of the Sac and Fox 
tribe, he dug his first hole for lead, and was successful in his search. Two years later, in June 
1825, he and his younger brother, Robert Scribe; struck a very rich lead, with 33,000 pounds in 
one piece. Since then, on ten acres of land around that spot, about 14,000,000 pounds have been 
taken out, he and his brother owning at least 6,000,000 pounds of it. 

Captain Harris made his first money in mining, and that way got a good start in life, contin- 
uing in the mining business until the present time. He is best known, however, all over the 
Mississippi valley, as a steamboat owner and captain, he following that line of business, in the 
season of navigation, between thirty and forty years. The first boat which he commanded was 
the Jo Daviess, which he built, and which was brought out in 1833, being owned by him and his 
brother, already mentioned. He has been interested in nearly a hundred steamboats, small and 
large, the brothers building many of them at Cincinnati, a few at Wheeling, Virginia, and buying 
others. He was a very popular steamboat captain, and thousands of people are yet living who 
made trips with him on the War Eagle, Nos. i and 2, the Gray Eagle and other boats, twenty 
and forty years ago. He once ran the Gray Eagle from Dubuque to Saint Paul in twenty-two 
hours and fifty-five minutes, taking with him Queen Victoria's dispatch to the president, the first 
regular dispatch sent across the Atlantic Ocean. 



i 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 157 

Captain Harris had a little experience with "villainous saltpeter" in 1832, when he held the 
rank of lieutenant in the United States army in the Black Hawk war, and commanded a company 
at Wisconsin Heights. In politics Captain Harris was originally a Jackson democrat; was sub- 
sequently a whig, and on the demise of that party, drifted into the great party of freedom, with 
which he still navigates. Captain Harris first married, May 22, 1833, at Galena, Miss Sarah Maria 
Langworthy, daughter of Doctor Stephen Langworthy, of Dubuque, Iowa, she dying in the island 
of Cuba in January, 1850, leaving five children, all yet surviving; and the second time, August 25, 
185 1, Miss Sarah Coates, a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Samuel 
and Margaret (Cherington) Coates, by whom he has had seven children, only five of them now 
living, the other two dying in infancy. The children by the first are: Lorinda Maria, widow of 
Jonathan Dodge, of Galena; Amelia, wife of Francis O'Ferrall, of Chatfield, Minnesota; Mary 
Ann, wife of Thomas J. Maupine, of Eureka, Nevada; Medora, wife of Charles T. Trego, of Chi- 
cago, and Daniel Smith, Jr., who is married to Kittie Ott, and living in Eureka, Nevada. By his 
present wife the children yet living are: Wenona, wife of John V. Hellman, Galena; Ernestine, 
wife of C. F. Taylor, Warren, Illinois; Irene, wife of John A. Gillett, Buncombe, Wisconsin, and 
Anna and Paul Cherington, who are at school. 



WEBSTER W. WYNN, M.D. 

DIXON. 

WEBSTER W. WYNN, one of the older class of physicians and surgeons in Lee county, 
hails from Monroe county. New York, his birth being dated at Chili, August 22, 1829. His 
father, John Wynn, was from Pennsylvania, and his mother, whose maiden name was Amanda 
Gruendike, was from Holland. The Wynns were from Wales, and came to this country some 
time before the American revolution, the grandfather of our subject, Webster Wynn, serving four 
years in the continental army. 

Doctor Wynn spent his early years on his father's farm, commencing to teach a district school 
at sixteen years of age. John Wynn, a soldier in the second war with England, was one of the 
founders of the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, at Lima, Livingston county, and when Genesee 
College was organized in connection with the seminary Webster entered the first class, but 
remained only through the sophomore year. During the last year he taught the public school at 
Lima, and continued to teach two years there after leaving college. At the same time he also 
took up the study of medicine, with Doctor George H. Bennett as preceptor. He attended three 
courses of lectures at the Buffalo Medical College; was there graduated in February, 1856; spent a 
year or two with his preceptor at Lima, and in December, 1858, came to Illinois, and settled in 
Dixon. Here he has attended very diligently to his profession, and has made a highly creditable rec- 
ord. While his practice is general, he treats lung diseases as a specialty, and with eminent success. 
His skill in that branch of the healing art is widely known, and has greatly extended his profes- 
sional reputation. He was post surgeon at Dixon a short time during the civil war. He owes his 
excellent standing in the profession to his love of it, and his consequent studiousness. Such men 
grow in their calling. He is a member of the Illinois State Medical Society, and was appointed 
a delegate to the American Medical Association, held in California a few years ago, but did not 
attend. 

The doctor has reported for medical periodicals a few especially interesting cases coming under 
his observation in- his large practice, but we believe he does not think that his skill lies in the use 
of the pen so much as in the lancet, and he rarely takes up the former. He is a democrat in 
politics, a Blue Lodge Mason, and an attendant usually, if we mistake not, at the Presbyterian 
Church, but he is quite liberal in his religious views. 

July 21, I S59, the doctor was married at Dixon to Miss Frances E. Latham, daughter of George 
and Hannah E. Latham, formerly of Chenango county. New York, and she had two sons: George 



jcg UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DTCTIONARY. 

Wesley and Frank, both of whom died in October, 1862, and were followed by their mother two 
months later. The doctor was once more left solitary and alone. Four years afterward, Septem- 
ber 25, 1866, he married Miss Georgiana McKenney, of Dixon, by whom he has had three chil- 
dren: Hobart W. (deceased), Mary Frances, and Harriet. 

Doctor Wynn is a little above the average height, yet well proportioned, with dignified deport- 
ment, and an easy and pleasant address, and going into a company of strangers would be marked 
immediately as a professi(jnal man and a thoroughbred gentleman. 



PRESIDENT JOHN T. LONG, LL.D. 

QUINCY. 

JOHN THOMPSON LONG, president of Chaddock College, Ouincy, is a native of the state 
of Maryland, a son of David and Sarah (Wachtel) Long, and was born in Hagerstown, Octo- 
ber 28, 1842. He comes of good patriotic blood, his grandfather, Otho Wachtel, being among the 
Maryland troops who fought against the mother country in 1812-14, ^nd his great-grandfather, 
David Long, a native of Holland, fought against George HI in 1775-82. 

When the subject of this sketch was a year old, the family came into this state and settled 
near Mount Morris, Ogle county, David Long being a farmer. John was engaged in farming 
during the seeding, haying and harvest seasons until sixteen years old, working out two or three 
summers, receiving at first four dollars per month. He was educated at the Rock River Semi- 
nary, Mount Morris, a very flourishing Methodist institution twenty and thirty years ago, he 
teaching school meanwhile during the winters in Ogle and Stephenson counties. From 186 1 to 
1864 Mr. Long was principal of graded schools, first at Mount Carroll and then at Rochelle, and 
in the latter year he enlisted as a private in company D, 65th Illinois infantry, consolidated ; was 
elected second lieutenant of the company, but was never mustered in, he being put on detached 
service in depot ordnance department assigned to 23d army corps. He was mustered out with his 
company in August, 1865. Not long afterward he was appointed professor of Latin and Greek 
in the Western Union Military College, at Fulton, Whiteside countv, this state, occupying that 
chair for two years. During that period he prepared for publication his popular "Analytical and 
Practical Arithmetic," togetiier with other text books on mathematics. He is the author of the 
"Long's Graded School Curriculum," published by George Sherwood and Company, Chicago, 
which work is largely used in the schools of the country. The plates of all iiis works were 
destroyed in the great Chicago fire of 1871. 

From his youth Professor Long has had a taste for legal studies, and had read more or less, 
with a view of becoming a lawyer, when, in 1869, he went to Salem, Marion county, and read with 
B. B. Smith, and was admitted to the bar in February 1871. He practiced at Salem two years 
with his preceptor, and then, almost against his will, was persuaded to accept the superintendency 
of the Warsaw public schools, which post he held for four years, 1872-6. 

On the completion of the new and fine school house at Pittsfield, Pike county, in the Centen- 
nial year, he was urged to go there and grade and organize the school, which he did, remaining 
one year and refusing to teach any longer, his preference being for the legal profession. He 
entered upon its practice at that place, intending to follow it the rest of his life. 

A year afterward, the Chaddock College at Quincy being run down very low, in order to 
resuscitate and save it, the trustees wrote to Professor Long, making him a very liberal offer. 
He accepted it, reopened the school in September, 1878, with seven scholars, and it now numbers 
more than four hundred and fifty in attendance each year. Its growth and prosperity are simply 
astonishing, and largely owing to President Long. Meantime a debt of $4,500 has been paid, an 
$r8,ooo brick building, 48 by 112 feet and four stories high, has been erected and paid for, and a 
farm of too acies near the city, and valued at $10,000, has been given to the college. The new 
building is used mainly for dormitory purposes, for which it is admirably arranged. The wonder 



I 





UNITED STATES BrOGRA PHICAL DrCTIONARY. l6l 

IS that a Iniilding so large and so well constructed could be put up at such moderate figures. 
The main college edifice cost over two hundred thousand dollars. It was built by e.\.-Gov. John 
Wood. 

There are over forty professors and instructors in the various departments of the college. 
The Garrett Biblical Institute at Evanston is the theological department, having become a part 
of Chaddock College during the past summer. 

President Long has no less than twelve associate teachers in the preparatory, commercial, scien- 
tific and classical departments, and as a rule they feel the inspiration of their leader, and are 
doing a grand work. The school has also law and medical departments, both in successful oper- 
ation. In 1873 President Long was taken by surprise by receiving from the Canton University, 
Missouri, a Disciple or Christian institution, the honorary degree of doctor of laws. 

He married, March 5, 1872, Miss Mary E. Rudd, a daughter of James M. Rudd, of Salem, Illi- 
nois, and they have one son, Homer Rudd, aged ten years. Mrs. Long is a woman of fine culture, 
and has been a teacher most of the time since she was seventeen years old. In Chaddock College 
she occupies the chair of belles lettres and history. 

President Long has dark hazel eyes, dark auburn hair and a full, open face ; is of symmet- 
rical proportions, being six feet tall and weighing two hundred pounds, and has withal a some- 
what commanding appearance. He has a cheerful, cordial and friendly disposition ; knows how 
to sympathize with and encourage the young in their struggles for knowledge, and with his own 
fine attainments, is well adapted to be at the head of a school like that of Chaddock College. 



HON. HAL.STEAD S. TOWNSEND. 

WARREN. 

HALSTEAD SAMUEL TOWNSEND, son of Samuel Townsend and Sarah (Longwell) 
Townsend, was born near Bath, Steuben county, New York, April 11, 1814. His father 
was born in Dutchess county. New York, and his grandfather, Eber Townsend, was a revolution- 
ary soldier, and wounded by the British at the capture of New York city, and kept awhile as a 
prisoner. The Townsends were from England, and the Longwells were Scotch-Irish, from the 
north of Ireland. 

Halstead received a good business education, largely by private study, and in 1830 came to 
Illinois, sojourning a few months at Springfield. The next year he went to Mineral Point, Wis- 
consin. While Mr. Townsend was in the mining regions of Wisconsin, or what is now Wisconsin, in 
1832, the Black Hawk war broke out, and he enlisted in a cavalry squadron under Colonel (after- 
ward General) Henry Dodge, and had a little taste of backwoods military life, coming out of the 
war with his scalp on. 

In 1833 he went to the lead mines in and near Galena, where he devoted his time to mining 
until 1837, when he settled on land in the town of Rush, a few miles southwest of where Warren 
now stands. There he vi'as engaged in farming im a somewhat liberal scale until 1869, when he 
moved into the village of Warren, and he has since given some attention to money loaning, while 
supervising his farms and looking after his other interests. He is a director of the Hanover 
Manufacturing Company, which is engaged in the manufacture of woolen cloth and flour, a well 
managed and prosperous institution. In the factor}- 1600 yards of cloth are run off daily. 

While a resident of Rush he held various local offices, such as supervisor for twelve or thir- 
teen years, school trustee a longer period, and school director at sundry times. He was chosen a 
member of the legislature in 1858, and again in 1870, each time serving a single term. He was 
the father of the bill to increase the jurisdiction of justices of the peace from $100 to $200, a bill 
which was savagely assailed by the lawyers, but which became a law, and is still in force. 

Mr. Townsend is a republican, of whig antecedents, a disciple, forty years ago, of Henry Clay 
and Daniel Webster. He attended the first republican state convention, held at Bloomington, in 
17 



j52 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

1855, and had previously attended a district convention of the same kind at Rockford. one of the 
earliest ever held after the demise of the whig party. He is a Blue Lodge Mason. 

In 1836 Mr. Townsend was joined in wedlock with Miss Hannah Carver, of Fayette county, 
Indiana, and they have had a family of ten children, all yet living but one son, and all but one 
married and settled in life. 

Mr. Townsend is a man of success; success in mining, success in farming, success in rearing a 
respectable family of children, and success in obtaining the confidence of his neighbors and con- 
stituents, and in faithfully discharging the duties of every official trust confided to him. 



CHESTER K. WILLIAMS. 

POLO. 

CHESTER KEYES WILLIAMS, an early settler and successful farmer in Buffalo Grove 
township. Ogle county, and latterly a prominent citizen of Polo, was born in Brimfield, 
Hampden county, Massachusetts, January 13, 1818. He is a descendant of Robert Williams, who 
came from England in 1638 and settled at Roxbury, now a part of Boston. That was only eight 
years after Boston was settled, and eighteen after the Plymouth colony made a landing on these 
shores. Robert Williams had two wives, and died at Roxbury in 1693. He had four sons by the 
first wife, three of whom grew up and had families, and from these sons, Samuel, Isaac and Ste- 
phen Williams, have sprung a large number of persons of that name. The descendants of these 
sons married into the Hopkins, the Edwards, the Emersons, and other prominent families of New 
England, and some of the best blood of Puritan stock flows in the veins of our subject. Many of 
this branch of the Williams family have been brilliant scholars, and prominent clergymen or 
civilians. One signed the Declaration of Independence, and at least thirty have been in congress. 
Rev. Ebenezer Williams, son of Samuel Williams, Jr., of the third generation from Robert, born 
at Pomfret, Connecticut, in 1690, was a graduate of Cambridge College, now Harvard University, 
in 1709, and a distinguished divine, and nephe-w of Rev. John Williams, of Deerfield, who was 
carried into captivity by the Indians. He died, much lamented, in 1753. He was the great- 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch. His son. Rev. Chester Williams, also a graduate of 
Harvard, was settled at Hadley, and died when only thirty-six years old. Nehemiah Williams, 
son of Chester, and grandfather of our Chester, was a graduate of Harvard, 1769, ordained at 
Brimfield, 1775, and died in 1800. The "American Quarterly Register" states that he was one 
of the first members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. A posthumous volume of 
his sermons was published. 

The father of our subject was Ebenezer Williams, born at Brimfield in 1777, and was a farmer 
until middle life, when he became a merchant. He married Eliza Wiiitwell, of Brimfield, and 
they had eight children, of whom Chester is the fifth child. Ebenezer Williams died at Elgin, 
Illinois, in 1856, and his wife in 1826. She was a sister of Samuel Whitwell, of Boston, of the 
old firm of Whitwell, Bond and Company. Chester supplemented a district school education 
with two terms at the Munson Academy, and was purposing to continue his studies still further, 
but owing to circumstances, he was obliged to leave school and become a clerk in his father's 
store. 

In 1837, wiien in his twentieth yta.r, he came to Buffalo Grove, and has been a resident of Ogle 
county since that date. He bought a claim of 320 acres in 1838, he and his brother-in-law, Hora- 
tio Wales, meanwhile working rented land, and in 1839 he commenced opening his own farm. 
He continued to improve it until 1851, when he rented it, and was a clerk in a store at Buffalo 
Grove for four years. In 1855 he opened a drug store with Doctors W. W. Burns and J. H. 
More, but the firm of Williams, Burns and More continued only a few months, Mr. Williams 
selling out his interest to Burns and Warren, and in the spring of 1857 he returned to his farm 
He continued to improve it for several years, and then sold out (1866) and moved into Polo. H 



J 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I 63 

gave $500 for the original claim, and $400 to enter it, and sold the farm, well fenced, with new 
house, large barn, etc., for $20,000. He has stock in different banks, and other property, and is 
living in ease and independence. He came to Illinois a poor young man, with his infirm father 
and four sisters to look after, and had for years a very hard struggle. In his case industry, econ 
nmy and perseverance have finally been well rewarded, he having accumulated considerable 
property. 

Mr. Williams was postmaster three years at Buffalo Grove, one mile from Polo, and supervisor 
of the township about the same space of time, and since becoming a resident of the city of Polo, 
he has been alderman and mayor. He is public spirited and enterprising, and interests himself 
in all movements likely to result in the welfare of the people. The cause of education lies near 
his heart, and he has served three years on the school board. He also takes and has always taken 
deep interest in politics, being originally a whig, and working zealously for that party until it 
became e.xtinct, or merged in the republican party. He was a leader in the great contest for 
Hon. E. B. Washburne in 1859, and stood by him through thick and thin during all the years 
that he was in congress. Mr. Williams has often been a delegate to republican county and con- 
gressional conventions, and has cheerfully given his time and influence to further the interests of 
that party. 

Mr. Williams is a third degree Mason, and a trustee of the Presbyterian Church; a man of 
excellent habits, positive views and good impulses, and never abandons a cause or a party which 
he believes to be right. He married, January 12, 1865, Miss Maria P. Anthony, of Avoca, New- 
York, and they have had four children, all daughters, only two of them, Lucy and Anna, twins, 
now living. The oldest, Maria Louise, died at the age of four years, and Kate Anthony at 
thirteen 

EDWIN C. HEWETT, LL.D. 

NORMAL. 

EDWIN CRAWFORD HEWETT, president of the Normal University, and a teacher in that 
institution for a quarter of a century, is a native of Worcester county, Massachusetts, having 
been born in Sutton, November i, 1828. His father, Timothy Hewett, a farmer most of his life, 
was born in the same place, and his mother, whose maiden name was Levina Leonard, also 
belonged to a Massachusetts family. Edwin received his education at country common and high 
schools, the Worcester Academy and the State Normal School at Bridgewater, teaching a district 
school two terms in his native town before going to Bridgewater. He had also learned the shoe- 
maker's trade in his youth, and worked at it during vacations, being entirely dependent upon 
his own hands and head for support since the time that he entered upon his teens. 

In the spring of 1852, on leaving the Normal School at Bridgewater, one of the oldest in the 
country, Professor Hewett taught a little less than a year at Pittsfield, as assistant in the high 
school, then returned to Bridgewater to accept a similar position in the normal school, where he 
taught from January, 1853, to November, 1856. He then took charge of the Thomas Grammar 
School at Worcester, where he remained until the autumn of 1858, when he came to Bloomington 
to accept a chair in the Normal University. Here his specialty for years was history and geog- 
raphy, though he was called upon to fill up gaps which occurred from time to time, and taught 
almost every branch mentioned in the curriculum of such a school. 

When President Edwards resigned in January, 1876, Professor Hewett was appointed presi- 
dent /;■<? tem. for six months, at the end of which period he was appointed president. His special 
work is pedagogics and mental philosophy. His most striking characteristics as a teacher are 
his clearness and thoroughness. The institution over which he presides has gained a reputation 
for careful and accurate work, and no other man has contributed so much to that reputation 
as he. His work bristles with points. Fogginess and inaccuracy find no toleration in his class- 
room. In addition to these qualities he possesses tireless industry and patient persistence. No 



164 Uh'ITED STATES FimCRA TfffCA /. DICTIONARY. 

details are ever slighted. "Anything that is worth dciitig at all is worth doing well" is an expres- 
sion that often falls from his lips. With an abhorrence of shams that no words can express, and 
an enthusiasm for genuineness that the years do not lessen, he is giving an impulse to accurate 
scholarship that cannot be measured. 

President Hewett has been appointed a member of the state board of examiners two or three 
times, and served one term in the office of president of the State Teacher's Association. Some 
years ago he prepared a Key to Guyot's Wall Maps, and has done some other literary work, 
largely revisionary and the writing of pamphlets. A few years ago he had editorial charge in 
part of "The Schoolmaster," a worthy magazine. 

About twenty years ago President Hewett received the honorary title of master of arts from 
the University of Chicago, and in 1877 the honorary title of doctor of laws from Shurtleff College, 
Upper Alton, Illinois. He is a licensed Baptist preacher, and a fine type of the quiet, unassum- 
ing, pure-minded Christian gentleman. Doctor Hewett was married in August, 1857, to Miss 
Angeline N. Benton, daughter of Horace Benton, of Sublette, Lee county, Illinois, and they have 
had two children, burying one of them. May is a graduate of the Normal University, and taught 
at Oak Park, near Chicago, in 1881-2. She was married to Rudolph R. Ruder, June 20, 1882. 
Mr. Ruder is a graduate of the Normal University, and has just been appointed assistant training 
teacher in the institution. 

CALVIN DE WOLF. 

CfFICAGO. 

AMONG the early settlers of Chicago, who have persevered in the face of stern adversity and 
. won for themselves a name long to be remembered, none deserve more honorable mention 
than he whose name heads this article. Calvin De Wolf, one of thirteen children, was born Feb- 
ruary 18, 1815, at Braintrim, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and -is the oldest son now living. 
His father, Giles M. De Wolf, was born at Pomfret, New London county, Connecticut, November 
7, 1782, and his mother, Anna Spaulding, of Cavendish. Windsor county, Vermont, was born April 
22," 1 786. The former lived to the age of eighty-three, and the latter to eighty-seven years, and 
their remains rest at Elkhorn Grove, Carroll county, Illinois. 

Soon after his birth his parents moved to Cavendish, Vermont, his mother's native town, where 
he received his first schooling and religious instructions. In 1820, when he was five years old, his 
parents returned to Braintrim, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and in 1824 his father purchased a 
farm at Pike, in the beech forests of Bradford county, Pennsylvania. Here young De Wolf 
assisted in clearing and cultivating his father's farm, attending the district school during the win- 
ters, until he reached his twenty-first birthday. 

Being of an ambitious and aspiring disposition the advantages offered by a district school did 
not satisfy him, and there being in the neighborhood a gentleman of liberal education, young De 
Wolf procured a Latin grammar and dictionary and a copy of Virgil, and so economized his time 
that, with the help of his instructor, Mr. Woodruff, he gained a fair knowledge of the Latin lan- 
guage and read six books of the .Eneid. He also studied arithmetic, algebra and surveying 
under his father, who was a fine mathematician. When nineteen years of age he taught school 
in his own town, at a salary of ten dollars per month, and when he was twenty he took a school 
in the adjoining town of Orwell at twenty-five dollars per month. He left home in 1836, and 
entered the Grand River Institute, a manual labor school, of Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he 
remained till the fall of 1837, when he left for Chicago, then containing about four thousand 
inhabitants, arriving on October 31 with but a few dollars in his pocket and poorly clad. Here 
he applied fora situation in the public schools as a teacher, passed the requisite examination, but 
being unsuccessful, he started on foot across the prairies to Saint Charles, to Elgin, and the dif- 
ferent settlements along Fox River, and finally obtained a situation as teacher at Hadley, Will 
county, Illinois. 



^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I 65 

In the spring of 1838 he returned to Chicago, and engaged in teaching till the autumn of that 
year, receiving as pay only certificates, when he was forced to seek other employment, and secured 
a situation as collector in the meat market of Funk and Doyle, which he held until the summer 
of 1839. He then began the study of law with Spring and Goodrich. He again engaged in 
teaching in 1841, and continued for two years, till May, 1843, when he was examined by Hon 
Richard M. Young, judge of the supreme court, assisted by J. Y. Scammon and Buckner S. Mor- 
ris, and being found qualified was duly licensed to practice law in all the courts of Illinois. 

Mr. De Wolf followed the practice of his profession till 1854, when he was elected justice of 
I he peace, an office which he has held six successive terms, four by popular election and two by 
appointment, in all over twenty-five years. During that time he heard and disposed of over 
go,ooo cases, a greater number probably than any other judicial officer in Illinois. 

He held the office of alderman four years, from 1856 to 1858 and from 1866 to 1868. During 
the first period the ordinances of the city were revised, and Mr. De Wolf was chairman of the 
committee of revision and publication. Many of the most useful provisions of the present ordi- 
nances were originally framed by him or under his direction. 

From his boyhood he has possessed positive qualities and strong convictions. In the early 
days of the anti-slavery crusade, when all political parties denounced the abolitionists, when most 
(if the churches, though opposed to slavery in the abstract, were opposed to disturbing the peace 
and harmony of our southern brethren, Mr. De Wolf was one of the most active and persistent 
advocates of the anti-slavery cause. He was secretary of the first abolition society, formed in 
Chicago in 1839, of which Rev. Flavel Bascom was president and George Manierre was treasurer. 
In 1842, at a meeting of the Illinois State Anti-Slavery Society, an organization was effected to 
raise funds for the establishing of an anti-slavery newspaper in Chicago. Mr. De Wolf was 
elected treasurer, and the "Western Citizen" was established, with Z. Eastman as editor and 
publisher. 

Mr. De Wolf was prosecuted. The following is a copy of one count in the indictment: 

United States of Ahkric.\, Northern District of Illi.vois, ss.: 

October Term, a.d. i860. 
The grand jurors of the United .States of America, chosen, selected and sworn, and charged to inquire of crimes 
and offenses within and for the northern district of Illinois, upon their oaths present: 

That heretofore, to wit, on the first day of December, a,.d. 1858, a certain negro female slave called Eliza, a person 
lawfuUj' held to service or labor in the territory of Nebraska, being the property of one Stephen F. Nuckolls, of the 
territory of Nebraska, the person to whom such service or labor was then due; and that the said negro slave called 
Eliza, to wit, on the day and year aforesaid, did escape to the state of Illinois from the said territory of Nebraska and 
afterwards, to wit, on the 12th day of November, a.m. 1S60, the said. Stephen F. Nuckolls, being the owner of said 
slave, did pursue and reclaim the said ne.gro slave into the said state of Illinois by seizing and arresting her as a fugi- 
tive person from service or labor from said territory of Nebraska, and said slave was lawfully under the control of said 
Stephen F. Nuckolls at the district aforesaid and within the jurisdiction of this court, pursuant to the statute in such 
case made and provided, and that one Calvin De Wolf, late of said district, together with divers, to wit, one hundred 
other persons, to the jurors aforesaid as yet unknown, heretofore, to wit, on the 12th day of November, i860, at the dis- 
trict aforesaid, and within the jurisdiction of this court, with force and arms, unlawfully, knowingly and willingly, did 
rescue the said negro slave Eliza from the said custody and control of the said Stephen F. Nuckolls, he the said Calvin 
De Wolf, then and there well knowing that the said negro slave called Eliza was then and there a fugitive person held 
to service or labor as aforesaid, and pursued and reclaimed, seized and arrested and held in custody as aforesaid to the 
great damage of the said -Stephen F. Nuckolls, contrary to the form of the act of congress in such case made and pro- 
vided, and against the peace and dignity of the United .States of America and of the people thereof. 

H. S. Fitch, District Attorney. 
Endorsed a true bill: W. L. Newberry, Fon-mnn. 
Filed November ig, 1S60. W. H. BRAorEV, Clerk. 

Mr. De Wolf, together with George Anderson, A. D. Hayward and C. L. Jenks, who were 
indicted at the same time, was arrested, and gave bail in $2,500 to answer. 

Under advice of counsel a motion was made to quash the indictments, because slaverv did not 
exist by law in Nebraska; consequently a slave could neither be held in nor escape from that territory. 



X66 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Judge Drummond never decided the point, and under the advice of Hon. E. C. Larned, United 
States district attorney, dismissed the causes December 3, 1861. 

In June, 1841, Mr. De Wolf was married to Miss Frances Kimball, who is still (1883) living. 
They have had five children: Ellen L., now wife of Robert B. Bell, of Normalville, Cook county, 
Illinois; Anna Spaulding, who went to New Orleans in 1877 as a teacher of the children of the 
freedmen, and died in September, 1S78; Mary Frances, wife of Milo G. Kellogg, of Chicago; Wal- 
lace L., attorney-at-law, Chicago, and Alice, wife of L. D. Kneeland, who died at Kokomo, Colo- 
rado, March, 1882. 

Since the expiration of his term of office as justice of the peace Mr. De Wolf has devoted his 
attention mainly to the practice of his profession. 



HON. LORENZO D. WHITING. 

TISKILIVA. 

LORENZO DOW WHITING, farmer and member of the state senate, is a native of Wayne 
_j county. New York, his birth being dated at Arcadia, November 17, 181 9. His father, 
Samuel Whiting, was a farmer and contractor on the Erie canal, and did at one time a 
lumber business on the Genesee River, was born in Connecticut, and his mother, whose maiden 
name was Zilpha Mather, was a lineal descendant of Cotton Mather, and a native of Connecticut. 
Samuel Whiting, senior, the grandfather of Lorenzo, was a New Englander, and a young soldier 
in the continental army. The Whitings are of English descent. 

Our subject received an academic education, and was a merchant's clerk at Olcott. Niagara 
county, until eighteen years of age. He came to the West in 1S38, and was engaged in the patent 
right business in Illinois four years, and then returned to New York state. For the next seven 
years he was engaged in teaching and acting as town superintendent of schools in Newfane, 
Niagara county, filling also the office of justice of the peace most of the time. 

In 1849 Mr. Whiting returned to Illinois, made a purchase of a quarter section of land near 
Tiskilwa, and for the first three seasons was engaged in farming and teaching. Since he ceased 
teaching "the young ideas how to shoot." he has given his whole time to agricultural pursuits, 
adding to his land from time to time, until he now has nearly 600 acres, largely under excellent 
improvement. 

Mr. Whiting served as supervisor of Indiantown for five or six years, and may have held other 
local offices which we do not recall. He was elected to the Illinois house of representatives in 
1868, to the constitutional convention in 1869, to the state senate in 1870, and still holds the latter 
office, having been a member of the upper house for twelve consecutive years, and of the legisla- 
ture fourteen consecutive years. 

In the constitutional convention Mr. Whiting was first to propose to insert a provision in the 
constitution requiring the general assembly to pass "laws regulating railroad charges, and as sen- 
ator was active in carrying through the bill which embodied a law against unjust discrimination 
and extortionate charges, known as the granger laws. 

He was the projector of the Hennepin canal scheme, and the originator of other bills, looking 
to the internal improvement of the state. He was the author of several important laws relating 
to agriculture, roads and drainage, and of the bill which passed, and became a law, ceding the 
Illinois and Michigan canal to the United States on certain conditions. 

For the last four or five years he has labored in the senate very earnestly to secure a more 
equal and just revenue law, whereby all property shall be taxed once, and no property doubly 
taxed. Cheap transportation and equal taxation are leading objects with him. No man in the 
senate has a clearer head than Mr. Whiting, or labors more zealously to secure equal rights and 
exact justice to all classes of his constituents, and of the citizens of Illinois. In i86g he was 
among the most active in opposing the lake front scheme, wherebv three railroad corporation 



i 



UNITED STATES PIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 567 

sought to possess themselves of the shore line of the outer and future harbor of Chicago. In 
i87<S he led the opposition in the defeat of senate bill 114, which was to effect the release of 
a combination of railroads from a large amount of taxes adjudged by the courts to be due 
to the public. His championship of measures relating to the producers, and his watchfulness 
(if the public interest when assailed by special interests and corporate greed, have made him 
known as the "farmer statesman." These powerful interests which he has so often foiled, 
generally stir up a lively opposition to his repeated reelections, but the people whom he has 
so faithfully served have so far successfully rallied to his support, having elected him six times 
in succession, to serve at the state capital, and again placed him in nomination. The oppo- 
sition is now seemingly more determined than ever to secure his defeat, but it is thought will 
be overcome as before. 

Senator Whiting is a republican of democratic antecedents, a man of firm principles, fixed as 
the stars, perfectly upright, and nothing but a prairie cyclone could upset him. 

Senator Whiting was first married in 1846, to Miss Lucretia C. Clement, of Oneida county, 
New York, she dying in 1872, leaving three children, two sons and one daughter, and the second 
time in 1874 to Miss Eriphyle Robinson, of Brooklyn, New York, whose penmanship and drawings 
are models of beauty. She is the daughter of the late Doctor Daniel Robinson, of New York, a 
thorough scholar, with great taste for mathematics, horticulture, and mechanics, and was a member 
of the New York historical society. Eriphyle's mother's name was Caroline M. Cropsy, an accom- 
plished lady of French descent, and her mother's name was Helen Ackerman, who was connected 
with some of the most noted early Dutch settlers on the Hudson. 

Clement A., the elder son, is married, and he and Herbert are tilling their father's lands, and 
Lilian, the daughter, is connected with the editorial staff of the " Boston Traveller," a corre- 
spondent of the Chicago Daily " Inter Ocean," the "Cincinnati Commercial," and the "Globe- 
Democrat," St. Louis, and an occasional contributor to the monthly magazines. She is a natural 
journalist, with almost unbounded enthusiasm for her chosen labor. If life and health are 
spared her, success will probably crown her active labors. 



MALACHl CHURCH. 

WOODSTOCK. 

THE sheriff of McHenry county, whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch, is 
descended from an old Vermont family, his grandfather, Malachi Church, for whom he was 
named, moving from Brattleboro, in that state, to Cortland county. New York, by ox team in 
1805. That part of the Empire State seventy-five' years ago was almost an unbroken wilderness. 
There the family cleared the land and opened a farm. James B. Church, the father of Malachi, 
born in Brattleboro in 1797, was reared on that farm, and helped to make it. He was a prominent 
man in Cortland county forty and fifty years ago, and is still living, being in his eighty-fifth year. 
He holds the commission of major and colonel of New York artillery, appointed while De Witt 
Clinton was governor, his name being attached to both commissions. He also holds the same 
governor's letter accepting, in a complimentary tone, the resignation of Colonel Church. Three 
brothers of the colonel held also the same military rank, 

Malachi Church was born at Marathon, Cortland county, August 4, 1828, his mother being 
Sarah Matthews, a native of Granville, New York. He received a common-school education, all 
his father could afford to give him; farmed in his native town until 185 1, when the whole famil)' 
came to the West and settled on a farm three miles west of Woodstock. 

Our subject continued to cultivate the soil until 1856, when he sold his property and moved 
into town, and for nine years was engaged in the livery business. Subsequently he was agent for 
the Merchants' Express Company until the route was divided, and Woodstock fell into the hands 
of the American Express Company. About that time he served one or two terms in the board of 
aldermen. 



l68 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

When, in June, 1869, Austin Badger, sheriff of the county, was disabled, Mr. Church, then act- 
ing as city marshal, was appointed his deputy, and attended to the business, and at the end of 
that term Mr. Church was elected to the office, and served two terms. In 1876 Daniel A. Sted- 
man was elected sheriff, and served his four years, Mr. Church acting as his deputy half the time, 
and being elected to take his place in the autumn of 1880. Mr. Church is very assiduous in 
attending to the duties of his office, and is a popular county official among all parties, always poll- 
ing a very heavy vote. His politics are republican. 

Mr. Church is high up in Masonry, being a Knight Templar. He has held various offices in 
the order, such as warden of the Blue Lodge, high priest in the Chapter, etc. He married first in 
1854, at Auburn, New York, Celinda Wheaton, she dying in August, 1862, and the second time in 
1865 to Lorain E. Harper, of Woodstock. He had one son (Henry) by the first wife, and buried 
him in 1871, at fifteen years of age. He was a youth of great promise. At fourteen years of age 
he was a clerk in the county treasurer's office, and showed remarkable precocity of intellect. 
His death vvas a heavy blow to his father. 



COLONEL RALPH PLUMB. 

S THE A TOR. 

RALPH PLUMB, banker and mayor of Streator, and founder of the town, is a native of 
Chautauqua county. New York, and was born in the town of Busti, March 29, 1816. His 
father, Theron Plumb, a mechanic, was a native of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and his 
grandfather, Ebenezer Pluml), was born in the same county, the family being early settlers in 
Stockbridge, the home of Jonathan Edwards, the Sedgwicks, the Fields, and other prominent 
families. The mother of our subject, before her marriage, was Harriet Merry, a native of Herki- 
mer county. New York, her father being Judge Samuel Merry, in his day a prominent man in that 
county. The family moved to Trumbull county, Ohio, when Ralph was four years old. He 
attended school until fourteen years old, receiving as good an education as could be had at that 
age m a rural town, then went into a store in Hartford, Trumbull county, where he held the post 
of clerk till he reached his majority, when he became a partner of his employer, Seth Hayes. Mr. 
Plumb was engaged in general merchandise until 1S55, when he was elected to the legislature 
and served in that body for two sessions, being engaged also, during that period in the study of 
law. He was admitted to the bar at Columbus, in 1857, opened an office in Oberlin, and was 
there engaged in the practice of his profession until the civil war broke out. During that period, 
two years before the war, a little episode occurred in the life of Mr. Plumb, of which we presume 
he is not ashamed to have mention made in a work like this. In 1859 he, with other Oberlin men, 
was arrested, charged with resisting the fugitive slave law. He was not guilty of the particular 
act for which he was arrested, but he had previously acted as an "underground railroad conduc- 
tor," and had aided scores of fugitives in escaping from bondage. He was never tried, but, with 
thirty-six others, lay for eighty-four days in the Cleveland jail. The trial has not come off yet. 

In 1861 Mr. Plumb went into the service, under appointment of President Lincoln, as quarter- 
master, and assigned to duty on General Garfield's staff, filling that position until the general 
was made chief of the staff of General Rosecranz. After the battle of Stone River, January 1, 
1863, our subject was obliged to leave the field on account of ill health, and was placed in charge 
of Camp Dennison, near Cincinnati, where he remained until after the rebellion had collapsed, he 
having meantime been brevetted colonel. 

At the opening of the year 1866, Colonel Plumb left Ohio, and came to this state, reaching 
Streator January 24, the site of this city then being a thicket. Acting-as secretary, treasurer and 
resident manager of a company, most of whose members lived at the East, he here purchased 
4000 acres of land for these capitalists, and engaged first in developing the coal fields by sinking 
shafts, etc., and then in developing the town,, which was named Streator for Doctor Worthy S. 



UNITED STATES B/OGRA P/flCA L DICTIONARY. 



171 



Streatcir, of Cleveland, Ohio. The first plat of ground was recorded February 22, 1868, when 
there were a few hundred people here, mostly miners, and fourteen years later the population was 
between 9,000 and 10,000. 

In order to develop the coal market and encourage the growth of the town, Colonel Plumb 
engaged in the building of railroads, and in a few years the place was connected with the outside 
world b}' the Fox River Valley, the Chicago, Pekin and South Western, the Chicago and Padu- 
cah, and the Chicago division of the Wabash and Saint Louis railroads, an aggregate of over four 
hundred miles of road built by him. 

Since closing his connection with railroads. Colonel Plumb has given his attention largely to 
manufacturing and banking, he being interested in the works for the manufacture of window 
glass, and president of the Streator National Bank, an institution started in May, 1882, with a 
capital of $80,000. He has also stock in other local manufactories, and is still largely interested 
in coal mining, being one of the most public-spirited and enterprising men in La Salle county. 

One of the noblest deeds he has done in Streator is the putting up a $30,000 house for a high 
school, and making a present of it to the municipality. He has a large heart; and his gifts are 
many and usually munificent. 

Streator was organized into a city by an election held June, 18S2, and our subject was elected 
mayor without a dissenting vote, a well merited compliment to the originator and "nursing 
father" of this town. 

The Colonel married at Hartford, Ohio, in 1838, Miss Marilla E. Borden, and they have had 
three children, losing all of them. 

WILLIAM McKINDLEY. 

CHICAGO. 

AMONG the memliers of the legal profession of Chicago, none, perhaps, deserves a more honor- 
Jr\ able mention than the subject of this biography. A native of West Charleston, Saratoga 
county. New York, he was born in 182 1, the son of John McKindley, whose father was a native 
Scotchman, and Sarah (Mairs) McKindley, of Argyle, Washington county. New York. 

William was a strong and robust youth, and until his eighteenth year worked on his father's 
farm, receiving such education as the district school afforded. Desiring, however, to fit himself 
for a more active life, he left the farm about the year 1840, and during the next four years applied 
himself closely to study, at Galway Academy, near his home. While here he developed great pro- 
ficiency in mathematics and other scientific subjects, and also displayed marked talent as a deba- 
ter and public speaker. He loved debate, and in his earnestness appealed to the judgments of 
men rather than to their feelings and passions. At the close of his acacfemical course he entered 
Union College, at Schenectady, New York, then under the charge of the celebrated Doctor Nott. 
In college, he ranked among the first in his class, and graduated from the regular classical course 
of study with the most exalted honors. 

Among his classmates was the renowned Bishop Littlejohn, of New York city. The following 
incident fairly illustrates his popularity and standing among his fellow students: It being the 
custom to choose a marshal for commencement day, McKindley was chosen the candidate of the 
anti-secret society element, while Littlejohn was put forward by the society men. As is always 
the case at such elections, partisan spirit ran high, and the contest was a most strong and earnest 
one. The society men, however, carried the day, and Littlejohn was elected, receiving, however, 
a majority of only one vote. 

After completing his college course, in 184S, he began the study of law in the office of Judge 
Belding at Amsterdam, New York, and so applied himself that at the end of two years he was 
admitted to practice by the supreme court of his state. Removing now to Saratoga Springs, he 
formed a partnership with Avery and Hoag, two eminent lawyers of that place, and under the 
firm name of Avery, Hoag and McKindley, built up during the next few years an extensive and 
iS 



172 UNITED STATES BIOGRAFHICAL DICTIONARY. 

lucrative business. During this time he became widely known for his genial, social and compan- 
ionable qualities, and numbered among his warmest friends the noted Chancellor Walworth, then 
in his palmiest days. 

In i8s6 Mr. McKindley settled in Chicago, and established himself in a general law and real 
estate business, in partnership with his former classmates, D. J. and D. C. Nicholes and John T. 
Wentworth, also a graduate of Union College, and who was afterward judge of the circuit court, 
at Racine, Wisconsin. The business of this firm was eminently successful, and continued until 
the opening of the war of the rebellion in 1861. 

By reason of impaired health, Mr. McKindley found a change of business necessary, and asso- 
ciating himself with his brother, James McKindle)% in the wholesale grocery trade, continued it 
with marked success for three years. At the expiration of that time, withdrawing from his mer- 
cantile pursuits, he again associated himself with his former partners, Messrs. Nicholes, and con- 
tinued in business with them until 187 1. During this year, by the admission into the business of 
Mr. James Morrison, the name of the firm was changed to Nicholes, McKindley and Morrison, 
and so continued until 1878, when Messrs. Nicholes retired from the firm. From that time until 
Mr. McKindley's death, he and Mr. Morrison continued in business together. 

As a business man Mr. McKindley was known for his sterling integrity and his firm fidelity to 
upright principle and manly dealing. He was an able advocate, and as a lawyer honored his pro- 
fession. He made his way in the face of many obstacles, and by his untiring energy and indomi- 
table will, rose from comparative obscurity to an honorable position in his profession. He 
possessed a versatility of talents, and aside from his law and real estate business was engaged in 
other enterprises. With other prominent business men of Chicago he organized the Merchants' 
Fire Insurance Company, of Chicago, which gave every promise of becoming one of the strongest 
assurance associations of the Northwest, but with all local fire companies, was ruined by the great 
fire of October 9, 1871, 

Mr. McKindley's death, which occurred March 29, 1880, was an unexpected blow to his many 
friends and acquaintances, he having been suddenly stricken with apoplexy in the court room 
during a session of the appellate court, at Chicago. 

At a meeting of the Chicago bar, held May 17, 1880, the following resolution, passed at a 
meeting of Mr. McKindley's professional associates, was, upon the motion of R. W. Smith, spread 
upon the records of the appellate court: 

Resolved, That in the death of our late brother William McKindley, the Chicago bar and legal profession have lost a 
gentleman and scholar, a good lawyer, and a thoroughly honest and conscientious man. 

Resolved. That we tender to the bereaved widow and family of our deceased brother our sympathy and condolence. 



F 



HON. FRANCIS E. CLARKE. 

WAUKEGAN. 

RANCIS ERASMUS CLARKE, judge of Lake county, and one of the leading lawyers in 
that county is a son of Elam and Cynthia (Lewis) Clarke, both descendants of Massachu- 
setts families, and was born at Williamstovi'n, Orange county, Vermont, March 4, 1828. His 
father was a farmer and mechanic, and took a part in the second war with England, being at the 
battle of Plattsburgh. Francis fitted for college at academies in Ludlow and Townsend, Vermont, 
and was graduated at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New^ Hampshire, in 185 1, teaching school 
now and then a term, both before and after entering that institution. On leaving college he 
came to the West, and for three years was principal of the Waukegan Academy. He read law 
with Ferry and Clarke, the latter being his elder brother, Isaac L. Clarke ; was admitted to the 
bar in 1855, and has been in general practice at Waukegan since 1856. He is a sound and 
reliable lawyer, whose opinion is much sought after, and he stands at the frcint of the Wauke- 
gan bar. 



I 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I 73 

In 185J Mr. Clarke was elected county superintendent of schools, and that office he held till 
[S60. He has also been city superintendent of schools, supervisor, etc. For most of the time 
during the last fourteen or fifteen years, he has held the post of master in chancery for the circuit 
court of Lake county, and he makes an able chancery lawyer, steadily growing in popularity. 
Our subject was elected county judge in the spring of 1879, and that office he is filling with 
decided credit to himself as well as satisfaction to the people. 

Judge Clarke has been a republican since the organization of that party, and is very decided 
and pronounced in his political tenets, and capable of giving on the platform, a plain and cogent 
reason for his affiliation with the members of that party. He married, at North Hadley, Massa- 
chusetts, January 13, 1858, Miss Hannah C. Scott, and they have three children. The family 
attend the Presbyterian church, of which Mrs. Clarke is a member. 



WARREN D. WHAPLES. 

NEPONSE T. 

WARREN DAY WHAPLES, merchant and banker, is a native of Connecticut, a son of 
Elisha and Amanda A. (Hart) Whaples, and was born in Newington, July 3, 1832. Both 
parents were also born in that state. Warren received an academic education at Newington and 
Berlin; farmed in his younger years with his father, who was also a carpenter and joiner; taught 
school two winters, and in the spring of 1856 came to the West. He went as far as Illinois, 
and in June of that year settled in Neponset, his present home, buying a fourth interest in the 
town. Here Mr. W^haples was a clerk one season; then formed a partnership with Joseph Lyford, 
with whom he was in mercantile trade for two years, when his brother, Shubad H. Whaples, 
became his partner, and they were together until the close of the civil war, in 1865. Since that 
date our subject has been alone in trade. He keeps a general and large assortment of goods, 
and has always maintained a sound financial standing, as well as a high character for honesty 
and fair dealing. In 1874 he started the E.xchange Bank, a private institution, doing a general 
and successful banking business. 

Mr. Whaples has held different local offices, such as school trustee, a member and president of 
the town board of trustees, etc. He is a republican in politics, but not an active partisan. His 
Christian connection is with the Congregational church, of which he is a deacon. No man who 
knows him doubts the sincerity of his faith or the purity of his life. 

November 29, 1859, Mr. Whaples was married to Miss Mary E. Lawrence, of East Canaan, 
Connecticut, and they have two sons: W'illiam Elisha, cashier in his father's store and bank, and 
Walter Lawrence, a student in Kno.x College. 



HON. CHARLES E. FULLER. 

BEL VLDERE. 

CHARLES EUGENE FULLER, lawyer and member of the state senate, is a native of Boone 
county, Illinois, being born in the town of Flora, March 31, 1849. His father, Seymour 
Fuller, a farmer, was from Shaftsbury, Vermont, and his grandfather, Solomon Fuller, was a rev- 
olutionary soldier, and a relative of the Fuller who was with General Francis Marion, the Swamp 
l"'ox of South Carolina. This branch of the Fuller family first settled in New England. The 
mother of Charles was Eliza A. (Mordoff) Fuller, a native of New York. 

He received most of his education in the Belvidere High School, supplementing his attend- 
ance there with one year's drill in Wheaton College ; spent some time in his youth in a general 
store at Belvidere ; was subsequently, 1866-7, in a book store at Waverly, Bremer county, Iowa ; 
returned to Belvidere and read law with Hon. Jesse S. Hildrup, late United States marshal for 



1/4 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



the northern district of Illinois; was admitted to the bar in August, 1870, and has since been in 
steady and successful practice at Belvidere, doiny; a good business in all the courts in his, the 
twelfth circuit, and in the United States courts in Chicago. Intimate acquaintances of Mr. Fuller, 
and competent judges, give him credit for being remarkably well read in his profession for a man 
of his age, very clear, logical and persuasive in a plea before a jury, and eminently successful. 
He has had several important criminal cases, in which class he shines, perhaps, to the best advan- 
tage. He is one of the rising and highly promising young lawyers of the state. 

Mr. Fuller was city attorney in 1875-6, and state's attorney from December, 1S76, until elected 
to the state senate in November, 1878, when he resigned. In the session of the legislature held 
in 1881, he was chairman of the railroad committee, and was on the committees on judiciary, 
judicial department, revenue, county and township organizations and municipalities. In 1882 he 
was elected to the lower house, and is chairman of the insurance committee. In politics Mr. 
Fuller has always affiliated with the republicans, and has been chairman of their county centritl 
committee. He is past grand in Odd-Fellowship, and a member of the Encampment, and also 
of the Legion of Honor. The wife of Senator Fuller was Sarah A. Mackey, daughter of Hugh 
Mackey, of Cherry Valley, Winnebago county, Illinois, their marriage taking place in April, 1S73. 
We believe they have n(i children. 



A 



ALMON W. BULKLEY. 

CHIC A GO. 
LMON WHEELER BULKLEY, the youngest lawyer, probably, whose name appears in 



this work, and a fine example of what pluck and perseverance can do for a young man of 
laudable purposes, early thrown upon his own resources, was born in Groton, Tompkins county, 
New York, April 13, 1852. His parents, Lorenzo and Juliette A. (Coonley) Bulkley, were also 
natives of that state, his father of Cayuga, and his mother of Greene county. His grandfather, 
Hill Bulkley, who was a participant in the second war with England, was born in Fairfield, Fair- 
field county, Connecticut. 

Lorenzo Bulkley was a farmer, and the son had a good opportunity to acquire a knowledge 
of that honorable caUing, but his heart was not in it. He left home at fifteen years of age, and 
continued to cultivate the soil four years longer, the last year taking a farm and tilling it on" 
shares. From early youth Mr. Bulkley had a strong desire for knowledge, and kept constantly 
in mind the purpose to secure a liberal education ; and while engaged in farming he carefully 
husbanded his income, scanty enough at best, devoted every hour of leisure to studies prepara^^ 
tory for college, and at nineteen years of age went straight from a farm to attend to his matricu- 
lation at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, where he took an architectural course, and whence 
he was graduated in June, 1875. While in college he taught the high school one term at Boyls- 
ton, Massachusetts, and likewise taught two years after his graduation, first in a public school at 
Yonkers, New York, and then in the Morris (Illinois) Classical Institute, now the Normal Scien- 
tific School. He had a hard struggle to secure his education, but we cannot learn that he has 
ever assigned himself any task, however difficult, without fully and faithfully accomplishing it. 
He studied law with Jordon and Stough, of Morris, and while so doing, in order to keep square 
with the world, he filled, for a short time, the office of deputy circuit clerk of Grundy county. 

Mr. Bulkley was admitted to the bar in June, 1879, and for a short time was in practice at 
Ottawa, acting at the same time as deputy clerk of the appellate court of the second district. In 
the autumn of 1880 he removed to Chicago, where he is building up a good business. A gentle- 
man who has known Mr. Bulkley from his youth, thus speaks of him as a scholar and a lawyer: 
"Throughout his entire course at Cornell, he occupied an enviable position in his class. His 
moral character is irreproachable, and as a friend he has many commendable traits. He is a 
lawyer of excellent judgment, and fully trustworthy in all the relations of life; is a successful 



UNITED STATES BIOGKAPIIJCAL DICTIONARY. I 75 

practitioner, and as a counselor far more reliable than many who have a nati(jnal reputation. 
His judgment upon questions of law is testified to by several important decisions recently pro- 
duced in the supreme court of Illinois. 

Mr. Bulkley is a member of Garden City Lodge, No. 141, A. F. and A. M., and of the order of 
the Red Cross, Lincoln Commandery, No. 8, Chicago, and in politics a republican. He, 
however, lets no secret or political society interfere with his legal studies and practice, and it is 
safe to say that he will be a life student of his profession, nor cease to be a growing man while 
his health continues unimpaired. 



HON. JOHN J. GLENN. 

MONMOUTH. 

JOHN J. GLENN, judge of the tenth judicial circuit, is a native of Ashland county, Ohio, a son 
of John and Anna (Johnson) Glenn, and dates his birth March 2, 1831. His father, who was 
born near Baltimore, Maryland, was a farmer, and a soldier in the second war with England. 
His great-grandfather came to this country from the North of Ireland, being of Scotch-Irish 
lineage. Our subject was educated at Miami University, Oxford, Butler county, Ohio, being 
graduated in June, 1856, Whitelaw Reid being in the same class; read law at Logansport, Indi- 
ana, with Hon. D. D. Pratt, teaching an academy at the same time, and was admitted to the bar 
at Fort Wayne in 1858. In i860 he came to this state, practiced one year at Aledo, Mercer 
county, and then settled in Monmouth. Here he opened a law office, and was in steady and suc- 
cessful practice for sixteen years, making an honorable record at the bar of Warren county, and 
showing that he had qualifications admirably fitting him for the bench. 

In 1877 our subject was elected to the bench, and was reelected in 1879 for a term of six years. 
Although young in the office of judge, his decisions have been marked by sound judgment, and 
have usually been sustained by the higher courts. As a lawyer he is thoroughly read, and while 
at the bar distinguished himself as an advocate, having great influence with a jury. 

The judge is a republican in politics, and was somewhat active until he went on the bench. 
He was for sixteen years a member and secretary of the board of trustees of Monmouth College, 
resigning in 1880; is an elder of the Presbyterian church, and is a consistent Christian, as well as 
upright judge. 

Two months after receiving his degree of bachelor of arts, he was married, August, 1856, to 
Miss Mary Jane McGavi^, daughter of William McGaw, of Preble county, Ohio, and they have 
five children, three daughters and two sons. Anna R. and McGaw are graduates of Monmouth 
•College; William M. is a medical student; Minnie is in college, and Addie M. in a ward school. 
Judge and Mrs. Glenn are warm friends of education, and take good care that their own 
children have a fair share of it. They are also important factors in the refined circles of Mon- 
mouth society. 

WILLIAM H. HULL. 

OTTAWA. 

WILLIAM HUNTINGTON HULL, one of the leading merchants in Ottawa, is a native of 
Oneida county. New York, having been born in the town of Sauquoit, near Utica, October 
II, 1832. His father, Horace Hull, a drummer at Sackett's Harbor in the war of 1812-14, and a 
farmer, was born in the same place, and his grandfather, John Hull, a soldier in the preceding 
war with England, was born in Durham, Connecticut, in which part of New England the family 
settled some time before the revolution. Horace Hull married Sabrina Lamphear. He died in 
Oswego county. New York, in 1867, and his widow still draws his pension. Her age is eighty- 
five years. 

William finished his studies at the Falley Seminary, a Methodist institution at Fulton, New 



176 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

York, remaining on the farm till twenty-one years old, and teaching school the last three winters. 
In 1853 he started for the West; went to Appleton, Wisconsin, ready for any kind of respectable 
work that turned up, commencing as a teamster, having served an apprenticeship at that business 
on his father's farm. Soon afterward he changed to a clerkship, which he held about two years, 
and then returned to Fulton. There he kept books for a mercantile house; married Miss Char- 
lotte M. Kendall, of Volney, Oswego county, late in September, 1856, and the next week started 
for Ottawa, his present home. Here he commenced business by keeping books for J. G. Nattin- 
ger, one of the oldest merchants in Ottawa, and in 1859 went into business for himself as a gen- 
eral merchant, starting off on a moderate scale, and expanding his stock as his means increased. 
He attended faithfully to his business, having an oversight of everything from the start, and 
prosperity rewarded his industry. He continued to keep a general stock of merchandise about 
ten years, and then changed to dry goods exclusively; usually carries from $25,000 to $35,000. and 
does from $75,000 to $100,000 per annum. He has a double store forty by eighty feet, and an 
adjoining building twenty by forty feet; keeps well stocked the year round, and nine or ten sales- 
men, saleswomen, bookkeepers, etc. He manages his business with unrelaxing care and vigilance, 
and on the strictest, most upright business principles, and no dealer in Ottawa has a fairer record. 

At the time this sketch is written Mr. Hull is serving his second term and third year as alder- 
man of the fifth ward, all the municipal office he has ever accepted. He has done and is doing a 
great deal to build up manufacturing and other interests, and is president of the Ottawa Bottle 
and Flint Glass Company, secretary and treasurer of the Ottawa Fire Clay and Brick Compan)-, 
and treasurer of the gas company and of the business men's association. He may also have stock 
in other local institutions which we do not call to mind. His public spirit and enterprise are 
worthy of strong commendation. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hull have two children, a daughter and a son: Fannie Kendall, married to 
Charles A. Caton, nephew of Judge Caton, Ottawa, and Horace, a graduate of the law depart- 
ment of the University of Chicago, and in practice with Judge Eldridge, of Ottawa. The parents 
attend the Congregational Church. 

DAVID HAWE.S. 

ROCK ISLAND. 

ONE of the very few citizens of Rock Island who were living here in 1837 is the gentleman 
whose name heads this sketch, a native of Belchertown, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, 
born October 19, 1809. His father, Harvey Hawes, a farmer, was born in Wrentham, same state. 
His grandfather, John Hawes, fought for independence, and carried in the calf of one of his legs 
a ball which he received at Ticonderoga. This branch of the Hawes family is of English pedi- 
gree. Harvey Hawes married Ruth Pesoe, who was of French descent, and by whom he had five 
children, David being the first-born. 

Mr. Hawes finished his school training by six months' attendance at the seminary in his native 
town, where he was engaged in farming until twenty years of age. Subsequently he farmed one 
year at Ware, Massachusetts, where he also kept a hotel. He also farmed one year at Enfield, in 
the same state. In 1832 he married Miss Julia M. Babcock, of Ware. 

Hearing a great deal about the West, and thinking that perhaps here was a better opening for 
a young man, in 1835 Mr. Hawes started on a tour of observation, coming by the lakes to Chi- 
cago, and thence into Tazewell county, where he spent six months. Returning east the next 
spring for his family, he took them to St. Louis, where he obtained a clerkship in a store. In the 
spring of 1837 he went to Naples, Illinois; kept a hotel for six months, when the sickness of his 
family and the general unhealthiness of the country caused him to leave. He brought his family 
to Rock Island in September, 1837. For sixteen or seventeen years after settling here he was in 
the lime and stone business; was sheriff of the county in 1S61-2; a grocery merchant for six or 
eight years, and since 1877 has been a justice of the peace, being very attentive to his business. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. I 77 

Mr. Havves was originally a whig, — a disciple of Henry Clay, — and in his younger years quite 
active in politics. On the demise of his old party he joined the republican, with which he 
heartily affiliates. He is an Odd-Fellow, and has been a representative to the Grand Lodge of 
the state. 

For more than thirty years he has been a member of the Baptist Church, of whicli he is also 
deacon. After living with his wife nearly forty .years, she died in 1871, going like a shock of corn 
fully ripe and ready for the harvest. 

Mr. Hawes has two sons: Charles W., deputy postmaster. Rock Island, and Frank B., keeper 
of a summer hotel at Delavan Lake, Wisconsin, a popular watering place. 

Although past the allotted age of man, Mr. Hawes is clear-headed, active, and efficient in his 
business, all of which is owing to his good habits, and the excellent care which he has taken of 
himself. He is well known to the people of Rock Island, and is warmly esteemed by the inhab- 
itants generalh', excepting evil-doers, to whom he is a terror. 



THOMAS S. HUNTLEY. 

HUNTLEY. 

THOMAS STILLWELL HUNTLEY, for whom the village of Huntley, McHenry county, 
Illinois, was named, was born in Cortland county. New York, March 27, 1807. His father, 
Daniel Huntley, in his day a farmer and inn-keeper, was among the early settlers in that part of 
the Empire State, and his grandfather, Williams Huntley, was a teamster in the war for independ- 
ence; and afterward, being able to take care of himself, he refused the proffered pension. 

The mother of Thomas was Catherine Stillvvell, also a native of New York. Her uncle, Sam- 
uel StiUwell, was a prominent man in the city of New York, being a capitalist, and holding at one 
period high municipal positions. When our subject was ten years old, the family moved into 
Cattaraugus county, and settled near EUicottsville, the county seat, three miles from a school 
house. Thomas was agile in those days, and thought little of a six miles' walk daily, and, being 
rather fond of his books, and makrng good use of his time, he secured a fair English education, 
which he has since found of great service to him. 

Mr. Huntley gave his strength to tilling the soil until about twenty years of age, when becom- 
ing lame from a fever sore, he entered a store at EUicottsville, and was engaged as a salesman 
for a few years. Having acquired a knowledge of mercantile pursuits, he opened a store for him- 
self in the same place, and after trading for a few years, removed to Chautauqua county, on a farm 
of his own near Fredonia, having also at the same time a farm near EUicottsville. 

In 1846, having disposed of his property in western New York, Mr. Huntley immigrated to Illi- 
nois, and settled in the township of Grafton, which now includes the village of Huntley. Here 
he purchased a sfction of land of excellent quality, and commenced breaking and improving it. 
Subsequently he also bought land in Michigan. 

In 185 I, when the Chicago and North-Western railroad reached his place, and Huntley station 
was established, he opened a small store, and was engaged in trading for six or seven years, never, 
however, relinquishing agricultural pursuits. Farming has been his favorite and chief business 
since early manhood, and he has been quite liberal in the number of acres of prairie and other sod 
which he has turned with his own hand or by proxy. 

Mr. Huntley held both township and count}' offices before leaving New York state, and was 
the first supervisor of Grafton, about the only civil office which he has held in McHenry county. 
Although quite active and public spirited, he has left the offices for persons more ambitious in 
that direction. 

Mr. Huntley has been quite a traveler, though always in his own country, has been from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean with his own team, and has made extensive tours b)' rail in all direc- 
tions. He has always taken a deep interest in politics, he being originally a whig, with anti- 



1^8 UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

slavery proclivities, and a great admirer as well as follower of Hon. William H. Seward. Mr. 
Huntley has been a republican since there was such a party, and was a delegate to the convention 
which first nominated Hon. E. B. Washburne for congress, being one of the leading men in secur- 
ing that nomination. He has never, we believe, regretted the exertions which he made in bring- 
ing out the watch-dog of the United States Treasury. 

Mr. Huntley is a member of the Congregational Church, and has lived a consistent Christian 
life, testing, hundreds of times, the truth of the Scriptural adage that " it is more blessed to give 
than to receive." His parents were models in 'hospitality and generosity, and the moral lessons 
which he learned from them, who were worthy members of the Baptist Church, he has never for- 
gotten or failed to carry out in life. The needy have always found a true friend in him. 

Mr. Huntley was married the first time in 1830, to Miss Eliza Fox, sister of Hon. Chauncey J. 
Fox, formerly state senator from Cattaraugus county. New York, and she died in 1873, leaving a 
daughter and son, the former having since died. The son, Charles C. Huntley, was pursuing a 
college course of studies in the University of Chicago when the civil war broke out, and promptly 
closed his books, went into the army as lieutenant, and had command of a company most of the 
time that he was in the service. He was a prisoner for eleven months in Libbey Prison, Danville, 
Macon, Savannah, etc. On being mustered out he found tiiat his mind was too unsettled to renew 
his studies, so he w-ent west of the Missouri, and in a few j'ears became one of the leading stage 
proprietors in the country. He ran the first line of coaches from Fort Benton to Helena, Mon- 
tana Territory, and extended his lines into Idaho, Utah, California, Washington Territory, etc. 
For years he was a man of wonderful energy and push, but, overdoing himself, broke down with 
paralysis, and is now living a quiet life at Washington, District of Columbia. 

In 1878 Mr. Huntley married Emma E. Brimkerhoff, by whom he has one son, Thomas Still- 
well. Our subject has lived a very temperate life, eschewing liquors of all kinds, and of late years 
even tobacco, and at seventy-five years of age is free from aches and pains, and the chills too 
common in the winter of life. The young will do well to ponder the lessons of this sketch. 



WILLIAM HANNA. 

MOXMOUTII. 

WILLIAM HANNA, manufacturer, banker and railroad builder, and one of the most ener- 
getic, public-spirited citizens of Warren county^ is a native of Fayette county, Indiana, 
and was born June 19, 1827. His father, John Hanna, was born in North Carolina; his mother, 
Sarah Crawford, in Virginia. His paternal grandfather was from Ireland, and was of Scotch- 
Irish blood. In 1835, when William was eight years old, the family came into Warren county, 
and settled on a farm twelve miles northwest of Monmouth, our subject receivii^ such an educa- 
tion as a country school could furnish during the winters. In 1849 he drove an ox-team to 
California, collected a few thousand dollars in gold, and returned in 185 1 by water. In 1851, 
Mr. Hanna went on a farm of his own, just over the line of Warren in Henderson county, and 
was engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1867, when he became a member of the Wier Plow 
Company, of which he holds the office of cashier. A brief history of this company, with the 
amount of material it uses and of work it turns out annually, may be found in a sketch of William 
S. Wier. the president of this company, on other pages of this work. The company employs 
nearly 600 workmen, and is one of the important agencies in building up the city of Monmouth. 
Mr. Hanna is president of the Monmouth Mining and Manufacturing Company, which makes 
sewer pipe, drain tile, fire brick, etc., and employs about sixty men. He was one of the origina- 
tors of the Monmouth National Bank, established in 1871, and is its president. He is also presi- 
dent of the Peoria and Farmington railroad, which is partially built, and will be finished from 
Peoria, through Monmouth, to Keithsburgh, on the Mississippi River, before this volume is in the 
hands of the binder. 





^^n. 




i^^-^t^^-L^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA PIIICA I. DICTIONARY. l8l 

Mr. Hanna puts his hand to no plow, inckiding the " Wier," and "looks back;" he starts no 
enterprise which does not go through, and has probably done as much to push forward the inter- 
ests of Monmouth and of Warren county, as any one of its citizens. He has been mayor of the 
city two terms, and that is all the civil office of any importance, we believe, that he has held. 
His politics are democratic. He is a trustee of the Warren county library, and also of Lombard 
University, at Galesburgh, 111., and is deeply interested in any public enterprise calculated to 
benefit the people. 

The wife of Mr. Hanna was Miss Sarah l''innley, (jf Warren county, their marriage occurring 
ill 1S51. They buried one daughter in youth, and have a son and daughter living: James Ross, 
secretary of the Wier Plow Company, ami Mary J. E., who is at home. 



ROBERT H. JENKINS. 

CHICAGO. 

ROBERT EDWIN JENKINS, one of the leading bankruptcy lawyers of Chicago, is a direct 
descendant of the original ancestor of the family in this country, David Jenkins, who left 
Wales about 1700, and settled near Great Valley Church, Pennsylvania. The family soon became 
identified with Pennsylvania's great industry. John, the son of David Jenkins, purchased in 1773 
from the heirs of William Penn a tract of land near Churchtown, upon which the Winsor Iron 
Works were erected, a great enterprise in those days. These works afterward passed into the 
sole ownership of his descendants. Robert Jenkins, the father of Robert E., was born in Lancas- 
ter county, Pennsylvania, and his mother, Elizabeth (Rambo) Jenkins, was also a native of that 
state. In 1837 his parents went to Clark county, Missouri, where our subject was born, February 
6, 1846. Clark county is the northeastern county of the state, bordering on the Mississippi River 
and what is now the state of Iowa, Keokuk, thirty miles away, being the nearest market town 
forty years ago. Mrs. Jenkins was the mother of five children, of whom Robert E. was the 
youngest, his mother dying when he was only eight or nine months old. That misfortune over- 
taking him, he was placed in the care of an aunt, Mrs. Margaret Hendricks, residing at Fair- 
field, Iowa, and whose love and care he fondly remembers. Here he remained for ten years. He 
then returned to Clark county, and to the Jenkins homestead. 

In those days there were no school houses in that vicinity. Mr. Jenkins keenly appreciated 
the importance of education, and spared no effort to give his children school advantages. He 
was accustomed, as also were the family after his decease, to hire a teacher for the winter season, 
and give him a room for a school in the family home. The neighbors round about were allowed 
the privilege of sending their children to the teacher. The result was that the rudiments of 
knowledge were mastered by Robert early in his teens. His early advantages were not confined 
to text books. He was so fortunate as to have access to a select library of history, biography 
and the standard English poets. He improved the opportunities thus given him to hold converse 
with the best minds, and in thought took part in the great events of the past. 

Robert Jenkins died in January, 1858, when the children, left parentless, took the entire charge 
of outdoor and indoor matters of the farm, which they managed successfully. There our subject 
remained until nineteen years of age, but while having great love for the quiet independence of 
farm life, yet he felt a stronger desire for a wider and more active field of usefulness. In 1865 
we find him at the Illinois College, Jacksonville, for entering which institution he had prepared 
himself by great mental industry and the most vigilant use of time. Not waiting to take a 
full course, he came to Chicago, commenced the study of law, and was graduated from the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, law department, in the class of 1867. While pursuing his legal studies, he 
was in the office of Haines and Story, in which he remained awhile after being admitted to the 
bar. He then became connected with the office of Hon. Lincoln Clark, then register in bank- 
19 



jg2 UNITED STATES BfOGRAPHlCAI. DICTIONARY. 

ruptcy, and from the start had almost entire charge of the business of the office. Mr. Jenkins 
soon made the acquaintance of the people doing business with Mr. Clark, and familiarized him- 
self with the routine of bankruptcy matters, a circumstance which was of great benefit to him 
when he began practice for himself in the spring of 1869. 

"It was the intention of Mr. Jenkins," says the writer already quoted, "to give all branches of 
the law an equal share of his attention. But the friends made while in the office of Judge Clark, 
having recognized his experience and familiarity with bankruptcy matters, this branch of practice 
was opened to him to such an extent that he resolved to make it a specialty. Creditors recog- 
nized his ability to manage the details and disentangle the complications attending the affairs of 
his clients, and he was repeatedly called to act as assignee of estates in bankruptcy. In this 
capacity he has had, and still has, the management of large and important interests, and has 
become well known to our citizens and to eastern merchants. His rule has been to help the hon- 
est debtor to regain his business and his credit, and many who have been overtaken by financial 
disaster have been assisted by him to make settlements satisfactory to their creditors, and have 
thus been saved from ruin." 

In the course of his business millions of dollars have passed through his hands. It has all 
been honestly accounted for, and no one has ever questioned his integrity. Mr. Jenkins is a firm 
believer in the Christian religion. He is a deacon of the Union Park Congregational Church, 
superintendent of the Sunday school, and an active Christian worker. He married, in Chicago, 
September 2, 1869, Marcia, daughter of Edward Raymond, formerly of Cambridge City, Indiana. 
Five children have been born to them, three of whom, George Raymond, Helen Mary, and Edith 
Daisy are now living, 

HENRY S. COMSTOCK 

COLON A. 

HENRY SMITH COMSTOCK, a prominent educator in Henry county, and a memljer of 
the State Board of Education, is a son of John Beardsley and Evaline (Smith) Comstock, 
and was born at New Haven, Oswego county. New York, December 29, 1831. Both parents were 
also natives of that state. His grandfather, Saragah Comstock, fought for the independence of 
the American colonies. John B. Comstock was a wool carder and cloth dresser, and in 1S37 he 
moved with his family to Franklin, Oakland county, Michigan, where he resumed his business, 
and where he died in 1852. His widow survived him for ten or eleven years. 

Our subject was educated in the public schools of Michigan, and in an academy at Birming- 
ham, that state, and has been a teacher for twenty-seven years, nearly all the time in Henry 
county, being one of the most popular and successful educators in this part of Illinois. He was 
county superintendent of schools from 1869 to 1873, and made an efficient officer in that capacity. 

In June, 1862, he enlisted in the service of his country, and was mustered in the following Sep- 
tember as second lieutenant, company I, 112th regiment, Illinois infantry: Colonel T. J. Hender 
son, now member of congress, commander. The regiment went into Camp Ella Bishop, Covington, 
Kentucky; was subsequently engaged in skirmishing with General Morgan and other guerillas, 
and then joined General Burnside's division. In July, 1863. our subject lost a daughter, and on 
that account resigned, and returned to Henry county. 

Mr. Comstock has been a school trustee of the township of Munson for six years, and town 
clerk five years. In December, 1881, he was appointed by Governor Cullom a member of the 
State Board of Education, and that position he still holds. His great experience as a teacher, and 
the careful study which he has given to the subject, makes him a valuable member of that board. 

Mr. Comstock is a member and trustee of the Methodist Church at Colona, and at times has 
been very active in Sunday-school work. He is a Master Mason. 

The wife of Mr. Comstock was Miss Emma G. Terpening, daughter of J. R. Terpening, of 
Geneseo, Illinois; their marriage being dated July 29, 1859, They have buried two children and 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 183 

have three living. John Josiah, tlieir eldest child and only son, is a graduate of the University of 
Michigan, classical department, and Minnie Fried and Mary Elizabeth are pursuing their studies 
at home. Mrs. Comstock is also a successful teacher, and is assisting her husband at Colona, 
where he has been principal of the school for the last ten years. Mr. Comstock is a very indus- 
t'-ious man, and during his vacations busied himself in selling western lands, for which he has 
the agency. 

ARBA BROOK INS. 

CIIICA GO. 

THE subject of this notice is a native of Erie county, Pennsylvania, his birth being dated 
December 29, 1837,31 Northeast, where his father was engaged for years in the manufacture 
of paper. The Brookins family were originally from Great Harrington, Massachusetts. The 
mother of Arba was Catharine Van Wormer, a native of the Keystone State. Both parents died 
at Northeast. 

Our subject prepared for college at Vernon, Oneida county. New York, under Professor S. S. 
Norton, and is a graduate of Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, class of i860, which included 
(Jeorge M. Weaver, now the law partner of George Seymour, Milton H. Northrup, now editor of 
the Syracuse '' Courier," Samuel D. Westfall, of Galena, Illinois, and others now prominent in 
some profession or calling in life. 

Mr. Brookins pursued his legal studies in the law department of Columbia College, New York 
city, finishing in the spring of 1862; went immediately in the war, enlisting in the 24th New York 
cavalry, in which regiment he held a lieutenant's commission; was in the war until its close, in 
1865, and although in no less than thirty-six engagements, including such severe ones as Chan- 
cellorsville, Petersburgh and the Wilderness, he came out unscathed. We once heard an officer, 
under whom Mr. Brookins served, declare that he, Mr. Brookins, was one of the best fighting 
men he ever saw. 

Mr. Brookins commenced the practice of his profession at Coldwater, Michigan, remaining 
there luitil June, 1870, when he settled in Chicago, where he is attending very closely to his busi- 
ness, and doing a good deal of faithful work. As a lawyer he is studious, well posted, painstak- 
ing and true to his client, and makes an excellent counselor. 

Mr. Brookins is a democrat, and since entering upon legal practice has lived in republican 
states and municipalities, and that may possibly be the reason why he has held no civil offices. 
We cannot learn, however, that he has ever been afflicted with the mania for office holding. He 
has evidently aspired to be a first-class lawyer, and if that is the case, he may well be satisfied 
with his present status. The wife of Mr. Brookins was Fannie Patterson, a native of Manchester, 
Oneida county, New York. They were married at Coldwater, Michigan, in November, 1868, and 
have one son, Samuel Patterson, who is pursuing his studies at Coldwater. 



JOHN .S. CUMMINGS. 

HUNTLEY. 

JOHN SHERMAN CUMMINGS, merchant, and one of the earliest and leading citizens of 
.' Huntley, is a native of Cortland county. New York, being born in the town of Tru.xton, Janu- 
ary 22, 1830. His father, Guy C. Cummings, a soldier in the war of 1812-4, was born in the same 
county, and his mother, whose maiden name was Eleanor Wheeler, was also a native of New York 
state, her famil}^ being from Connecticut. The Cummings are an old New York family, the pro- 
genitor in this country being from Scotland. Both grandparents of our subject were in the con- 
tinental army, and the maternal grandsire was an intimate friend of General Washington. 

In 1838, when John was eight years old, the family came to this state, and settled on a farm 



ig. UNITED STATES BIOGRA miCA L DICTIONARY. 

in Grafton, McHenry county, near where the village of Huntley now stands. Here the son was 
reared, and developed his muscles by cultivating the soil, and here he mastered the elementary 
branches of knowledge, subsequently attending an academy at Elgin for several terms. He was 
farming here when the civil war commenced, and enlisted (1861) in the 7th Illinois regimental 
band, serving until such bands were ordered to be disbanded. Since leaving the army Mr. Cum- 
mings has been engaged in merchandising, adding insurance a few years ago, and now making a 
specialty of furniture and agricultural implements. He is a stirring, enterprising man, and makes 
a success of almost everything to which he puts his hands. He has two farms, one near Hunt- 
ley, of which he has the oversight, and one in Sac county, Iowa, which he cultivates by proxy. 

Mr. Cummings was appointed constable just before reaching his majority, and after serving 
in that post one year resigned (1852) to go to California, where he spent live years in mining and 
teaming, doing well and returning in 1857. 

He served as supervisor of the town of Grafton before going into the war, and has held the 
same office at sundry times since, the last time in 1880. He has also been county coroner and 
town commissioner, and is not only a competent but efficient and perfectly reliable business man, 
serving in every office assigned him with the utmost faithfulness, and under the guidance of a 
sound judgment. 

Mr. Cummings is a republican in politics, and quite active when important elections are pend- 
ing and great issues are at stake. He is past master in the Masonic order. July 4, 1859, lie mar- 
ried Mary Elizabeth Baldwin, of Huntley, formerly of Clinton county. New York, and they have 
one son, Fred. S., who is with his father in the furniture business. 



JOHN LAWRENCE HAMILTON. 

WA TSEKA. 

^"'HE subject of this sketch, a native of Newry, in the North of Ireland, was born November 9, 
1829, the son of Thomas L. Hamilton and Mary Ann (McCamley) Hamilton. His father, who 
was born in Scotland about 1790, during his early life followed the sea, and after successive pro- 
motions became captain of a merchantman. After his marriage in 1826, he opened an extensive 
farm in the North of Ireland, and there reared a family of seven children. In 1855, during the 
excitement consequent upon the discovery of gold in Australia, he sold his farm, and with his 
wife and those of his children who were living at home, went thither, and there died in 1877. The 
mother of our subject, a native of Liverpool, England, was a daughter of James and Ann Mary 
McCamley, the latter of whom died in 1876, at the advanced age of one hundred and seven years. 

John received a fair English education in the high school of his native town, pricir to his 
fifteenth year, and during the following five years was employed on his father's farm. In 1850, 
he set out in life for himself, and joining the tide of emigration, sailed for the United States, 
bearing with him little means, other than a brave heart, willing hands, and a determined purpose 
to make his way in the world. Arriving at New Orleans during the cholera epidemic of 1850, he 
took passage up the Mississippi to Saint Louis, and there finding that his little supply of money 
vvas nearly exhausted, engaged to work on a farm in Jersey county, Illinois, for two years, at one 
hundred dollars per year. In 185 1 he obtained a government patent for one hundred and sixty 
acres of land in Mason county, Illinois, and at the end of his two years' service had sufficient 
means to purchase a team, and, leasing land, he began farming on his own account. From this 
modest beginning Mr. Hamilton has worked his way to a position of honor and affluence. 

Possessed of clear foresight, and good executive ability, he turned his opportunities to the best 
account, and in a few years found himself independent of circumstances. In 1864 he settled in 
Iroquois county, on a farm of two hundred and sixty acres, and made a permanent home. To 
this he has added from year to year, as necessity has demanded and to-day (1883) is counted 
among the most influential farmers and stock raisers of soutliern Illinois, possessing in all about 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. l8'5 

two thousand acres of land. Mr. Hamilton's attention, however, has not been wholly devoted to 
his own personal affairs, but his fellow citizens, in recognition of his fitness and abilities, have 
honored him with man\' positions and offices of trust. Since taking out his naturalization papers 
in 1856, when he cast his first ballot for John C. Fremont, for president, he has been an active 
and enthusiastic worker in the republican party. In 1871 he was elected supervisor of the town 
of Lovejoy, and held that office until 1875, when he was elected county treasurer of Iroquois 
county; and as showing his popularity and the high esteem in which he is universally held, it may 
be stated that his county is overwhelmingly democratic and greenback, and that he was 
the only prominent republican candidate elected, his majority being over three hundred. At each 
succeeding election this majority has been increased, some towns makinghis election unanimous, 
and such has been the universal satisfaction with which he has discharged his duties, that it is 
safe to predict that as long as he will consent to hold the office, no one can oppose him with suc- 
cess. Like his private, his official character is above reproach. He is a man firm in his convic- 
tions, determined in his pursuance of the right, a true friend and a genial companion. Having 
traveled extensively throughout the United States, and being a careful observer of men and 
events, he has gathered an abundant fund of varied information, and with his ready wit and fine 
descriptive powers, is a most pleasing and interesting conversationalist. 

In religious matters, Mr. Hamilton was reared an Episcopalian; but there being near him no 
church of that denomination, he attends the services of the Presbyterian or Methodist Church 
being especially active in Sunday-school work. 

He was married February 24, 1857, to Miss Ann Eliza Leemon, who was born in County 
Armagh, North of Ireland, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Leemon, of Scotch descent. 
Of nine children that have been born to them seven are now living. 



RUBEN C. EDGERTON, M.D. 

A ETON A. 

RUBEN CURTIS EDGERTON, one of the older class of medical practitioners in Knox 
county, is the fifth and youngest child, all sons, of Jacob and Mary (Stoddard) Edgerton, 
and dates his birth in Essex county, New York, September 10, 1822. His father, who was a 
mechanic, was born in Paulet, Rutland county, Vermont, son of Jedediah Edgerton, a revolution- 
ary pensitmer, and grandson of Captain Edgerton, an emigrant from England. Jonathan Stod- 
dard, the father of Mary, was also a revolutionary pensioner. Both families were originally from 
Connecticut, the Edgertons being early settlers at Norwich. Jacob Edgerton came as far west as 
Ohio in 1836, and located near Unionville, and while there Curtis attended the Western Reserve 
Institute at Kirtland, the school being in what was once a Mormon temple, and commenced 
teaching when sixteen years old. Three years afterward, 1839, the family came into this state, 
and settled at Galesburgh, and our subject completed an academic education in that city, continu- 
ing to teach part of each year, in all for ten years. His father died at Galesburgh in 1842, and his 
mother in 1856. He studied medicine with Doctor Hanaford of Trivoli, Peoria county, and Doc- 
tor Bunce, of Galesburgh ; attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, studying at the 
same time with Doctor Brainard, president of that institution, until March, 184S. The next 
August he was married to Miss Annette Hamlin, who was from Maine, and a relative of Hon. 
Hannibal Hamlin. 

■Doctor Edgerton practiced one year in Peoria county with his preceptor, one year at North 
Henderson, on the line of Knox and Warren counties, two years at Lancaster, Peoria county, and 
in tiie autumn of 1852 came into Knox county, and practiced at Victoria until the civil war began. 
Ill 7\ugust, 1 86 1, he went into the army as assistant surgeon of the 26th Illinois infantry, and 
remained about a year, when sickness compelled him to resign. He came to Altona, where his 
family had been living during his absence, but for ten years he was unable to do much profes- 



1 86 UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

sional work, and he is still suffering from disease contracted in the army. He draws a pension. 
The doctor's practice is almost entirely confined to the office and village, he going into the 
country in extreme cases only, and when friends come for him with their own carriage. He is a" 
skillful physician and surgeon. The people have great confidence in him, and with good health 
he would have a large practice. 

Before going into the service he used to write more or less for medical periodicals, but for a 
score of years has done nothing in that line. He is a member of the Military Tract Medical 
Society, and years ago was a member of the American Medical Association. He is a good deal 
interested in the cause of education, and has done good service as a member of the local school 
board. He is a republican, and a man of very decided views on political questions ; is also a 
Master Mason. 

The first wife of Doctor Edgerton died in February, 185S, leaving three children, one son and 
two daughters. Charles is a cattle dealer in Waco, Texas. Ellen A. is the wife of Joseph Gra- 
ham of Quincy, this state, and Mary Winona is a teacher, making her home with her father. 
Doctor Edgerton was married the second time in October, i860, to Miss Lydia Tiffany, from 
Otsego county. New York, and they have one son, Hubert Curtis Edgerton, aged eleven years. 
The doctor is a man of good social qualities, of a kindly disposition, and a good neighbor, and 
is much respected by his circle of acquaintances. 



REV. RICHARD K. TODD, i\M. 

WOODSTOCK. 

AT Woodstock, in this state, is an institution of learning which, under different names, yet 
. under the same management, has been in existence for thirty years, and all this time quietly, 
like leaven, doing its blessed work among the young. During these thirty years, it is no exag- 
geration to say that thousands of young men and young women have been, a longer or shorter 
period, under the instruction, moral as well as mental, of the founder of this school, who is 
still its principal. We refer to what is now known as Todd Seminary for Boys, which latterly 
among its pupils has included several who are sons of his pupils twenty-five and thirty years ago. 

Richard Kimball Todd, the originator of this institution, was born at Rowley, Essex county, 
Massachusetts, October 14, 1816, his father, Wallingford Todd, a seafaring man for twenty-one 
years, being born in the same place. The latter was a soldier in the second war with England, 
and his father in the first. The mother of Richard, before her marriage, was Hannah Todd, very 
remotely, if at all, related to her husband. 

Our subject received his preparatory education at Burr Seminary, Manchester, Rutland count)', 
Vermont, but before entering college taught three years in Perth, Amboy, New Jersey, the latter 
part of that period, occupying the Latin chair in Woodbridge Seminary. He entered the sopho- 
more class of Princeton College in 1839; was graduated in 1842 ; took his theological course in 
the same institution, after teaching in private two or three years ; was licensed to preach at 
Princeton in February, 1847, and ordained and installed as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of 
Woodstock in the spring of 1848. He held the pastorate steadily for eighteen years, when his 
throat beginning to trouble him it was deemed advisable that he should discontinue public 
speaking, and he resigned his charge. During five years of his pastorate Mr. Todd filled the 
office of county superintendent of schools, and as early as 1851 he established the Parsonage 
Institute, in which he taught the classics, and by the aid of other teachers, fitted young men for 
college. The Institute continued to grow, and about eighteen or twenty years ago was incorpor- 
ated by act of the legislature, taking the name of the Woodstock University, and having, for 
some years, from one hundred and fifty to two hundred scholars, male and female, our subject 
soon giving to the school his whole time and energies. Pupils came in from the neighboring 
state of Wisconsin, and from Iowa, Indiana, Missouri and other states, and it was an era of great 
prosperity. 



UNITED STATES filOGKATHICAL DICTIONARY. 



187 



Five or six years ago Mr. Todd concluded to change the character of the school, to admit 
boys only, to have a limited number, never more than twenty at a time, all between the ages of 
eight and fifteen years, and all boarding in the principal's family. This plan is strictly adhered 
to, and the full number is usually kept up. The principal has never been outside his gate to 
obtain a pupil. He concentrates his entire efforts on a few boys, who, in addition to the best of 
mental drill, enjoy all the favorable influences of the home circle. They are constantly under the 
control and watch-care of the principal and his assistants, all teachers and scholars eating at the 
same table. It seems a pity that only twenty boys can, at any one time, be under such helpful 
influence, and such admirable mental discipline. The principal has the happy faculty of winning 
the affections of his pupils, and rendering himself an object of grateful and endeared remem- 
brances. 

Mr. Toilfl married, in June, 1847, Miss Martha J. Clover, of New York city, a sister of Judge 
H. A. Clover, LL.D., of St. Louis, and of Rev. L. P. Clover, D.D., an Episcopal clergyman, now 
living near New York city, and they have had three children, only one of them, Henry Alfred 
Todd, now living. He is a graduate of Princeton College, in which he became professor of 
modern languages at twenty-two years of age, and where he has taught three or four years. He 
is the author of a French work used at Princeton, and has recently made his fourth trip to 
Europe. No more promising young man was ever born in W(_)odstock. 



w 



WILLIAM S. WIER. 

MONMOUTH. 

ILLIAM S. WIER. president of the Wier Plow Company, Monmouth, and an inventor as 
well as manufacturer, is a son of William S. and Frances (Brown) Wier, and was born near 
Xenia, Greene county, Ohio, July 2, 1835. His father, a woolen cloth manufacturer, was a 
native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; his mother of Kentucky. Some of his great uncles or 
other relatives took a part in the successful struggle of the colonies to free themselves from the 
British yoke. The education of young Wier was obtained in Illinois, the family coming to 
Warren county in 1839, when William was four years old. His school training was limited to 
the rudimentary branches, but he has since been a close student, a deep thinker, and on all impor- 
tant subjects is a thoroughly informed man. 

Our subject was engaged in farming until he was twenty-seven years old, when he abandoned 
that calling and made preparations for the manufacturing of a cultivator, known as the Wier cul- 
tivator. Such he had invented two or three years before. He commenced operations on a mod- 
erate scale in 1863, and expanded his premises as the demand for his excellent cultivator 
increased, adding also in a short time the manufacture of plows of every variety. 

In 1867 the Wier Plow Company was formed, with Mr. Wier as president, aposition which he 
still holds. The other members were William Hanna, Doctor W. B. Boyd and Joseph Stevenson. 
There have since been some changes, the present members being W. S. Wier, W. Hanna, his son 
J. R. Hanna, and Delos P. Phelps. Some idea of the magnitude of these plow works may be 
inferred from the fact that they require annually about four thousand tons of iron and steel, three 
hundred of grindstones, two hundred and seventy-five of coke, and three hundred car loads of 
coal. The whole number of cars of material and fuel shipped per year exceeds one thousand. 
The amount of lumber consumed is about 1,500,000 feet. The company pays for freight to rail- 
road companies about $560,000 annually. The number of plows turned out yearly is in round 
numbers upwards of 70,000. 

This great institution gives employment to from five hundred and fifty to six hundred work- 
men. The works are large, well ventilated and systematically lighted. The aggregate floor area 
is about four and a half acres. The growth of the trade is constant and rapid, necessitating the 
additions of buildings and machinery each year. It is enterprises like this that are building up 
flourishing towns all over the upper Mississippi Valley. 



1 88 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Mr. Wier has done a great deal of solid work, as well as careful study, in inventing and improv- 
ing his implements, and his industry and inventive talent are well rewarded. He still has the 
oversight of his shops, and is on duty early and late. He is a trustee of Monmouth College, an elder 
of the First United Presbyterian Church, and a man the solidity of whose Christian character is 
unquestioned. 

Mr. Wier married in 1859 Miss Fidelia Boyd, of Monmouth, and they have four children liv- 
ing and have buried five. The names of the surviving are Ella, Jessie O., William B. and Amy J. 



HON. HENRY WALLER. 

CHIC A CO. 

HENRY WALLER, the eldest son of William S. Waller, was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, 
November 9, 1810. Great pains was taken with his early education, no expense being 
spared to make it thorough. In his youth he was a pupil of Doctor Louis Marshall, one of the 
most distinguished educators of his day, a brother of Chief-Justice John Marshall, and father of 
Kentucky's distinguished scholar and orator, Hon. Thomas F. Marshall. In 1829 he received an 
appointment as cadet at West Point Military Academy, that celebrated a/ma mater of great men, ■ 
from which, after taking the regular course of four years, he graduated in 1833. Among his 
classmates at West Point, who have since become distinguished, were Major-General J. G. Bar- 
nard, chief of engineers during the war; Major-General E. Schriver, late inspector general of the 
United States army; Major-General George W. Cullum, chief of staff of General Halleck during 
the war; Colonel W. W, S. Bliss, chief of staff of General Taylor during the Mexican war; Gen- 
eral B. Alvord, late paymaster general, and General A. E. Shiras, late commissary general of the 
United States army; General Francis H. Smith, superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute, 
and General A. C. Myers, quartermaster general of the Confederate army. Of this class Colonel 
Thayer said that, during the thirty years he was superintendent of West Point Academy, it was 
the ablest of all the classes. 

Having little fancy for the profession of arms in time of peace, Mr. Waller, after being 
appointed brevet second lieutenant of artillery, there being no prospect of hostilities occurring, 
resigned his commission to embrace his chosen profession, the law. To the study of this labo- 
rious life-work he immediately and assiduously applied himself, commencing his studies in Frank- 
fort, in the office of Hon. Charles S. Morehead, who afterward became governor of the state and 
United States senator, and completing them in Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. 

In 1835 he was admitted to the bar, and entered at once upon his professional career as a 
practitioner in Maysville, Kentucky, where he rapidly rose to a leading position. He formed a 
partnership with Hon. Thomas Y. Payne, one one of the brightest members of a bar widely noted 
for ability. The firm stood very high, and enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. In his profes- 
sion, few men have a superior order of capacity to Henry Waller. He has an eminently analyti- 
cal and logical mind, and the rapidity and comprehensiveness with which he grasps a case at 
law, however complicated, the clearness with which he presents the true issues involved, and 
from them demonstrates, with a logic compact and well-nigh irresistible, what truth and justice 
demand, is indeed remarkable. He is a fluent, easy and rapid speaker, earnest, eloquent and 
effective, and never, even while dealing with refined technicalities or abstruse questions of law, 
tedious or monotonous. He studied his cases thoroughly, and before appearing in court was 
fully conversant with all the questions of law involved. Few lawyers were more successful before 
judge or jury. Some of the cases in which he has been engaged have involved questions of gen- 
eral public interest, among which may be mentioned the Methodist church controversy in Ken- 
tucky, resulting from the action of the general conference of 1844, and the consequent withdrawal 
of the Southern church from the jurisdiction of the old Methodist Episcopal church of the United 
States, It involved a large amount of church property in the state, and after passing through 




H C. topper Jr i Co 




Et-j, bj-£,CWilliofflB i. Br. N.V 



UNITED STATES BIOGRATHICAL DICTIONARY. Igi 

the lower courts, was taken to the court of appeals, the tribunal of last resort. From Mr. Waller's 
elaborate argument in that case, against the claim of the church south, a few brief extracts are 
taken. In opening his argument he said: 

"In 1796 the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States 
framed and established a 'deed of settlement,' to be used throughout the states as the form of 
conveyance by which the 'preaching houses and premises ' were to be 'secured firmly and per- 
manently to the Methodist Episcopal church.' In the language of Bishops Coke and Asbury, in 
their authoritative commentaries upon the discipline, ' the union of the Methodist society, through 
the states, required one general deed, for the settlement of our preaching houses and the premises 
belonging thereto.' (' History of Discipline,' pages 234-238.) The premises were either pur- 
chased by the local societies or granted to them, and the ' preaching houses ' erected by the vol- 
untary contributions of the members, all upon the faith and under the conditions of this model 
deed. And by its terms and under its sanctions is the property in contest in this case held. 

The language of this deed is plain, precise and comprehensive; its purposes most explicitly 
stated. The conveyance is made to trustees 'for the use of the members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal church in the United States of America, according to the rules and discipline which from 
time to time may be agreed upon and adopted by the ministers and preachers of the said church 
at their general conferences in the United States of America; and in further trust and confidence 
that they shall at all times, forever hereafter, permit such ministers and preachers belonging to 
the said church, as shall from time to time be duly authorized by the general conferences of the 
ministers and preachers of the said Methodist Episcopal church, or by the yearly conferences 
authorized by the said general conference, to preach and expound God's holy word therein.' 
************ 

The words used in the deed, 'for the use of the members of the Methodist Episcopal church 
in the United States of America ' and the ' ministers and preachers belonging to said church,' 
would seem to settle directly what were its purposes and who its beneficiaries. Every member and 
minister of that church within the limits of the United States beyond question must hare a beneficial interest 
in the property convexcd bv the deed. 

******** * * * * 

This view, drawn from the instrument itself, is strengthened by thedeclaration of the disci- 
pline, already quoted, that the deed of settlement was so framed as to secure the 'preaching 
houses and premises firmly and permanently to the Methodist Episcopal church.' Had each local 
society been permitted to acquire property in. its own name, for its special use, and in terms dic- 
tated by itself,' there would have been no security that the property thus held would remain per- 
manently as the property of the Methodist Episcopal church, for each local society might, under 
such a title, have held its place of worship whether it remained in the church or seceded from it. 
Thus the strong bond created 'oy the deed of settlement, and based upon the common property 
of the church, and which for so long a time has contributed to hold together the great fabric of 
American Methodism, would never have existed. The fathers of the church knew well the power 
of property in binding permanently together large bodies of men, whether associated for social, 
civil or religious purposes; and hence the venerable pioneers, Coke and Asbury, in expounding 
the nature and purposes of the deed of settlement, declared that 'the union of the Methodist 
society through the states required one general deed.' 

************ 

The trustees, the members and the ministers, are all subject to the two controlling conditions of 
the deed: they must belong to the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States of America, 
and they must use the property under the rules and discipline, as from time to time agreed upon 
and adopted, and the authority, as from time to time exerted, of the general conference of the 
same church. The membership and the jurisdiction must be that of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. These are the solemn, irrevocable conditions of the trust. These are the ramparts which 
20 



192 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



the caution and the wisdom of tlie patriarchs of the church reared around the heritage of their 
beloved Zion, to protect it from dissension within and invasion from witliont. Wliether they are 
impregnable, the result of this controversy will decide. 

These conditions, it will be perceived, relate not simply to faith and doctrine, but to organiza- 
tion, to connection, to jurisdiction. An isolated individual may have in his heart the hope, the 
faith, and the peculiar doctrines of the Methodist church; but he can have no interest in the deed 
unless he be actually a member. A society of Christians may hold to the same faith and forms 
as the Methodist church, and indeed may assume the same name; yet unless that society is con- 
nected with and under the jurisdiction of the general conference, no right can accrue to it by vir- 
tue of the Methodist deed of settlement." 

He then refers to a case decided by the court of appeals of Kentucky, settling the principles 
he is contending for, and after quoting continues: 

"Thus has the court, with all the weight of its authority, sanctioned the view I now take, and 
placed the right to a beneficial interest in the property held, as in this deed of trust, upon the fact 
of a subsisting connection by membership with the old church, as organized at the date of the 
conveyance." 

After analyzing the deed, and showing its conformity to the constitution of the church, he 
continues- 

"From this analysis of the deed, I am authorized to conclude that its great object was to 
secure the integrity and union of the church through the strong bond of common property, and 
to assure to its individual members and ministers throughout the republic the exclusive use of 
that property for all time to come, under the constant and constitutional control of its great legis- 
lative and judicial head, the general conference of the ITnited States. The property itself was 
vested in trustees; its uses in the members and ministc-rs; while the mode and administration of 
those uses, by force of the constitution itself and under restrictions, resided permanently in the 
conference. To guard against the secession of local congregations, neither the terms nor spirit 
of the deed recognized any peculiar local society as the special usufructuary of the property, but 
they equally embraced all the members and ministers of the whole church in one common trust. 
To specify more distinctly, and to anticipate and prevent difficulty and doubt, it requires and repeats 
that the trustees, the beneficiaries and the supervisor of the trust, must all belong to the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church; so that membership in that church, and subjection to the jurisdiction of its 
constitutional head, are the unerring and unfailing evidences of a legal interest in the deed." 

After an exhaustive examination of the action of the general conference and of its powers, he 
says: "It was made the great supervising council of the church to watch over, protect and extend 
its interests and its influence throughout all the wide territories of the republic. It was the 
grand central luminary, radiating its beams into the farthest and darkest recesses, cheering and 
strengthening with its light and warmth every conference and station, society and heart, within 
the wide circle of American Methodism, attracting and holding all the vast interests and depen- 
dencies of the church revolving around it in one entire and harmonious system of order, frater- 
nity and union. That was its great and peculiar province, to preserve the Union of the church." 

After showing that the church south was a new church, he says: "A party belonging to a new 
church, although organized as the old one was at the date of the conveyance, can have no right 
to the property. And the reason is most obvious. A church as the owner of property is, in the 
eye of the law, and in fact, individual : a thing artificial, specific, and capable of being identified 
from all the other churches of the earth. If it were not so, there could be no validity or force in 
conveyances to churches, for there would be no assurance, in the beautiful language of Chief 
Justice Marshall, 'that the charity would flow forever in the channel which the givers had marked 
out for it,' and they would no longer be made, because, as he remarks, 'one great inducement to 
these gifts is the conviction felt by the giver, that the disposition he makes of them is immuta- 
ble.' They cannot be immutable, unless the objects of them are capable of being defined and 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 1 93 

identified throughout all time. No substitution will answer; it must he 'the old church as 
organized at the date of the conveyance, and still subsisting.' It is with churches as it is with 
men. He to whom property is conveyed is the sole owner, and no similarity or correspondence 
of lineage, mind, form or feature, in the person of another, can affect his title. The conveyance 
assures it to the one identified individual. So with the church." 

Again, "Thus the church, its government and its jurisdiction, are coexistent, coequal and 
identical. Without the jurisdiction, there is no government ; without the government, there is 
no Methodist Episcopal church. The terms are dependent and reciprocal ; the one implies the 
other. Anything, therefore, without the jurisdiction, does not belong to the government, and is 
not within the church. So it is in our civil government. Congress is the legislative head of the 
federal government ; Kentucky is a part of the Union, and therefore within the jurisdiction of 
congress. Then the Union, the government represented by congress, and its jurisdiction, are 
coexistent. But can Kentucky withdraw herself from that jurisdiction, and continue to be a part 
of that Union? The act of withdrawal would be secession, and secession is disunion. Kentucky 
would thereby erect herself into an independent state, and would cease forever to be within that 
glorious circle of freedom. So it is with the annual conferences of the slaveholding states ; they 
seceded, and by the resolutions of the Louisville convention declared their independence, dis- 
solved entirely their connection with the Methodist Episcopal church, erected themselves into a 
distinct organization and styled the new creation the Methodist Episcopal Church South. What 
was this but a new church?" 

***** -H: ***** * 

" Yet the old church, the church of Coke and of Asbury, the Missionary church, in all the 
purity and strength of its original integrity, with all its sweet and glorious memories clustering 
close and thick around it, still survived. Who is there so bold as to say, that the old church, des- 
ignated in the deed, does not exist? How has it been destroyed? Did the secession of the Primi- 
tive, the Protestant, the African, or the Scottite, or the Southern Methodists destroy it? As well 
might you say that the excision of a single branch destroys the tree. So long as the root and 
the trunk remain, and the circulating juices flow in their original organization, so long as the tree 
is identical and lives, you may cut off any of its branches, however sound, you may plant and 
grow those branches into trees; yet the parent tree retains its life and its individuality. 

A moral earthquake, it is said, has sundered the southern conferences from the Methodist 
Episcopal church. Suppose a natural earthquake had engulfed the whole territory and popula- 
tion of the southern states: will it be seriously contended that the Methodist Episcopal church 
would thereby have been destroyed? Suppose a malignant pestilence had swept from the earth 
every member of the southern conferences, would the church have perished? Would it have lost 
a single element of its life or identity? The proposition is preposterous, and yet no stretch of 
ingenuity can discriminate in principle, between the actual effects produced by the natural and 
the moral calamity upon the existence of the church. 

****-******** 

How shall I speak of the last refuge of the defense, the plea of necessity? I cannot argue it 
as a legal proposition, for it is the doctrine of revolution and violence. Necessity it is said, knows 
no law; for when the strong hand prevails, the barriers of the law are broken and fall before it; and 
deeds and constitutions are but idle words. But I will nevertheless look into the fact, and ask 
what was the necessity ? 

A church, planted in the wilderness, twine'd itself as a vine around the sturdy trunk of repub- 
lican institutions. The same heaven that smiled upon the vigorous development of the one, shed 
the refreshing dews of its grace upon the other. And the storm which burst in portentous power, 
and well nigh bowed to the earth the young tree of liberty, spent its rude breath upon the vine, 
but served only to invigorate them both; and the tendrils were twined still more firmly around 
the trunk. And when the storm had passed by, the tree and vine grew in the genial light of a 
glorious liberty, and spreading out their generous branches together, mingled their foliage and 



194 CXITED STATES BrOGRAPHJCAL DICTIONARY. 

their shadows over a virgin land. Blessed emblem of affinity, brotherhood and peace ! That 
church, in its infancy so beautifully adapted to our political state, so free and unencumbered by 
any law of establishment, yielding only to the impulses and the law of love, expanded with the 
expanding territories of the republic. Held together by a great federative head, its grand system 
of ministerial and missionary circulation carried its faith and the simple forms of its worship into 
every hamlet upon the plain, into every hovel upon the mountains. Allied by no law, yet assim- 
ilating in form to the civil government, it became a grand confederacy; and like the republic in 
which it so flourished, the source of its power, its glory and its strength, was its union. Our polit- 
ical union, thank heaven, still endures; and our republic, though threatened by many dangers, 
still lives. Admidst all the selfish strife of politicians, and the jar of conflicting interests, personal, 
political, social and sectional; amidst all the violence of partisan warfare, and the bitterness of 
political rivalry; no necessity has yet demanded its dissolution. It has covered our country with 
benefits and blessings, and every patriot heart prays for its perpetuity. The peculiar institution 
of the South, although guarded by the guarantees of the federal constitution, has yet been the 
subject of free discussion throughout the states, in assemblages of the people, and in the congress 
of the United States. It still agitates the nation, and has arranged our politicians into sectional 
lines; and yet there is no necessity for a dissolution of the union. Not so it seems, however, 
with the church. Southern members and ministers have become upon this subject so sensitive, so 
excited and so hostile, that although brothers in the bonds of an immortal love, and pledged- in 
the tenderest and closest covenants of fellowship, they can no longer meet around the same altar, 
and worship within the same walls the God of peace. And now, the most startling augury of the 
times is the fearful fact that the church of God, whose sign and system was union, is suddenly 
severed into fragments by a ' moral convulsion.' And when the inquiry is made as to the cause of 
such a calamity, we are pointed to a social and political institution which was a subject of dis- 
cussion in the first conference ever convened in the United States, and which has assumed no new 
form, but which is the same in its influences, and in its relations to the church and the state. 
From this, it is said, springs the uncontrollable necessity. Now, can this thing be ? Was there in 
reality the necessity pretended ? If there is no necessity in the state, arising from the institution 
of slaver)', how could there be in the church ? If no such necessity in other Christian churches, 
why in the Methodist church ? That church had discountenanced slavery in former years more 
than any other church, and its action in 1S44 was far more moderate and conciliatory than it had 
been in times past. Where then was the necessity? If citizens of the republic, who are not mem- 
bers of the church, but some some of whom are abolitionists and some slave-holders, the repre- 
sentatives of extreme opinions, can yet dwell together in harmony as a united people; how comes 
it that professing Christians, men of charity, peace and love, men whose church has always in the 
very language of its discipline, taught and enjoined them to discountenance slavery in every 
legitimate manner, can become so heated and hostile, as to demand a dissolution of their once 
happy, peaceful and glorious church ? Be assured this spirit came not from heaven; it was born 
of earth, and reeks with the carnal appetites and passions of men. Ambition reared her Gorgon 
head in the church, and turned the hearts of its ministers to stone. Aspiring preachers of the 
South could not hold slaves and become bishops; they stumbled over that stumbling stone; and 
to achieve the object of their aspirations, they rent the church, in the language of their eloquent 
leader, 'by the throes of an earthquake.' 

My client, and the humble members whose rights he asserts, have been drawn into this con- 
troversy most unwillingly. They have prosecuted it with no unbecoming spirit of litigation. 
Standing upon the line of strife traced in the resolutions of the general conference, they felt their 
position to be perilous; they knew their responsibilities to be heavy. They would have been 
recreant to every conviction of duty had they faltered before the storm of denunciation, or fled 
before the terrors of persecution. They loved the old- Methodist church, the church of their early 
adoption, and clung to it, as the true church, with steadfast and enduring devotion. To with- 
draw from its guardianship, and desert its fellowship, was repulsive to every sentiment of their 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 1 95 

hearts. The traveler, who has traversed the oceans and wandered over tlie far regions of the 
earth, when he' wearies of his wanderings, turns a wistful eye to the land (jf his birth; and when 
gray hairs come upon him, and the tide of life begins to ebb, longs to revisit the sweet home of 
his youth, and to breathe out his last sigh upon the very spot where the first breath of his infancy 
was drawn. The members of the old church are moved by the same touching sentiment of rev- 
erence and love. Within that church their spiritual lives may be said to have commenced. They 
have journeyed on through life, and in the midst of its conflicts and its calamities have drawn 
from the bosom of that church the consolations of an immortal hope. In their age, as time 
presses his heavy hand upon them, they cling more closely around it, and feel more powerfully 
the last strong instinct of the heart, to seek its last repose within the home of its spiritual nativ- 
ity. To part with it now in life is impossible. To adhere to it, in the midst of danger, and dis- 
cord, and disaster, was an irresistible impulse; to defend it and its rights, a sacred duty." 

In 1845-6-7 Mr. Waller was a member of the Kentucky legislature, having been elected by 
tiie old whig party, and was a personal friend of Henry Clay and John J. Crittenden. His ability 
and eloquence as a speaker, as well as his high character as a man, gave him an enviable position 
in his party, and a bright political future seemed to await him. But this brief service in the 
legislature gave him a great distaste for politics. His religious training and extreme conscien- 
tiousness unsuited him for partisan strife and political intrigue. He, therefore, when his second 
term of office expired, refused a reelection, and would never afterward allow his name to be used 
in connection with any political office. He was active and prominent in various public enter- 
prises, and from 1851 to 1854 he was president of the Maysville and Lexington railroad, now 
connected with the Kentucky Central railroad, which is an important branch of the New Orleans, 
Texas and Pacific railroad. 

In 1853, being attracted by the rapid development of the Northwest, and the prospect of its 
commercial metropolis becoming a great city, he visited Chicago and made some investments in 
real estate. His title to one piece he had purchased becoming involved in litigation through the 
loss of a deed, and the forgery of another, and being thereby compelled to spend much of his 
time here, he entered in 1855 upon the practice of his profession in this city, and established the 
firm of Waller, Caulfield and Bradley. By the retirement of Mr. Bradley, it became Waller and 
Caulfield, which continued until 1863. 

In October, i860, Mr. Waller, still retaining property in Kentucky, and not yet having moved 
his family to Chicago, foresaw the approaching strife between the North and South, and being 
unwilling to own property on both sides of the Ohio river, sold his Kentucky property, and 
located permanently in Chicago with his family. 

In 1864 the firm of Waller, Stearns and Copeland was formed, Mr. Copeland shortly retired, 
and Waller and .Stearns remained together until 1867, when the tragic death of Mr. Stearns left 
Mr. Waller to continue the practice alone. 

In 1869, being in delicate health, and believing he had accumulated an ample support, he 
retired from the practice of his profession to recover his health, and to spend, as he hoped, his 
remaining years in the enjoyment of a well earned repose. The great financial crisis of 1873, 
however, brought to him severe losses, which necessitated the resumption of labor. Not wishing, 
at his advanced age, to undertake again to build up a practice, he accepted, in July, 1876, an 
appointment as master in chancery of the circuit court of Cook county, an office which he con- 
tinues to hold. His reports as master in chancery have been marked by great ability, and show 
him to be possessed of a judicial mind of unusually high order. His reports in such cases as 
Ligare vs. Peacock, Jenkins vs. Greenebaum et a/., and Mills, for the Town of Lake, vs. Condit, 
being rarely equaled in the records of courts. Among the few men who, having passed the age 
of three score years and ten, continue to perform daily an undiminished amount of severe intel- 
lectual labor, he stands conspicuous. 

In person, Mr. Waller is under medium size, erect in figure, wiry and active. His step, at his 
advanced age, is rapid and elastic. He has a kindly expression, a mild blue eye, a warm, cordial 



196 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

greeting. He is a cultivated gentleman of the old school, courteous, modest, unpretentious and 
unassuming. He has a deeply religious nature, inherited from both his parents, a number of his 
paternal and maternal relatives having been ministers of the gospel. His mother, whose maiden 
name was Breckenridge, was a cousin of Rev. Robert J. Breckenridge, D.D., Rev. John Breck- 
enridge, D.D., and Rev. William L. Breckenridge, D.D., distinguished Presbyterian divines. 
She was a thoroughly devout and conscientious woman, and was conspicuous for her firm will, 
tender affection, and steadfast devotit>n to what she believed to be right. Mr. Waller has for 
forty-eight years been a consistent member of the Presbyterian church, holding his membership 
now in the third church of this city. He has been an extensive reader, and largely upon religious 
subjects. The researches of the scientist, and the reasoning of the rationalist, have been unavail- 
ing to shake his deep-rooted faith in the inspiration of the divine word. 

May 3, 1857, Mr. Waller married Miss Sarah B. Langhorne, of Maysville, Kentucky, a de- 
scendant of the old Virginia family of that name. Ten children, six sons and four daughters, 
were the fruit of that union. The oldest, William S. Waller, died at the Grand Pacific Hotel, 
September i, 1874, at the age of thirty-six years; the second, Rev. Maurice Waller, is a Presbyte- 
rian minister, in charge of a church at Manchester, Ohio; Henry Waller, Jr., and Edward C. 
Waller, are prominent real estate men in this city; Doctor John D. Waller, the fifth son, is a phy- 
sician, assistant surgeon of the Central Hospital for the Insane, Jacksonville, Illinois. The young- 
est son, James B. Waller, is connected with a manufacturing establishment in Chicago. 



THOMAS WILLITS, M.I). 

NEW BOSTON. 

ONE of the venerable landmarks of Mercer county is the gentleman whose name we have 
placed at the head of this sketch, and who has been a resident of western Illinois since 
1837. He was born near Circleville, Pickaway county, Ohio, December 6, 1805, being a son of 
James and Amy (Allison) Willits, members of the farming community. Both parents were natives 
of Pennsylvania. His father was in the second war with the mother country. 

Thomas had such mental training in youth as the common schools of the day could furnish; 
studied medicine at Cincinnati, and at twenty years of age commenced practice at Montezuma, 
Park county, Indiana, where he remained three or four j'ears. He was afterward in partnership 
with Doctor Pennington, at Milton, Wayne county, same state, where he resided until 1837, when 
he came into western Illinois, and located at first in that part of Warren county which is now 
Henderson county — its extreme northern border. In 1840 he settled permanently at New Bos- 
ton. During the first ten years of Doctor Willits' residence in this part of the county he had 
many very hard rides, often extending thirty and sometimes forty miles from home. Many a time 
it took him two days to visit a single patient. There are still a few old families, whose physician 
he has been for forty years or more, who will call no other doctor, but he rarely goes far from 
*home, except in cases of consultation. 

The doctor is well preserved, clear-headed, and very active for a man who is so near his four- 
score years. He is very cordial in his disposition, communicative, and an interesting talker, abound- 
ing in reminiscences of the olden times. He has taken considerable interest in the cause of edu- 
cation, and was for many years a school director. He was chosen a member of the legislature in 
1850, and voted for the chartering of the Illinois Central railroad. During the term which he 
served he attended a regular and an extra session. He has always voted the democratic ticket. 
The historians of Mercer county state that he voted for John Quincy Adams when that statesman 
was elected, but that was in 1824, when our subject was only nineteen years old. 

While in practice at Montezuma, about 1828, Doctor Willits was married to Mrs. Catherine 
Dieby, a native of Circleville, Ohio, and she died in November, 1879. She was the mother of five 
children, one of them dying in infancy, and another (Viola) dying soon after she had married 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA I'HICAL DICTIONARY. iqy 

R. S. Scudder. Leroy, the onh- son, is a farmer near New Boston; Celeste is the wife of William 
Anderson, of Chicago, and Kate is the widow of the late Thomas McCurdy, her home also being 
in Chicago. 

A resident of New Boston for nearly forty-three years, Doctor Willits is known all over Mer- 
cer county and a considerable part of Henderson, and is very much respected, not only for his 
age and medical skill, hut for the upright tenor of his life and his good neighborly qualities. 



WILLIAM LONGHURST. 

C//ICAGO. 

WILLIAM LONGHl^RST, architect, was born at Warehorne, county of Kent, England, 
January 26, 1S22, his father being William Longhurst, Sr., a gardener, and brother of John 
Longhurst, who, fifty years ago, was a prominent organist in London. The mother of our subject 
was Susanna (Copins) Longhurst. The family emigrated to this country in 1828, halting at first 
at Lyons, New York, and two or three years later settling in Geneva, where William was edu- 
cated in the public schools. Afterward he spent five years at Tonawanda, New York, in the 
employ of Stephen White, president of the East Boston Timber Company, at the end of which 
period he went to Wisconsin, made a purchase of land, and then returned to (ieneva, and learned 
the trade of carpenter and studied architecture with C. N. Otis, who, later in life, became a prom- 
inent architect in Buffalo, New York. To that city Mr. Longhurst repaired when he had learned 
his trade, and there lived nine years, going into business for himself, putting up numerous fine 
residences, two bank buildings, etc. 

In 1856 Mr. Longhurst removed to Dubuque, Iowa, where he was architect and builder, put- 
ting up two public school-houses, a large hotel, and several blocks of mercantile houses. He 
settled in Chicago in 1865, and since that date has devoted himself exclusively to architecture, 
and has done a good business, erecting a large number of costly dwelling houses, stately brick 
and marble blocks, etc. Mr. Longhurst has made his profession his exclusive and careful study, 
and his standing in it has long been highly creditable. The writer of this sketch has known him 
for more than a quarter of a century, and can vouch for his reliability, his faithfulness, and his 
skill in everything he undertakes to do. 

Mr. Longhurst married, in 1845, Miss Marcia Cleveland, who died in 1871, leaving three chil- 
dren: Frederick E., the eldest, agent for the Pacific Railroad Express and Black Hills Stage 
Company, at Cheyenne; Jennie C, married to Charles Lines, Chicago; and Stella, who is with 
her father. The oldest child of all, Willie, a bright 3-outh, was drowned in the Mississippi river, 
while bathing, in i860. His loss was a sad blow to his parents. 



WILLIAM GAYLE. 

A'EITI/SBCr/^G/I. 

THE subject of this biographical notice has been a resident of Keithsburgh since 1845, and is 
one of its foremost business men. He dates his birth at Frankfort, Kentucky, August 19. 
1819, his parents being George and Sophronia (Bohannon) Gayle, both natives of Virginia. Sev- 
eral members of the Gayle family were in the bloody struggle for independence. George Gayle 
was an educator, and had the mental disciplining of his son until the latter was sixteen years old, 
the list of text books including the Latin and French languages. At the age just mentioned, 
William went into a store at Louisville, Kentucky, and since that period he has found that life is 
real, — real as it regards an opportunity to work. 

In 1845 he came to Keithsburgh, formed a partnership with James A. Noble, and for five 
years the firm of Noble and Gayle was engaged in merchandising, pork packing, shipping, etc. 



igg CNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DTCTIONARY. 

From 1850 to 1857 Mr. Gayle was alone in business, and did well till the early autumn of the lat- 
ter year, when the great financial water-spout struck him, and with ten thousand other merchants, 
he went under. Subsequently he held clerkships in Saint Louis ai,d Keithsburgh, and in 1871 
resumed business in the latter place, where fortune once more smiled upon him. He is furnishing 
coal to steamboats, and dealing in grain, flour, lime, hair and cement, and is doing a bu -in :ss of 
$150,000 to $200,000 a year. 

Mr. Gayle is a hard-working, energetic man, and is being handsomely rewarded for the phys- 
ical strength and time he is devoting to his calling. He is a man of thorough uprightness of 
character, of true business principles, a member of the Methodist church since 187 i, and president 
of its board of trustees. He is a democrat in politics, a Knight Templar in the Masonic order, 
an Odd-Fellow, and has held a few offices in the subordinate lodge and chapter in Masonry, but 
none in politics. 

Mr. Gayle was married at Keithsburgh, in 1851, to Miss Margaret A. Ungles, a native of 
Indianapolis, Indiana, and they have had ten children, burying six of them, three sons and three 
daughters. The surviving are Jane, widow of George K. Beard ; Mary, wife of Boyd Epperly, 
dentist, Keithsburgh, and Katie U. and Susie M., who are at home, pursuing their studies. 



PROFESSOR ALLEN A. GRIFFITH, A.M. 

CHICAGO. 

ALLEN AYRAULT GRIFFITH, one of the most eminent elocutionists in the United States, 
^ is a son of Luther Newcomb Griffith, and Emily (Ayrault) Griffith, and commenced making 
faces in broad daylight, June 13, 1831, at Pike, Wyoming county, New York. In his infancy the 
family immigrated as far west as Elyria, Lorain county, Ohio, where he lived until sixteen years 
of age, finishing his schoor education at Mill's Academy in that town. In his youth he gave no 
promise of long life, being quite weak and sickly until he had reached the middle of his teens. 
His lungs were supposed to be affected, and his speedy death was predicted. Yet, strange to say, 
for the last quarter of a century or more, he has built up his reputation largely in lung power, his 
vocal organs being, so to speak, the capital with which he has made his success in life. 

The pivotal point in his career was reached in 1847, when Professor Kennedy, a brilliant Irish 
elocutionist, visited Elyria and gave the students in Mill's lessons in breathing and utterance of 
the vowels, with inflections and circumflex, and readings. Our subject now found that he had 
more and sounder lungs than his friends had credited him with. In addition to class exercises 
in elocution, he took private lessons of Professor Kennedy, and the inspiring words which that 
eminent elocutionist gave him, as it regarded the improvement of his health, the compass of his 
voice, etc., greatly encouraged him. Not long afterward he visited James E. Murdoch, and 
received from him valuable suggestions in reference to a course of study and practice, which Mr. 
Griffith carried out with the utmost care and faithfulness. 

At twenty years of age he found that he must rely upon himself for a fortune, if he ever pos- 
sessed one, and he pushed on farther westward, believing that in this direction were the broadest 
and most promising openings. He went to Wisconsin, and was the principal of union schools at 
Milwaukee and Waukesha for a period of six years, studying law at the same time, and being 
admitted to the bar at Milwaukee in 1855. During this period Mr. Griffith had kept up his elo- 
cutionary readings and studies, for which he had a passion, and occasionally appearing in public. 
His performances attracted a good deal of attention. 

In 1857, by invitation of teachers' associations in Wisconsin and Iowa, he visited institutes in 
these states, and presented his methods of teaching elocution. It was on one of these occasions 
that the writer of this sketch first met Professor Griffith, and became charmed with his well 
trained voice, and splendid oratorical powers. His public recitations were everywhere received 
with hearty appreciation and warm applause. In 1858, by invitation, he joined the distinguished 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 201 

teacher of elocution, C. P. Bronson, in a series of entertainments, and our subject was now fairly 
before the public as a reader, and took his position in the front rank as an elocutionist and 
lecturer. 

In 1869, at the suggestion of Principal Mayhew, of the Michigan State Normal School, at 
Ypsilanti, our subject was appointed to the chair of English literature and elocution in that insti- 
tution, and held that position for three years. When principal, Mayhew resigned to become the 
cliemist of the silver smelting works at Wyandott, Michigan. Professor Griffith accepted a con- 
fidential clerkship under the late E. B. Ward, of Detroit, and in that situation made a great 
amount of money for his employer and himself, developing rare executive abilities, as well as the 
power to combine men in large union operations. 

For three years he was president of the Northern Illinois College, at Fulton City, and brought 
that school up to a highly respectable grade among the literary institutions of the state. 

At its commencement in 1866 the University of Chicago conferred upon Professor Gritfith the 
honorary degree of master of arts, for his services to the cause of learning, and in 1880 he again 
became a member of its faculty, and is filling the chair of elocution and oratory with distin- 
guished ability. He is a very devoted student in his line of studies. The great benefit which he 
himself has received from the practice of elocution makes him enthusiastic as a teacher, and he 
has the happy gift of infusing his own spirit into that of his pupils, hence their progress under 
his training is truly remarkable. Scores of testimonials like the following could be furnished, 
touching his success as a teacher, but these may suffice: 

Georgetown College, D. C, May g, 1S67. 
Ali.en a. Grh'fith, A.m., Professor of Elocution: 

Dear Sir, — The admirable manner in which you have explained your principles and practice of elocution merits our 
congratulations. All agree that your lessons were a decided success. Having been present myself at all the lectures 
before the students, and also participated in the special practice before the fathers and scholastics, I most heartily con- 
cur in all their commendations. I must add, too, that the proficiency of the students has exceeded my expectations. 
I hope that your success will be as great elsewhere as it has been here. It is a pleasure, as I deem it a duty, to recom- 
mend you warmly to all who wish to obtain the elegant and necessary, but too often neglected, accomplishment. 
Trusting that we shall meet again, I remain, very respectfully yours, J.vmes A. W.\rd, 

Prefect of Schools and Professor of Rhetoric. 

" Professor Griffith is engaged in giving drill e.xercisesto about two hundred of the college and 
preparatory students. As an instructor, he obeys the divine injunction, to do with all his might 
whatever his hands find to do, and he is producing a revolution in the opinion among educated 
men in this country in regard to this object. Professor Griffith assumes that all may improve in 
manner of delivery of speech, by practice, as they may improve in rhetoric, mathematics and lan- 
guages, and no student ought to be satisfied with present attainment in elocution and oratory 
any more than they are contented with their present knowledge in any other department of edu- 
cation. All the students taking lessons of him are encouraged, and we say, unhesitatingly, that 
so far as our experience extends, the professor is at the head of his profession. The universal 
opinion of college men who know him has accorded him the place as an instructor and lecturer 
upon elocution and oratory which Guyot and Agassiz occupy in geography and history and the 
natural sciences." — Oherlin Nnvs, August, iS6j. 

One of the great gifts of Professor Griffith is the number of facial expressions which he is 
capable of giving, at least eighteen or twenty in all, which are very striking. He can look like 
the judge, the lover, the meddler, the tippler, the scientist, the drunkard, the booby, etc.; like the 
(jerman, the Frenchman, the Irishman, and other nationalities, and in short can make up a face 
strikingly resembliiig almost every conceivable character. His remarkable mobility of features 
enables him to display a gallery of portraits truly marvelous, showing what cultivation of expres- 
sion can do to the human face divine. 

Some journalists have given it as their opinion that in facial expressions Professor Griffith 
outdoes the comic actor Garrick. Certainly he is a skillful artist in that line. Faces are a good 
subject for study, for they are neither more nor less than the title page of the thoughts within. Pro- 
21 



202 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICA I. DICTIONARY. 

fessor Griffith has a dignified and commanding appearance; is perfectly self-possessed, and easy 
and graceful in his manners, and these qualities, coupled with a full, round voice of wonderful 
flexibility, entitle him to the appellation of the model elocutionist. 

Some of the best readers and lecturers in the country owe their success in no stinted measure 
to tlie training of our subject, notably Professor Burbank, Hon. George R. Wendling and Miss 
Frances A. Willard. The oratorical exercises at the anniversaries of the University of Chicago 
show what thorough drill can do for a graduating class. 

Professor Griffith is the author or compiler of several works, which have had a cordial wel- 
come at the hands of the press and the public. One of his latest is entitled, " Class Book of 
Oratory and Elocution," which is divided into three parts, drill exercises, selections and an appen- 
dix and is an admirable work of the kind. "Lessons in Elocution," an earlier work of his, was 
highly commended by the teachers in normal schools, colleges, etc., and had, as it deserved to 
have, a large sale. 

Professor Griffith is a man of positive views on almost every subject. In politics he is an out 
and out republican, and took the stump for Lincoln, Grant, Hayes and Garfield. He was an 
intimate friend of General Garfield, and years ago attended teachers' institutes with him in 
northern Ohio. In political campaigns they sometimes met and spoke from the same rostrum. 

Professor Griffith was married at Milwaukee in 1854 to Miss Jane Amelia Stoddard, and they 
have three children, Allen A., Jr., Jennie Estella and Arthur Colburn, all students in the uni- 
versity, and making rapid progress in their studies. 

Their father takes a deep interest in the college and in his associates in the faculty, as well as 
in the mental discipline of his own children, and he has recently made a large amiuint of nuniey 
by organizing electric light companies. 



AUAMS A. GOODRICH. 

JERSEVVILLE. 

ADAMS AUGUSTUS GOODRICH, lawyer and state's attorney for the county ot Jersey, is a 
L. son of Henry O. and Jane A. (Knapp) Goodrich, and belongs to an old professional family 
which settled originally in Connecticut, and of which S. G. Goodrich, better known as Peter Par- 
ley, is a member. It has long been a prominent family in New England, and in some of the 
middle states. Clark H. Goodrich, the grandfather of Adams, was an attorney-at-law in New 
York; came to this state in 1839, and settled in Jersey county, dying at Jerseyville in 1868. Henry 
O. Goodrich was in the milling business in Jersey county for many years, and is still living. We 
learn from the atlas of Jersey county, published in 1872, that he was sutler of the 6ist regiment of 
Illinois infantry in 1862 and 1865; that he was twice elected mayor of Jerseyville, and was one of 
its first trustees when the city was incorporated; that he was one of the foremost men in organ- 
izing the Jersey county Agricultural Society, and was its president in 1871 and 1872; and that by 
his liberality and integrity in his dealings he won the approbation of his fellow citizens of the 
county. 

His wife is a sister of the late Hon. A. L. Knapp, of Springfield, and Hon. Robert M. Knapp, 
of Jerseyville, both in their day members of congress, and prominent lawyers. The Knapps were 
early settlers in Connecticut. 

Our subject was born in Jerseyville, January 8, 1849; was educated in the graded schools of 
his native place, and at the military academy at West Point, which he was obliged to leave in the 
fourth year on account of impaired health. He spent nearly two years in Colorado and Califor- 
nia, and returned with his health completely restored; read law at Jerseyville and Springfield with 
his maternal uncles already mentioned; was admitted to the bar, January, 1873, and has practiced 
in Jerseyville since that date. He has a good reputation as a lawyer, and manages his case with 
a great deal of care and with decided ability. This is true of criminal as well as civil causes. He 
is studious as well as painstaking, and is a young man of much promise. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 203 

Mr. Goodrich held the office of city attorney three terms, and was elected state's attorney in 
1878, an office which he still holds, and the duties of which he is discharging with great satisfac- 
tion to the public. Mr. Goodrich is a democrat in politics, a Blue Lodge Mason, an Odd-Fellow, 
and a Knight of Pythias, and has been through the last two orders, holding all the offices in the 
local lodges. 

When Mr. Goodrich left West Point, in 1867, he was a weak, consumptive-looking young man, 
with a poor prospect seemingly of ever being a member of the bar of Jersey county. He is now 
a fine sample of robustness; and although only five feet and seven inches tall, is compactly built, 
and weighs one hundred and si.xty-five pounds. He bids fair to live many years, and to rise to 
distinction in his profession. He has the best of Puritan blood in his veins, on both sides, but it 
is safe to say that he depends upon no family tree for his own elevation. He will rise, if at all, 
through his own inherent energies and fine talents and attainments. 



EDWARD G. MINER. 

WINCHESTER. 

EDWARD GRIFFITH MINER, banker, and an early settler in Winchester, is a son of 
William and Prudence (Potter) Miner, and was born in Bridport, Vermont, January 21, 
1809. His grandfather, Clement Miner, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the continental 
army Jidy 3, 1776, the day before independence was declared by the colonies. Our subject has 
the original commission issued to Clement Miner, and signed by Governor Trumbull. Prudence 
Potter was a native of Connecticut. 

The father of Edward was a sailor in his younger years, sailing to the West Indies, and after- 
ward became a farmer, and died at Bridport when our subject was about four years old. Edward 
was the youngest of six children, and was early thrown upon his own resources for support. When 
only thirteen years of age he went to Middlebury, in his native state, and worked a few months 
at the blacksmith trade, John Deere, now of Moline, working at the same time in another black- 
smith shop in the same place. Young Miner was not large enough and strong enough to be of 
much service at a trade requiring a good development of muscle, and he left Middlebury. At 
sixteen years of age he went into a woolen factory at Milton, Vermont, and learned the trade (.)f 
wool carding and cloth dressing, following it for four years. 

Up to this time he had had only a little schooling, and feeling his deficiency in education, and 
having a little money, he attended an academy at Jericho, and subsequently taught school two 
winters, and acted as salesman in a dry goods store in the summer. In the autumn of 1832, Mr. 
Miner had the offer of a free conveyance to Illinois, if he would drive one of the two teams which 
the man wished to bring with him. He accepted the offer, and they were a little over six weeks 
in reaching Greene county, which now joins Scott county on the south. At Winchester he had 
the offer of a clerkship in a store, which he accepted, and which lasted only one year. In 1834 
Mr. Miner commenced mercantile business for himself, and in the same year was married to Miss 
Sophronia Alden, of Ashfield, Massachusetts. She is a daughter of the late Rev. John Alden, a 
Baptist minister, and is a lineal descendant of John Alden, of the Mayflower. 

About 1847 Mr. Miner bought a farm adjoining the corporation of Winchester, and farmed 
until 1S57, when he started a small bank. Banking is still his business, he being of the firm 
of Miner, Frost and Hubbard, the only bankers in Winchester, which is the shire town of Scott 
county. 

Mr. Miner seems to have aimed to live a very quiet, unobtrusive life, and never but once was 
persuaded to accept a civil or political office. Not long before the demise of the whig party, he 
accepted a nomination for the legislature, by that party, and was elected. A single term of pub- 
lic life satisfied his ambition in that direction. In 1857 he was appointed by Governor Bissell 
trustee of the Illinois Insane Asylum, at Jacksonville, an office which he held for a period of 



204 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



twelve years, through the administratiuns of Governors Bissell, Yates and Oglesby. During the 
last four years he was president of the board of trustees, and in that capacity rendered to the 
state, without compensation, other than traveling expenses, most important and valuable service. 
It was in Winchester, by the way, that Abraham Lincoln made his first out-and-out free-soil 
speech, announcing doctrines which were woven into the first platform of the republican party. 

It was also in Winchester that Stephen A. Douglas taught his first school in this state, a tuition 
school, which Mr. Miner aided him in getting up. They did not agree in politics, but they were 
Vermonters, and sufficiently warm personal friends to sleep together during the winter that 
Douglas taught. Mr. Miner is a member of the Baptist Church, and served for years as one of its 
deacons. It is safe to say that no man in Winchester pays more liberally, or more cheerfully, 
toward the support of the gospel. 



HENRY GRADLP:. M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

HENRY Gradle, professor of phy.siology in the Chicago Medical College, is a native of Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main, and was born August 17, 1S55. His parents are Bernhard Gradle and 
Rosa (Schottenfels) Gradle, who left the old country in 1864, and came to Chicago, where Henry 
received a good English and classical education in a private school. Here he also studied medi- 
cine, for which he early had a fondness, and was graduated at the Chicago Medical College in 
1S74. Intending to take the eye and ear for his specialty in medical and surgical science, he went 
to Europe and spent three years in study at Vienna, Heidelberg, Leipsic, and Paris, returning to 
Chicago in 1877. He met with good success in his profession, and has occupied the chair of 
physiology, already mentioned, since 1879. 

Doctor J. S Jewell: "As a scholar Doctor Gradle stands well, especially in medicine, as well 
as the collateral sciences. He is especially learned in biology. His information is extensive and 
accurate. In disposition he is cautious and critical, and possesses the scientific spirit above the 
average of scientific men. He has especial taste and aptitude in the department of experimental 
physiology. As a lecturer he is clear, consecutive and interesting, and bids fair to arrive at a 
comparatively early period in life at unusual eminence in his profession. 

Doctor Gradle has written a few articles for the ' American Journal of Medical Science," and 
still more for the "American Journal of Nervous Diseases," and has contributed a few articles to 
other periodicals. 

Doctor Gradle married August, 1881, Miss Fanny Searls, of Waukegan, Illinois. 



AUGUSTUS REISE. 

ATLANTA. 
AUGUSTUS REISE, one of the thrifty farmers of Logan county, was born in Saxe-Weimar, 
t\ Germany, November 25, 1821, being a son of Augustus Reise, Sr., who in the old country 
was a farmer and grain dealer. Augustus attended school from six to fourteen years of age, then 
learned the brewing business, but never followed it. In 1844 the family came to the United 
States, and went to Saint Louis, Missouri. Our subject was the oldest child, and the family have 
been unfortunate, each member having to look out for himself. Augustus went into the country 
eight miles from Saint Louis, and chopped wood at fifty cents a cord. Soon afterward he went 
to Belleville, Illinois, and worked in a distillery, commencing at $12 per month, and soon having 
his wages nearly doubled. Being desirous of acquiring a good knowledge of the English lan- 
guage; and having no such an opportunity at Belleville, at the end of two years Mr. Reise went 
to Peoria, where he worked in a distillery for five years, commencing on a salary of $37 a month, 
and ending with ;5;ioo. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. 205 

At the end of that period he came to Logan county, and bought a small distillery; accumu- 
lated a little money, purchased a farm in 1853, began to stock it, and in 1857 went into farming 
himself east of Atlanta, and was quite successful. In 1867 Mr Reise sold his farm of 200 acres 
east of Atlanta for $14,000, and purchased one of 300 acres, adjoining Atlanta on the west, for 
$15,000. He has since put at least $10,000 on it in improvements, having five or six miles of tile; 
a live fence on the outside of it, a good orchard, and everything around his premises in the finest 
order. He raises and feeds from sixty to 100 head of cattle annually, and about the same number 
of swine, and is known far and wide as an enterprising farmer. 

Mr. Reise was in the village council in 1859, a school director for some years, and a member of 
the Twenty-seventh General Assembly one term, being elected in 1870. He is a democrat, and 
had a majority of more than two hundred votes in a strong republican county. He has declined 
various offices which have been offered him. The family are Lutherans, but there is no church of 
that name at Atlanta. 

In 1847 Mr. Reise and Miss Elizabeth German, a native of Germany, were joined in wedlock, 
and she died August 29, 1881, leaving four children, three daughters and one son; one child had 
previously died. Two of the children are married. The son, Augustus J. Reise, is a prosperous 
farmer in Spink county, Dakota Territory. 



BENJAMIN R. BURROUGHS. 

EDWARDSVILLE. 

BENJAMIN RUDOLPH BURROUGHS, a prominent member of the Madison county bar, 
was born in Charles county, Maryland, May 20, 1849. Both parents, John A. Burroughs, 
and Eliza T. (Dent) Burroughs, were descended from two old Maryland families. The paternal and 
maternal grandfathers of Benjamin messed together in the revolutionary war. A British officer 
undertook at one time to bribe Captain Dent, but made a failure. The captain lived to be ninety- 
eight years old, and grandfather Burroughs to be ninety-two years. The father of Benjamin died 
in 1872, his mother in 1881. 

■ Our subject received a classical education at Charlotte Hall, Saint Mary's county, Maryland, a 
state institution, which bestowed upon him the degrees of bachelor of arts, and master of arts. 
He came to Edwardsville, Illinois, in August, 1867, having an uncle and older brother living 
near that place; and he taught a country school two winters in Madison county, Illinois. At that 
period of his life Mr. Burroughs had the legal profession in view, but deemed it best to make some 
money before he commenced his studies, so he dealt in hardware and agricultural implements, a 
few years, making a splendid success in that line of business, and accumulating a handsome 
property. 

He read law with Irwin and Krome, of Edwardsville; finished his studies at the Union 
College of Law, Chicago, being graduated in June, 1876, and immediately opened an office at Ed- 
wardsville. He has many friends in the county, and stepped at once into a good practice. It is 
doubtful if there is a lawyer in Madison county who has not been in law practice more than six or 
seven years, whose business is superior to that of Mr. Burroughs. He handles many important 
cases, and has a mind sufficiently capacious to manage with ability and adroitness any case which 
he touches. He is a forcible and persuasive speaker, and makes an excellent jury lawyer. His 
preparations are always well made, and he never subjects himself to the mortification of a blunder. 
He is a man of unblemished character, living strictly up to the standard of professional ethics, 
and his future seems to be full of promise. If he lives, his friends will be disappointed if he does 
not distinguish himself among the legal fraternity. 

Mr. Burroughs held the office of city attorney in 1877 and 1879, and is now a member of the 
local school board, the only offices, we believe, that he has held. He seems to care very little 
about honors in that direction. Evidently his ambition is to exce:l in his profession, and if he has 
his health he will not be likelv to make a failure. 



2o6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

His politics are democratic, and he was, not long ago, chairman of the executive committee of 
the county; yet he is by no means a bitter partisan, and in local matters will not support any 
candidate who has not a good record. He is a Freemason, and has been master of the local 
lodge. He was reared in the Episcopal church. 

January 26, 1873, Mr. Burroughs was united in marriage with Miss Mary Judy, daughter of 
Thomas Judy, of Edwardsville, and they have buried two sons, and have three daughters living. 



HON. GEORGE W. PLEASANTS. 

ROCK ISLAND. 

C"^EORGE WASHINGTON PLEASANTS, judge of the tenth judicial district, is a son of 
T Benjamin F. and Isabella (Adair) Pleasants, and was born in Harrodsburgh, Kentucky, 
November 24, 1823. The Pleasants family were from early settlers at Goochland near Richmond, 
Virginia. The maternal grandfather of our subject was General Adair, a native of North Caro- 
lina. He was in both wars with England ; a general in command under General Jackson at New 
Orleans ; a governor of Kentucky and represented that state in both houses of congress. 

Mr. Pleasants received a classical education at Williams College, Massachusetts, graduating in 
the class of 1842. He studied law with Horace Holden, of New York city ; was admitted to the 
bar at Rochester, New York, October 31, 1S45, and practiced at Williamstown, Massachusetts, 
until 1849. He was there married, January 29, 1850, to Sarah T., daughter of Solomon Buckley. 
In 1S51 he removed to Washington, District of Columbia, where he remained till the spring of 
1S53, when he settled in Rock Island. 

In November, 1861, Mr. Pleasants was elected for the district composed of Rock Island, Henry 
and Mercer counties, a member of the convention to revise and amend the constitution of the 
state. When practicing at the bar he had very few peers in this part of the state. He was mas- 
ter in chancery for several terms. In June, 1867, the subject of this sketch was elected judge of 
the sixth judicial district for the full term of six years, and by repeated reelections, still wears 
the ermine, his now being the tenth district. He is also one of the judges of the appellate court 
for the second district. He is a profound lawyer, and his decisions are very seldom reversed by a 
higher court. He is very courteous and pleasant with the legal brotherhood, and between him 
and the bar there is difficulty in getting up any friction. Judge Pleasants is a born gentleman. 

Judge Pleasants is a member of the Presbyterian church, and a man of sound moral as well 
as judicial character. The church cannot have too many of this class of lawyers. In the family 
are four children, two sons and two daughters. Adair, the eldest son, is an attorney-at-law, of 
the firm of Parks and Pleasants, Rock Island; Nannie, the elder daughter, is the wife of Samuel 
A. Lynde, Chicago, and Isabella Adair and George are at home. 



HON. JAMES M. RIGGS. 

WINCHESTER. 

JAMES MILTON RIGGS, lawyer, and member of congress from the twelfth district, is a 
native of the county (Scott) in which he lives, and was born five miles north of Winchester, 
the county seat, April 17, 1839, only a few days after the county was organized. His father was 
John Adams Riggs, who died when James was six years old, and his mother was Orpha (Camp- 
bell) Riggs, a native of Tennessee. The grandfather of James was Scott Riggs, a native of 
Stokes county. North Carolina, and a descendant of Edward Riggs, who settled in Roxbury, now 
Boston Highlands, Massachusetts, in 1633, when Boston itself was a small village, only three 
years old. 

Our subject was reared under the fostering care of a kind mother, and in his younger years 



UNITED STATES BIOG/iAPI/ICAL DICTIONARY. 207 

was engaged in farming. In 1862 he went to Eureka College, Woodford county, purposing to 
take a full classical course, but civil war was raging at the South, whither some of his relatives 
had gone to aid in putting down the rebellion, and at the end of a year he was obliged to leave 
school, and resumed farming. He taught a district school three winters. In the autumn of 1864 
he was elected sheriff of the county, and while filling that office he also studied law, and January 
1, 1868, was admitted to the bar. He evidently loves the profession of law, and is a studious, 
growing man. He has a large and choice library, of which he makes the best use, annotating 
many of the volumes, and he has the reputation of being one of the best read lawyers in central 
Illinois. His great strength consists in knowing what the law is, and in laying it before the 
court in a clear manner, great deference being paid to his opinions on such questions. Morally, 
as well as legally, his character stands high. 

Mr. Riggs was elected to the legislature in 1870, and served one term, representing Scott 
county. He was state's attorney from 1872 to 1876, and was elected to congress in November 
1882. The office of state's attorney he filled with decided abilit}', and with thorough acceptance 
to his constituents, and his friends predict for him an honorable record in the national halls of 
legislation. 

Mr. Riggs was married December 31, 1868, to Lillie, daughter of Doctor Lucian Berry, then 
of Winchester, now of Nevada, Missouri. They have two daughters and five sons living, and one 
daughter deceased. He is a man of most excellent habits, and a much respected and valuable 
citizen. Since 1868 he has been a member of the local board of education, and has been very 
active in his efforts to raise the standard of education in Winchester. Such a class of men can- 
not be toil numerous in any community. 



GEORGE W. MARTIN. 

WINCHESTER. 

C^ EOKGE WASHINGTON MARTIN, sheriff of the county of Scott, is a native of West 
T Virginia, and was born in Ohii) county, now Marshall, July 22, 1827. His father, Samuel 
Martin, was born in Wheeling, same state, and was a son of Alexander Martin, who was from 
Ireland. Samuel Martin married Susan Sisson,'a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and they had 
nine children, of whom George was the eldest son. In March, 1834, the family came into this 
state and settled on Sweet's Prairie, six miles southeast of Winchester, which was then in Morgan 
county. The father died in 1845, and our subject had charge of the farm, having received mean- 
while only a limited district school training,. in all not to exceed one full year. He is a self- 
educated, and a well informed man. 

In 1847 Mr. Martin married Miss Angeline Conway, of Greene county, and the next year went 
to Dallas county, Texas, near Lancaster, and spent ten years in farming in that state. While 
there he buried (1855) his first wife, who was the mother of four children, only two of them, both 
daughters, now living. Eliza J. is the wife of Doctor Mark W. Wilcox, of Harvard, Nebraska, 
and Mary E. is a school teacher in Clay county, same state. Before leaving Texas Mr. Martin 
married Miss Rachel M. Harris, who lived only about ten months. In 1858 he thought he saw 
civil war approaching, and having buried two wives and one child in the Lone Star State, he 
deemed it best to bring the remainder of his family back to the North. He returned to the old 
homestead, then in the hands of a brother-in-law, whom he aided in cultivating it until the war 
broke out, having, meantime, in April, i860, married Miss Cornelia M. Richmond, who was from 
Madison county. New York, and by whom he has had nine children, only five of them, four 
daughters and one son, now living. 

In August, 1862, Mr. Martin enlisted as a private in company H, 129th Illinois infantry. 
On its organization he was elected first lieutenant, and was mustered in as captain of the com- 
pany. He was in what is known in history as the Atlanta campaign. In December, 1863, he had 



2o8 UNITED STATES BfOGRA PH/CA/. DICTIONARY. 

the typhoid fever, and in the following February came home. He returned to the South in 
March ; was with his company until the taking of Atlanta in September, 1864, when he took cold, 
became thoroughly broken down in health and resigned. 

In 1865 Captain Martin was elected clerk of the county court, and by reelections filled that 
office for twelve consecutive years. For four and a half years, immediately thereafter, he held 
the post of deputy clerk, and in November, 1882, was elected sheriff, the duties of which office he 
is now performing. Sheriff Martin is a republican, living in a strong democratic county, and 
owes his success at the polls to his popularity, and his special fitness for official positions. He is 
faithful as well as prompt and efficient, and gives good satisfaction to all parties. The voters of 
Scott county usually have the good sense to drop partisan bias, when selecting county officers, 
and go for the most capable and reliable men. 

Sheriff Martin is a Blue Lodge and Royal Arch Mason, an Odd-Fellow, an elder in the Christian 
Church, superintendent of the Sunday school the last seventeen years, and a man whose integrity 
and purity of life are unquestioned. 



HENRY SHIMER, A.M.. M.D. 

MOUNT CARROLL. 

ONE of the best examples of a self-educated man in western Illinois, is the gentleman whose 
name we have placed at the head of this sketch. He was reared, as we once heard him 
remark, "on a twenty-five acre farm, one half hills and stones, and the other half swamp, and by 
parents who could scarcely read or write." He was sent to school from three to four months in 
the year, in a little, poorly ventilated country school house in the hill country of Pennsylvania, 
where about sixty pupils were crowded together under the very ordinary teachers of those days, 
from whom he could learn nothing beyond his attainments at fourteen years of age. After that 
period he was never sent to school a single day. But there was no halt, no let-up, in his studies, 
no long winter nights spent in idleness; no moments of precious time squandered in youthful 
frivolities. In humble circumstances, without money or friends to push him forward, he knew 
no such word as fail; he never despaired or faltered, but pressed right onward toward the mark 
of high scholarship. The whole secret of his eminent success lies in the right beginnings of his 
youth, in the use he made of his spare hours, his determination to know something, and his pluck 
and perseverance since shown. 

Henry Shimer, physician and scientist, is a native of Chester county, Pennsylvania, his birth 
being dated at West Vincent, September i, 182S. .His father was William Shimer, a farmer and 
native of the same county, and his mother, before her marriage, was Catharine Still. She is yet 
living, being in her seventy-eighth year. His father died in 1867. Henry lived on the farm in 
boyhood; was his own teacher after he was fourteen years old, and at eighteen commenced teach- 
ing a winter school, working at the trade of mason the rest of the year. During this period he 
-devoted his leisure hours to study. 

In the latter part of March, 1854, Mr. Shimer started for the West; reached Mount Carroll in 
the following month, and after taking a wide circuit through the Mississippi Valley, lasting for 
three or four years, he concluded that this should be his home. Like Bayard Taylor, in making 
his first tour to Europe, and Henry D. Thoreau in making his excursions in this country and Can- 
ada, Mr. Shimer had many of his views a-foot, when he went off from the railroad and steamboat 
lines of travel, going as far to the northwest as Minnesota, and as far south as Texas, traveling on 
two occasions more than 1000 miles each trip on foot, and several shorter journeys of a few hun- 
dred miles each, never less, and traveled by rail, by water and on foot more than 10,000 miles in all, 
before his feet finally rested, contented and satisfied, on the uplands of Mount Carroll, which he 
justly regarded as the gem of town sites. During these travels his trowel and his note-book were 
his companions, and he settled down here with his muscles strengthened, and his mind well stored 
and greatly expanded. • 






Zr Yesrs Did. 





ii ■■,-,,. cn 



/VI 








UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 211 

In December, 1857, he married Miss Frances Anna Wood, one of tlie founders of the Mount 
Carroll Seminary four years before, and still its principal; and he engaged in teaching in that 
institution, now grown to mammoth proportions. Here he diligently pursued the study of the 
mathematics, the physical sciences, and natural history, which have always been favorite branches 
with him; he also continued his medical studies, which he had begun years before, and was finally 
graduated at the Chicago Medical College in March, 1866, he being prize essayist on a thesis 
entitled "The Diseases of Insect Life." He afterward spent two winters in the medical colleges 
and hospitals of New York city, where he enjoyed superior advantages in different departments 
of his chosen profession. In a very few years he built up a liberal practice, and has attained to 
eminence in his profession. For awhile after commencing practice, he continued to teach a short 
time each day in the seminary, but his professional labors at length became so onerous, that of late 
years he has done little more than lecture, now and then, on some branch of natural history. 

As a writer in the "History of Carroll County ' has well remarked, "the doctor is an enthusi- 
ast in all that he undertakes, and a close student, devoting the time which most men, less ardent, 
would require for rest, to the interests of a large and growing practice, and to his favorite 
branches of science, as his ample specimens in mineralogy, ornithology, entomology and botany 
attest. He is a skillful taxidermist, and years ago prepared three thousand specimens of birds of 
the different varieties found in this vicinity, with some rare ones from foreign places. A few 
hours spent in examining the doctor's cabinet of specimens will amply repay the lover of science." 

In July, 1866, the University of Chicago conferred upon Doctor Shimer the honorary title of 
master of arts, an honor well merited, and all the more noteworthy since the recipient had been 
his own tutor since he was fourteen years old. 

We believe the doctor has always regarded himself as lucky in having his steps in early life 
directed toward the setting sun, where he caught the progressive spirit and stimulating impulse 
of the Great West. Here he had much to encourage him to continue as he had commenced, and 
to push forward in his studies, application to which is his life work. He was never more studious 
than now, and this habit has been to him his exceeding great reward. It has placed him among 
the eminent physicians of the state, and in the front rank among mathematicians and naturalists. 

Doctor Shimer is six feet in height, and weighs two hundred and ten pounds, and is a fine 
sample of robust manhood. Although his early travels and later business associations often 
brought him into the company of drinking and smoking men, and he has probably been invited a 
thousand times to take a social glass, he has always had the courage to say no. He uses neither 
distilled nor fermented liquors, nor tobacco in any form; has drunk neither tea nor coffee since 
eighteen years of age, and for the last fifteen years has eaten only two meals a day. The doctor's 
habits are his best physician. 

Frances Anna Wood Shimer, the wife of Doctor Shimer, was born in the town of Milton, Sar- 
atoga county. New York, August 21, 1826, her parents being Jesse and Rebecca (Bryant) Wood. 
She tost her mother in 1836, and four years later, when only fourteen years old, she began teach- 
ing. She finished her education at the State Normal School, Albany, and left her native state for 
Illinois in the spring of 1853. The year before a bill to incorporate the Mount Carroll Seminary 
had passed the legislature and become a law; stock to the amount of about $4,000 had been sub- 
scribed, but less than $1,000 of it was ever realized in cash, and Misses Frances A. Wood and 
Cinderella M. Gregory were appointed teachers. They opened the school in May, 1853, with 
eleven pupils, and before the end of the term the number went up to forty. Their school was in 
the second story of the only brick business building in town; later they moved up town into a 
new brick building, erected for seminary purposes, and which was forty-two by forty-six feet, and 
two stories high. It was dedicated October 24, 1854. The five acres of ground on which the 
building stood were subsequently increased to about twenty-five; the original campus was im- 
proved until it became an Eden of beauty, and the building which these teachers had purchased 
received two additions while they were laboring in concert. 

Up to 1864 the seminary had been open to both sexes; since that date it has been used for 
22 



212 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

females exclusively. A second charter was obtained in 1867, naming Mrs. Shimer and Miss Greg- 
ory as sole corporators. 

When Miss Gregory came to Mount Carroll she had $80 to put into the institution; in 1870 
she retired with $10,000, and not long afterward became the wife of Rev. L. L. Lansing, now pas- 
tor of the Baptist Church at Beloit, Wisconsin. Miss Ada C. Joy took Miss Gregory's place, as 
associate principal, a happy selection. 

When, in 1867 the second addition to tlie seminary was completed, forty by one hundred feet, 
and four stories high, it was thought by many that the last brick had been laid, but in 1876 Mrs. 
Shimer added the main building, and nearly doubled the capacity of the seminary. When these 
several additions were made, Mrs. Shimer was her own architect, and drew her own plans. 

The sanitary arrangements here are perfect, the whole surroundings are charming, the corps 
of teachers is large, they are experienced educators, and the institution offers facilities for 
instruction equal to any seminary of the kind in this part of the country. Determined to keep 
pace with the progress of the age, in January, 1878, Mrs. Shimer introduced a department of tel- 
egraphy, for the benefit of young women who wish to prepare themselves for something that may 
enable them to be self-sustaining. One of the beautiful features of this school is its manual labor 
department for the benefit of poor girls, which averages about thirty pupils. Some of the best 
scholars and most brilliant women here educated were in that department. 

A writer in a Chicago newspaper thus speaks of this school: 

"The Seminary, now in its thirtieth year, is gathering power as it ripens in years. It was 
never so strong in its influence as at the present time. Every year not only adds to its alumni, 
but to its popularity. Its graduates go abroad to praise it, and by their deportment and scholar- 
ship, to honor it. The more young ladies that can come under the influence and receive the mental 
discipline of the Mount Carroll Seminary, the better." 

The Mount Carroll Seminary owes its splendid success and its high standing to the very able 
manner in which it has been managed. Mrs. Shimer has no beggars for it, has never asked a 
cent of anybody, has never solicited patronage of any one, nor employed an agent to canvass for 
pupils. The school stands on its own merits. The writer of this sketch has watched its growth 
for the last twenty years; has marked its wide-spread influence and usefulness with much grati- 
fication, and is glad to know that there is at least (uie (jueenly financier in the state of Illinois. 



T 



ANDREW J. McGLUMPHY. D.D. 

LINCOLN. 
HE president of Lincoln University, whose name heads this sketch, is a native of Washing- 
ton county, Pennsylvania, dating his birth June 2, 1831. His father. Samuel ^IfGlum- 
phy, a farmer, w-as born in the same county, in 1799. His grandfather, John McGlumphy, was a 
soldier in the American revolutionary army. The family was from the North of Ireland. The 
mother of our subject, Nancy (Allen) McGlumphy, was from the same country (the county of 
Monahan), and her ancestors held property entailed upon them by William, Prince of Orange. 

Mr. McGlumphy was educated at Waynesburgh College, Greene county, Pennsylvania, being 
graduated in 1858,35 valedictorian of his class. He was immediately elected professor of ancient 
languages in the same institution, and occupied that chair one year, when he accepted the princi- 
palship of Mount Zion Seminary, Macon county, Illinois, and held that position for seven years. 
He was ordained in 1859, and was a short time pastor of a church at Prosperity. In 1866 he resigned 
the principalship to accept the chair of mathematics in the Lincoln University, then just starting, 
and which he aided in organizing, and of which he was vice-president. At the end of seven years, 
on the death of President J. C. Bowden, D.D.. Professor McGlumphy succeeded him (1873). and 
is filling the chair of mental and moral philosophy. 

President McGlumphy, it is here seen, has been a member of the faculty from the start, and 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 213 

he has seen the institution expand into truly manly proportions. During the first year the num- 
ber of students hardly reached one hundred, now it is fully two hundred and fifty, and the univer- 
sity is growing in popularity and usefulness every year. 

President McGlumphy is a man of fine scholarship and industrious habits. His tastes are 
purely intellectual. He possesses fine self-control, and governs with ease and dignity. He is sel- 
dom austere, and never implacable. He is modest and simple in his style. As a teacher he has 
but few equals. His methods are mostly original. He always masters the subject to be taught, 
and never appears before a class without special preparation. He has followed teaching since his 
boyhood, and may be called a master of the art. Few men develop a greater interest among their 
pupils than he. As a public speaker he is far above ordinary. He prepares all his public dis^ 
courses with great labor, and delivers them with fine effect. 

In August, 1873, two months after his elevation to the presidency of Lincoln University, our 
subject received from his alma mater the honorary degree of doctor of divinity, which title is all 
the more complimentary, inasmuch as he never attended a theological seminary. He has taught 
the classics, the physical sciences, the mathematics, mental and moral philosoph}', and seems to 
be a general student, master of almost every branch of learning usually taught in colleges. 

As far as we can ascertain, Mr. McGlumphy has always been a hard worker. When a student 
in Pennsylvania he was elected county superintendent of schools, and held that office for three 
years, giving his time also on Saturdays to the examination of teachers. Since coming to this 
state he was at one period a member of the state board of examiners. 

He is, and has long been a frequent contributor to the press of his denomination, the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian, and his writings thus published are quite voluminous. It is understood, we 
believe, that he has more or less material partially arranged, which may some day be put in book 
form. The whole appearance of the man is that of one whose life has been given to books and to 
deep thinking. He has lectured before teacher's institutes in Pennsylvania and Illinois, and on 
literary subjects in various parts of the country, and his productions of this class all bear the 
impress of a thoroughly disciplined and well stored mind. 

President McGlumphy was married in i860 to Emeline, daughter of Aaron Heaton, of Seneca, 
Ohio, and they have seven children living and have buried one daughter. 



E 



EDWARD Y. GRIGGS. 

OTTA IV A. 

DWARD YOUNG GRIGGS, one of the older class of merchants in La Salle county, and a 
noteworthy representative of that class, was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, Octo- 
ber 24, 1S20, his parents being Ebenezer and Hepzebeth (Bartholomew) Griggs. Both were of 
pure New England stock, and of English lineage. 

The father of Edward was a foundryman and an ingenious machinist, the inventor of the gov- 
ernor to a steam engine, and died at Cincinnati in 1823, leaving three children, all quite young, 
Pldward being only three years old. Two or three days after the death of Ebenezer Griggs, Rev. 
William Gray, hearing of the children's loss, and not wishing to have them separated, adopted 
the whole of them, and reared them in a most exemplary manner, giving Edward, however, only 
a moderate education, although enough, with the additions which he afterward made, for business 
purposes. 

Rev. William Gray married a sister of General Mitchell, the astronomer, Cincinnati, where she 
died many years ago. Mr. Gray died in Ottawa, and both are buried at Springfield, Ohio. 

From Cincinnati the children were taken to Lebanon, and subsequently to Springfield, Ohio, 
where Edward became a clerk in a dry-goods store. There he remained until 1849, when he came 
to Ottawa, holding here also for a year and a half a clerkship in the dry-goods store of J. Y. Nat- 
tinger. In September, 185 1, Mr. Griggs opened a drug store, putting up the sign of E. Y. Griggs, 



214 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



and his is the only sign that was here thirty-two years ago that has not been changed. Such is 
the mutation of things in this fluctuating, changing young West. Commercial tornadoes have 
swept over prairie land, and tens of thousands of mercantile traders have gone down before the 
blasts, but Mr. Griggs has always maintained his perpendicularity, and been able to keep square 
with the world. This is owing to the fact, no doubt, that he has never ventured into deep water, 
and has managed his business with prudence and careful foresight, and with a reasonable degree 
of economy. He has held, we believe, no civil oflice, but is an Odd-Fellow and past grand repre- 
sentative of the grand lodge of the state. 

Mr. Griggs married in 1847 Miss Mary Barnett, of Charleston, Indiana, and they have had 
four children, all still living: Lavinia, the oldest child, is with her parents; Allen G. is a manu- 
facturer of patent medicines, Ottawa; Oakley has a drug and book store at Streator, La Salle 
county, and Clarence is a lawyer at Ottawa. The wife and daughter of Mr. Griggs are members 
of the Congregational Church, of which he is a liberal supporter. 



LEWIS P. LOTT. 

MORRIS. 

THE subject of this sketch is the son of Zephaniah Lott and Permilla (Phelps) Lott, and was 
born in Covert, Seneca county, New York, August 5, 1S13. His mother was English descent,' 
and his father Holland, or Pennsylvania Dutch. He moved from Pennsylvania into New York, 
and married. True to the instincts of his phlegmatic ancestors, he lived on one farm sixty years, 
and died at the age of seventy-five, his wife following him at eighty. The Lotts are a long-lived 
race, his paternal grandsire dying at the age of one hundred and four, and his grandmother at 
one hundred and six. 

At the age of thirteen Lewis went into the office of an anti-masonic paper, at Canandaigua, On- 
tario county. New York, called the "Ontario Plucnix." This was in the spring of 1826, at the 
time of the great anti-masonic excitement, occasioned hy the the abduction of Morgan. He 
remained in Canandaigua for a period of six years, following his occupation very successfully in 
various newspaper offices of the place, but after mastering his trade he went to Cleveland, Ohio, 
in 1S32, and worked two years as journeyman printer there. He then, in company with General 
A. S. Sanford, bought out the printing office, and for eight years did a thriving business. The 
style of the firm was Sanford and Lott, and besides doing a general job printing business, book 
and newspaper work, they dealt largely in books, stationery, printing material, paper, etc., and 
for several years their business was verj' successful. 

In 1842, however, he sold out to his partner, and removed to near Kirtland, Ohio, where he 
engaged in manufacturing pumps, pails, tubs, household furniture, etc. The change, however, 
was not a profitable one, as he sunk about all the capital he had before he sold out. He had not, 
however, seriously impaired his fortune by the venture, and removing to Warren, Trumbull county, 
he engaged in general merchandising. For two \'ears he kept a large store of a general assortment 
of goods, and made money, but at the end of that time, in 1846, he was burned out. He was, 
however, full}- insured, and beyond the delay and interruption of business, sustained no special loss. 

In the summer of that year he moved to Racine, Wisconsin, and for two years more followed 
the same business. In the spring of 1848, however, he moved once more and for the last time, 
bringing his goods to Morris, and opening up a general assortment here. That fall and the fol- 
lowing summer he erected a plain, substantial residence, in which he has resided with his family 
up to the present time. 

In i860 Mr. Lott sold out his goods to his partner, Horace Hurlburd, and retired from the busi- 
ness with a competence. His life, however, could not be spent in idleness. He was but forty-seven 
years old, and full of energy and activity, and he accepted the position of deputy clerk of the cir- 
cuit court of Grundy county, and for eight years managed the affairs of that office with rare skill 
and success. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 215 

Mr. Lott possesses unusual business tact and ability, and every business he touches rapidly 
assumes an orderly, systematic and prosperous condition under his hands. Hence, although busy 
with his own affairs, he was forced from time to time to serve his fellow citizens in various posi- 
tions of trust. In 1856 he was elected chairman of the board of supervisors, and served three 
years. For fourteen or fifteen years he was a member of the board of aldermen, and in 1870 was 
elected justice of the peace, and has held the office ever since. 

As treasurer of the school board he administered its finances successfully for sevferal years. As 
a Mason Mr. Lott has also been forced to act in almost every official position in the three 
degrees of Master Mason, Royal Arch and Knight Templar. He served as worshipful master 
of Cedar Lodge, No. 124, of A.F.A.M.; was high priest of Royal Arch Chapter, and held every 
office in Blaney Commandery, No. 5, K.T. He was also for some years a prominent Odd-Fellow, 
but withdrew several years ago. 

In politics Mr. Lott is a republican, dyed in the wool, having passed through the various pre- 
paratory stages of the abolition, whig and free-soil parties, but while active in political matters, 
and of pronounced opinions upon every question, cannot be called a politician. He has never 
sought office, and has served only when it was thrust upon him. 

In 1844 Mr. Lott married Miss Delia Lloyd Clark, in Cleveland, Ohio. The ceremony was 
performed on Washington's birth-day, February 22, by Rev. W. Walden, Baptist minister. Four 
sons were the fruit of that union, three of whom he has had the grief to lay away in death, but 
his eldest, Edward L. Lott, now a man thirty-six years of age, is engaged in business at Grand 
Tower, Illinois. • 

In 1874 Mr. Lott took a trip to the western coast, and spent a few months visiting the places 
of interest in that fascinating region. With tliis exception the last few years of his life have been 
spent in the quiet enjoyment of his home in Morris, in the company of his wife, a lady still in the 
possession of good health. He has long since laid by an ample competence for his declining 
years; has a portion of it invested in two fine farms south of the river, and amuses himself by an 
occasional visit to them. Although sixty-nine years old Mr. Lott is straight as an arrow, in full 
health and vigor, and bids fair to survive many years. 



CHARLES SPEARS AND SON. 

MORRISON. 

THE oldest mercantile house in Morrison is that of Charles Spears and Son, which was 
founded in 1857 by William and Charles Spears, with the firm name of Spears and Brother, 
who kept a stock of general merchandise, and who had previously been in trade together in Pitts- 
burgh, Carroll county, Indiana. In 1867 John Snyder was taken into the firm, and its name 
changed to Spears and Company. In 1S70 Mr. Snyder sold out his interest to W. W. Wilcox, who 
retired in 1873. William Spears had died the year previous, and when Mr. Wilcox went out, the 
firm took its present name, and changed its line of business to dry goods and notions exclusively. 

The father of William and Charles Spears was William Spears, Sn, a farmer, born in York 
county, Pennsylvania. William Spears, Jr., was born in Monroe county, New York, in 1812, 
and Charles in 1816. Two years later the family moved to Huron county, Ohio, where the sons 
received a very ordinary English education, being subsequently their own instructors. Charles 
Spears in his youth was engaged in farming; in 1838 went to Indiana, took a contract, and built 
several miles of the Wabash and Erie Canal, and in 1845 he and his older brother commenced 
the general mercantile trade in Carroll county, Indiana, the firm name being Spears and Brother. 
They remained in business there until 1857, when they removed to Morrison. 

William Spears, Jr., the senior member of the original firm, was a prudent business man, 
a deacon of the Presbyterian church, and a citizen who was very much respected. He died, as 
already intimated, in 1872, leaving a widow but no children. Charles Spears, the senior member 



2l6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

of the present firm, and the ranking merchant of Morrison, has been engaged in mercantile pur- 
suits for forty-five years ; has passed through several commercial cyclones, which have swept 
over and devastated the country, and he has never bent an iota. Figuratively speaking he has 
always stood perfectly erect, and enjoys to-day a thoroughly healthy spine. He is among the 
truly successful business men of Morrison ; is fair and honorable in all his dealings with his 
fellow men, and has the unlimited confidence of the community in his integrity as well as finan- 
cial solidity. 'He was mayor of the cit}^ of Morrison for two years, and may have held other local 
offices of which we are not cognizant. He is much esteemed as a public spirited citizen. He 
married, in 1S47, Miss Rebecca Benham, of Pittsburgh, Indiana, and they have had seven chil- 
dren, only three of them, all sons, now living. They have had a good business training, and are 
industrious and capable young men. Charles W., the eldest son, is married, and of the firm of 
Charles Spear and Son, and Peter and William are bankers at Burr Oak, Jewell county, Kansas. 



CHARLES A. GRISWOLD, A.M., M.D. 

FULTON CITY. 

CHARLES AUGUSTUS GRISWOLD, the oldest medical practitioner in Fulton City, was 
born in Saybrook, now Essex, Connecticut, November 24, 1830. His father, Selah Griswold, 
was born in the same town, and his mother, Rosanna (Bull) Griswold, was also a native of Con- 
necticut. Selah Griswold, senior, the grandfather of our subject, was a descendant of the 
Griswold family so conspicuous in Connecticut, a hundred and a hundred and fifty years ago, 
and for whom Fort Griswold was named, and which family includes at least one governor of that 
state. The grandfather of Charles was a pensioner of the revolutionary war, and his father, of 
the war of 1812-14. 

The subject of this sketch prepared for college at Cheshire, Connecticut, and is a graduate of 
Yale College, class of 1852 ; studied medicine for three years in connection with the State Lunatic 
Asylum at Utica ; attended two courses of lectures in the medical department of his alma mater, 
and one course at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York city, from which latter 
institution he received the degree of Hoctor of medicine, in March 1856. 

Doctor Griswold came to Fulton City, where he has been in the successful practice of his pro- 
fession for twenty-seven years, with the exception of three spent in the service of his country. 
He went into the army as assistant surgeon of the 93d Illinois infantry in October, 1862, and 
was mustered out with his regiment in July, 1865, being promoted to surgeon in 1864. The gal- 
lant 93d was at the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and accompanied Sherman in his march to 
the sea, and through the Carolinas to Richmond. Doctor Griswold had his full share of hard- 
ships, but never received a wound, or even a scratch, and was not off duty a single day. His 
experience in the war was of great service to him as a surgeon, and enhanced his reputation for 
skill in that branch of the healing art. He is a member of the Whiteside County Medical Soci- 
ety, of the Union Medical Society, which embraces Clinton county, Iowa, and Whiteside county. 
Illinois, lying on opposite sides of the Mississippi River, and at the time of writing (spring of 
1882), he is a delegate under appointment to the American Medical Association to be held at 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, in June 1882. He has always had a highly creditable standing among 
the medical fraternity. 

The doctor has a leaning toward literary work, and frequently writes for the local papers. At 
one period he was associate editor of the Fulton City " Advertiser," a republican weekly, which 
was changed to the "Journal." He was also connected at one time with the Northern Illinois 
College, Fulton, and lectured on physiology, anatomy and hygiene for two or three years, sub- 
jects to which he has given a good deal of hard study. Doctor Griswold has been examiner for 
pensions ever since his return from the army ; was a school director for two or three terms ; 
mayor of the city in 1868, and is now serving his second year as a member of the county board 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 21 7 

of supervisors. The doctor is a member of Fulton City Lodge, No. 189, of Freemasr)ns, and was 
master of the lodge for four years. 

December 29, 1876, on his return from Connecticut, where he had been on the sad mission to 
attend the funeral of his father, who died in his ninety-seventh year, he was on the train at 
Ashtabula, which went down through the bridge, and in which fearful disaster about half of his 
fellow travelers lost their lives. He himself was badly injured. 

Doctor Griswold married at Cleveland, Ohio, July 5, 1866, Miss Alice E. Smith, who died 
December 10, 1874, leaving three children, one daughter, Joe Adelaide, having previously died, 
and Charles Richard having died in infancy. The survivors are Marietta Alice and Henrietta 
Beaumont, two promising children, who are with their relatives in Cleveland, and pursuing their 
studies. Doctor Griswold is still actively engaged in the practice of his profession, and, ranking 
other medical men in the place, and having a fine reputation for skill, he does a good deal in the 
line of consultation. 

HON. JAMES C. ROBINSON. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

ONE of the prominent and well known lawyers and democratic politicians of Illinois is James 
C. Robinson, of the firm of Palmer, Robinson and Shutt. His father, Richard Robinson, 
a native of North Carolina, moved to Clark county, this state, in 1820, and shortly afterward 
removed to Edgar county, where James was born in 1824. A little later the family returned to 
Clark county, where the son was reared and educated. 

We learn from the history of Sangamon county that Mr. Robinson read law in Clark county; 
was admitted to the bar in 1850, and there practiced until 1869, when he settled in Springfield. 
The firm with which he is connected consists of Hon. John M. Palmer, formerly governor of the 
state, J. Mayo Palmer, his elder son, late member of the lower house of the state legislature, and 
Hon. William E. Shutt, who represents Sangamon county in the state senate. It is one of the 
leading law firms in the state, its business e.xtending into all the courts of the state and the 
supreme court of the United States, and is especially large in the higher courts. As an advocate 
Mr. Robinson stands in the front rank. 

For a score of years he has been quite prominent among the democratic magnates of the 
state. He was a member of congress from 1859 to 1865; was an unsuccessful candidate for gov- 
ernor in 1S64, and again served in congress (this time from the Springfield district) from 1871 
to 1875. 

Mr. Robinson has a wife and si.x children, two sons and four daughters, both of the former 
being lawyers. 

JOHN A. SHEPHARD. 

JERSEYVILLE. 

JOHN ADAM SHEPHARD, treasurer of the county of Jersey, is a son of William and Ann 
Maria (Gross) Shephard, and was born in Jerseyville March 21, 1847. His father was a native 
of England, born in 1816; was educated in that country, and in 1832 came to this country with 
his father, William Shephard, Sr. William Shephard, Jr., aided in constructing the Raritan 
canal, in the vicinity of which he lived about three years, removing thence to Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1838 he came west; halted a few months in Saint Louis, and in 
October of that year went to Coles county, this state, where he had a contract on the Central 
Branch railroad, now a part of the Indianapolis and Saint Louis road. In 1839 he settled in Jersey- 
ville, and took a contract to dig down the Grafton bluff. Subsequently he carried on the shoe- 
making business, at which he had worked a short time in Trenton, New Jersey, on coming to this 
country. His wife was a daughter of Adam Gross, of Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, and they 
were married in 1840. 



2i8 UNITED STATES filOGRAnilCAL DICTIONARY. 

In 1847, as we learn from the " Atlas of Jersey County," Mr. Shephard became a merchant at 
Grafton, where he remained in business four or five years, and then, for a shorter period, gave his 
attention to railroad building in Illinois. Subsequently he was president of the Jacksonville, 
Alton and Saint Louis road, resigning that post late in the year i860. From 1862 to 1869 he was a 
merchant at Jerseyville, being meanwhile elected to the state senate in 1866, and reelected in 1870. 
He resigned the next year, having previously engaged in railroad building in Texas. From 1872 
to 1875 he was in the banking business in Jerseyville, and closed out just before his death, August 
1 2 of the latter year. 

Savs a writer who knew Mr. Shephard well: "When he landed on American soil he was poor 
and friendless, but the affable and courteous manners for which he was noted soon enabled him 
to win true and honorable friends, and being endowed with great energy and perseverance and 
indomitable industry, he gradually acquired considerable wealth. Few men in Jersey county 
have been better fitted for a prominent and active business life than Mr. Shephard, he being among 
that class of self-made men whose integrity and honesty are never doubted." The widow of Mr. 
Shephard is still living, her home being in Jerseyville. 

lohn Adam Shephard was educated in a Catholic school in Saint Louis, including the classics, 
and in his younger years was in a store in Jerseyville. From i860 to 1867 he was a bookkeeper for 
his father. From 1872 to 1875 he was in the banking business with his father; was in the law 
and real estate business with A. A. Goodrich for three or four years, and in the autumn of 1879 
he was elected county treasurer to fill the unexpired term of Thomas O'Donnell. Mr. .Shep- 
hard was reelected in 1882, and is making a very acceptable and popular county official. He is a 
democrat in politics, as was his father before him, and it is but justice to say tiiat all parties in 
Jersey county have unbounded confidence in his integrity. The funds of the county could not be 
in safer hands. 

Mr. Shephard is quite public-spirited, and is treasurer of the Jersey County Fair, a truly pros- 
perous organization. He is alderman of the fourth ward, and has held that office a number of 
years. January 16, 1878, he married Miss Hattie Ely. daughter of George I. Ely, of Jerseyville, 
and they have one child, a daughter. 

WILLIAM E. IVES. 

AM BOY. 
ILLIAM ELLERV IVES, one of the oldest lawyers in practice in Lee county, is a son of 



w 



Almon and Nancy (Tomlin) Ives, and was born in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua county, 
New York, May 24, 1821. An account of the family may be found in a sketch of his brother, 
Doctor F. B. Ives, on other pages of this volume. In April. 1834, the family came to Illinois, and 
William finished his education at the Granville Academy, Putnam county. He read law at 
Oswego, Kendall county, with an older brother, Almon B. Ives, and was graduated at the National 
Law School, Balston Spa, New York, in 1852. He practiced two j'ears at Oswego, this state, and 
in 1854 settled in Amboy, where he has been steadily engaged in the practice of his profession for 
nearlv thirty years. He does business in all the state and federal courts, and has always had a 
remunerative practice. He received a thorough legal education before opening an office; has 
since been quite studious, and is no doubt one of the best read lawyers in Lee county. He is a 
man of probity and of sound judgment, and has the unlimited confidence of his clients and the 
community, never encouraging a man to go to law unless it is evident that he has a clear case. 

Mr. Ives was mayor of the city four consecutive terms, and state's attorney, first by appoint- 
ment, and afterward four years by election, making an honorable record in that position, as in 
every other which he has ever held. 

He is a republican of whig antecedents, firm in his principles, and free to express them in 
private or on the stump; is a man also of no inconsiderable sagacity; has a good deal of political 
influence, and is quite active in an exciting canvass. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been 
junior warden of Illinois Central Lodge, No. 178. 






~^^-o 



UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ^2\ 

He married in December, 1841, Susan, daughter of James Ryon, of Kendall county, and they 
have had five children, only three of them, two sons and one daughter, now living. Charles E., 
the elder son, is an attorney-at-law, having a family, and being of the firm of W. E. Ives and Son. 
He served between one and two years in the late civil war, at first in the 69th, and afterward in 
the 146th Illinois infanti-y. Esther M. is the wife of E. A, Winn, of Amboy, and James R. is a 
graduate of the University of Rochester, New York, an attorney-at-law, and editor and proprietor 
of the " Rocky Mountain Mining Review," Denver, Colorado. 



T 



ISAAC N. ARNOLD. 

CHIC A GO. 

HE family of Arnold, according to the "Historical and Genealogical Register" of October, 
1879, is of very great antiquity, having its origin among the ancient princes of Wales. 
According to a pedigree recorded in the College of Arms, they trace from Ynir, king of Gwent- 
land, who flourished about the middle of the twelfth century, and who was the descendant 
paternally from Ynir, the second son of Cadvvalader, king of the Britons. The first who bore 
the family name was Arnholt, son of Gwillim, the tenth in a direct line from Ynir, king of 
Gwcntland. He had a son whom he named Arnholt, whose son, Roger of Llanthony, in Mon- 
mouthshire, was the first to adopt his father's name as a surname. Thomas Arnold, the sixteenth 
in a direct line, and the fourth in descent from Roger who bore the name of Arnold, was second 
son of Richard Arnold, of Bagbere, whose manor house was standing in 1870, when it was demol- 
ished and a smaller building erected on its site for a farm-house. He was married twice, and 
had nine children. His first wife was Alice Gully, who bore him six, of whom William was the 
fifth child. His second wife bore him three, two daughters and one son, Thomas, from whom 
Isaac N. Arnold sprang. 

Thomas and William were the first of the family to come to America. They set sail from 
Dartmouth, England, May i, 1635, and arrived June 24 in New England. After residing a short 
time at Hingham, Massachusetts, William removed with his family, April 20, 1636, to Providence, 
Rhode Island, and became associated with Roger Williams and others in the purchase of lands 
from the Indians. The place selected for their settlement was named by the pious Roger 
Williams, in gratitude to God for his care and providential oversight and direction since his 
expulsion from the Massachusetts colony for his religious opinions — Providence. The lands 
purchased were parceled out among the associates, Mr. Arnold receiving large portions in Prov- 
idence, Pawtuxet and Warwick. He was held in much esteem, and filled various important 
offices in the new colony. His son, Benedict Arnold, succeeded Roger Williams as governor of 
the colony in 1657. From him descended General Benedict Arnold, whose treason to the cause 
of liberty during the revolution made his name as infamous as that of his great-grandsire and 
namesake had been honorable. 

Thomas Arnold married his first wife in England. Her name is not known. His second wife 
was Phebe, daughter of George Parkhurst, of Watertown, Massachusetts. He was fined in 1654 
and 1655 for not attending public worship, and subsequently removed to Providence, Rhode 
Island, and cast in his lot with his half brother, William, and Roger Williams. From this cir- 
cumstance it is probable that he shared the religious faith of that remarkable man who founded 
in 1639 the first Baptist church of America. 

The fifth in a direct line from this man was also named Thomas, who married Anstis Thorn- 
ton, and had eleven children. He was a soldier of the revolution, and named one of his sons 
George Washington, after the Father of his Country. He was born at Warwick, Rhode Island, 
November 29, 1778; studied medicine, and died March 7, 1838, in the sixtieth year of his age. 
November 3, 1795, he married Sophia, daughter of Reuben and Hannah (Aldrich) Mason. She 
23 



222 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

died January 9, 1861, aged seventy-eight. They were the parents of Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, the 
subject of this sketch. 

About the year 1800 Doctor George W. Arnold removed with his family from Rhode Island to 
Hartwick, Otsego county, New York, where Isaac was born, November 30, 1813. At the early 
age of fifteen Isaac was thrown upon his own resources, and compelled to hew out his own for- 
tune. The district school and village academy were the only institutions of learning he was able 
to attend, but so well did he make use of such facilities as he had, and so proficient had he become 
in the classics, that when he came to study law, three years were deducted from the seven legally 
required before admission to the bar. While still at school he listened a few times to the elo- 
quence of Judge Morehouse and Joshua A. Spencer, who were regarded at that time as the most 
talented members of the bar of central New York, and it proved the pebble in the rivulet of his 
youth which gave direction to the whole after current of his life. At the age of seventeen he 
entered the law office of Richard Cooper, at Cooperstown, the county seat of Otsego county. New 
York. (Richard Cooper was the nephew of James Fenimore Cooper, the illustrious American 
novelist, who abandoned the navy after six years' experience, and settled in Cooperstown in 
1810.) After a short time, however, the opportunity presenting, he left Mr. Cooper's office for 
that of Judge Morehouse, where he remained till admitted to the bar of the supreme court of the 
state, December 20, 1835. He had spent but four years in the study of law, but passed with 
honor when but little over twenty-one years of age. 

Very soon after he began his law studies he was permitted to assist Judge Morehouse in the 
preparation of cases, and after a time to plead before justices' courts, and earned in this way 
sufficient to pay his personal expenses till admitted to the bar, when he at once formed a part- 
nership with his preceptor, and entered upon a lucrative practice. He was not long contented, 
however, to remain in competition with the old established lawyers of his native state. His 
ambition spurred him to strive for the highest honors, and his judgment told him that the great 
undeveloped West was the most promising field for a young lawyer, as for every other class of 
citizens. Chicago was even then beginning to attract attention, and he decided to come west 
and grow up with the country. He reached Chicago in October, 1836, with very little money, 
but a good deal of ambition and pluck. He at once opened a law office on his own account, but 
after a few months formed a copartnership with Mahlon D. Ogden. 

Chicago was then but an ambitious village of about 3,000 inhabitants, but the following year 
it was incorporated as a city, and elected William B. Ogden its first mayor, and Isaac N. Arnold 
city clerk. His law business, however, increased so rapidly that he was forced to resign his office 
to attenti to it, and was soon recognized as one of the most talented and successful lawyers of 
the state. Thenceforward his history is inseparably interwoven with that of the city and the 
state. For nearly half a century he has been a prominent actor in her affairs, and jt is impossible 
to separate his record from her history, his achievements from her progress. He wedded the city 
when both were young, and they have grown old and prosperous together. While both are self- 
made, each owes to the other many of the conditions of their joint prosperity, and both would 
have suffered loss had they remained strangers each to the other. 

The first substantial service Mr. Arnold rendered his adopted state was the occasion of his 
entry into public life by his election to the state legislature, in 1842. It is impossible, within the 
limits of this sketch, to give a full history of the woeful condition of the financial affairs of the 
state at this period, but we quote the following from Governor Ford's history as the best brief 
statement possible of the condition of affairs when he came into office, and the causes which led 
to it: 

" In 1842 the state was in debt about |li4,ooo,ooo for moneys wasted in internal improvements 
and in banking. The domestic treasury of the state was in arrears $313,000 for the ordinary 
expenses of government. Auditors' warrants were freely selling at a discount of fifty per cent. 
The people were unable to pay even moderate taxes to replenish the treasury, in which not one 
cent was contained even to pay postage on letters to and from the public offices. The great 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA PHICAL DICTIONARY. 



223 



canal, after spending $5,000,000 on it, was about to be abandoned. The banks, upon which the 
people relied for a currency, had become insolvent; their paper had fallen so low as to cease to 
circulate as money, and as yet no, other money had taken its place, leaving the people wholly des- 
titute of a circulating medium, and universally in debt. Immigration to the state had almost 
ceased. Real estate was wholly unsalable. The people abroad, terrified at the prospect of high 
taxation, refused to come among us for settlement, and our own people at home were no less 
alarmed and terrified at the magnitude of our debt, then apparently so much exceeding any 
known resources of the country. Many were driven to absolute despair of ever paying a cent of 
it, and it would have required but little countenance and encouragement in the then disheartened 
and wavering condition of the public mind to have plunged the state into the one terrible infamy 
of open repudiation." 

Happily, however, there was sufficient wisdom and integrity among her citizens to extricate 
the state from her disastrous condition. Arthur Bronson, of New York, William B. Ogden, Justin 
Butterfield and Mr. Arnold met in council to devise some plan to save the state credit, and a very 
simple suggestion by Mr. Bronson solved the whole enigma. The proposition was to offer the 
bondholders the canal and its revenues, when it should be finished, and its land as security for 
additional advances to finish it. Mr. Arnold elaborated the scheme in a speech in Chicago, which 
was printed and put in circulation. He became at once the champion of the anti-repudiation 
element, and was elected to the legislature on that issue. Mr. Butterfield drew up the necessary 
bill, which Mr. Arnold, as chairman of the committee on finance, took charge of. With the assis- 
tance of Governor Ford, a slender majority was secured for it and the state was saved. At this 
session a bill was passed providing that no property should be sold upon execution or judicial 
process until it had been first appraised, nor unless it should bring two-thirds of its appraised 
value. This was a stretch of legislative generosity designed to protect the impoverished people 
from oppression by their equally distressed creditors. Mr. Arnold opposed its passage on the 
ground of its unconstitutionality, and on its passage, carried the question to the United States 
supreme court on some test cases, and had the satisfaction of hearing his judgment affirmed by 
that tribunal. As a delegate to the democratic state convention, prior to his election to the legis- 
lature in 1842, Mr. Arnold had done his utmost to get his party to commit itself to the doctrine 
of anti-repudiation, but failed. In 1844 he tried to secure the nomination of Van Buren as the 
democratic candidate for the presidency, but was again disappointed; but nevertheless, as one of 
the state electors, he reluctantly cast his electoral vote for Polk and Dallas. 

By 1848 he was prepared to enter heartily into the free-soil movement, and was a delegate to 
the Buffalo convention when the party was organized. In that platform, in common with the 
other members of the convention, he pledged himself to fight for free soil, free speech, free labor 
and free men, until a triumphant victory should reward their exertions. 

With the aid of such men as William B. Ogden, Thomas Hoyne, Daniel Brainerd and George 
Manierre, a convention was called at Ottawa, a Van Buren and Adams ticket put into the field, 
and the first anti-slavery political campaign inaugurated in the state of Illinois. Mr. Arnold 
took the stump with great ardor, and although the ticket was defeated, .having received but 291,- 
263 votes out of a total popular vote of 2,871,908, and out of a total electoral vote of 290 not one, 
yet Cook county gave it a majority over Taylor of 412 votes. The vote stood: Van Buren, 2,120; 
Taylor, 1,708; Cass, 1,622. 

From 1848 to 185S, although taking an active part on the anti-slavery side in every campaign, 
state and national, he devoted himself closely to his profession, and achieved a high reputation 
as attorney for the canal board. He gained important suits over N. B. Judd and Stephen A. 
Douglas before the supreme court. 

In 1855 he was again elected to the legislature, and as the free-soil candidate for speaker was 
defeated by three or four votes only. During this session he made an elaborate and effective 
speech in reply to those who contended that Governor Bissell, who had just been elected, was 
constitutionally ineligible to office, in consequence of having accepted a challenge to mortal com- 



224 UNITED STATES RIOGRA PHICAL DICTIONARY. 

bat from Jefferson Davis while in congress; arguing thai the challenge was accepted while out of 
the state, and did not affect the case. In 1858 he was a candidate for congress, and was defeated 
by John F. Farnsworth b)^ a close vote, but being nominated in i860, he was triumphantly 
elected, receiving 14,663 votes, and running ahead of the Lincoln and Hamlin electoral ticket by 
seventy-six votes. During the campaign he addressed a vast multitude in the wigwam at 
Springfield for Lincoln and liberty. The next day, when parting from Mr. Lincoln, with whom 
he had been for years personally intimate, Mr. Arnold said: "Good-bye, Mr. Lincoln; next time 
I see you, I shall congratulate you on being president-elect." "And I you," said Mr. Lincoln, 
"on being congressman-elect." Whereupon Mr. Arnold remarked: "Well, I desire to go to con- 
gress chiefly that I may aid you in the great conflict with slavery that is before you." Mr. Lincoln 
replied: " I know not what is before me, but if elected I will do my duty as God shall enable me 
to see it, and if a conflict comes, thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just." Mr. Arnold was 
among the very first northern men to arrive in Washington in February, 1861, just previous to 
Lincoln's inauguration. From that time until Mr. Lincoln's "assassination lie devoted all his 
energies to the support of the president and the Union cause, and no more active or efficient 
friend was found in the country than Mr. Arnold proved. When the more intense radicals 
became dissatisfied with Mr. Lincoln because of his apparent unwillingness to adopt extreme 
•measures against slavery during the first year of the war, Mr. Arnold and his colleague, Owen 
Lovejoy, did much to neutralize this feeling b}' expressing their entire confidence in Mr. Lincoln 
as an anti-slavery man. Upon the death of Mr. Douglas, in 1861, Mr. Arnold was selected by the 
Illinois delegation to represent the republicans and speak in honor of his memory. This was his 
first speech in congress. 

He was reelected in 1862, and his devotion to the anti-slavery cause during the whole period 
of the war, until its triumph by the overthrow of the rebellion, was enthusiastic and unflagging. 
To him belongs the honor of introducing the first bill for an act for the abolition of slavery in 
the territories, and also a resolution for its final abolition by a change in the constitution of the 
United States. The first of these was offered in March, 1862; passed the house May 12, and the 
senate June 17 following. The second resolution was introduced February 15, 1864, and passed 
on the day following. It reads as follows: 

"Resohi-d, That the constitution should be so amended as to abolish slavery in the United .States wherever it now 
exists, and to prohibit its e.xistence in every part thereof forever." 

In the preceding January he introduced a bill confirming the president's emancipation procla- 
mation. In December, 1861, Mr. Arnold called the attention of Mr. Li^ncoln to the defenseless 
condition of the northern lakes, and was appointed chairman of a select committee of nine on the 
defense of the great lakes and rivers. This committee was composed of Arnold, Ashley, Noel, 
Aldrich, Babbitt, Spaulding, Granger, Wheeler and Potter, and February 17, 1862, they made an 
able report in favor of enlarging the Illinois and Michigan Canal to the dimensions of a ship 
canal. Francis P. Blair, chairman of the committee on military affairs, reported also in favor of 
the sarne. Mr. Arnold prepared a bill to this effect, which he introduced, and in June made a 
speech in its support. July i following, it was laid on the table by a vote of 65 to 62, but after- 
ward reconsidered and postponed to the next session. Determined not to abandon the project, 
the friends of the measure planned a convention to assemble in Chicago, and Mr. Arnold drew a 
call for the same, which was signed by Edward Bates, attorney general, and eighty senators and 
members of congress. June 2, 1863, the convention met. It was the largest and most enthusias- 
tic gathering of the kind that ever assembled. Not less than 10,000 persons from states other than 
Illinois were present. Hon. Hannibal Hamlin was its chairman, and gave an address in favor of 
the purpose of the convention with his usual wisdom. A committee was appointed to inemorialize 
congress, of which Mr. Arnold was chairman. It met in New York in October, and prepared the 
memorial, which was presented to congress during its following session. The bill passed the house, 
but although recommended by Mr. Lincoln in his annual message, it was defeated in the senate. 
January following, 1864, Mr. Arnold offered a modified bill, which was referred to the committee 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 225 

on roads and canals, of which Mr. Arnold was also chairman, and March lo reported back and 
recommended for passage. This bill provided for the issue by congress of $5,000,000 in govern- 
ment bonds to aid the state of Illinois in enlarging the canal for the passage of gunboats and 
other vessels, in return for which the United States government was to have free use of the canal 
for all government purposes of transportation forever. It passed the house February 2, 1865, — 
yeas 77, nays 68, — but also perished, like its predecessor, in the senate. 

This bill can be found complete in the "Congressional Records" of the second session of the 
thirty-eighth congress, part I, page 546. We have been thus full in this part of Mr. Arnold's 
history on account of the patient and persistent efforts he made to bring about an improvement 
which would have effectually solved a problem of great importance to Chicago — how to cleanse 
her river, get rid of her sewage, and keep her drinking water pure. In view of the present effort 
to get an appropriation for the construction of the Hennepin Ship Canal, this history will be of 
unusual value and interest, and to make it as complete" as possible, we add the following extract 
from the first report of the select committee of nine before referred to: 

"The realization of a ship canal from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River for military and 
commercial purposes is the great work of the age. In effect, commercially, it turns the Mississippi 
into Lake Michigan, and makes an outlet for the great lakes at New Orleans, and for the Missis- 
sippi at New York. It brings together the two great systems of water communication of our 
country, the great lakes, the St. Lawrence, and the canals; connecting the lakes with the ocean 
on the east, and the Mississippi and Missouri, with all their tributaries, on the west and south, 
etc." 

While a member of the committee on the Pacific railroad, Mr. Arnold offered the amendment 
which provided for a northern branch. He also introduced and urged through congress the 
passage of an act making all foreign-born soldiers who, after service in the Union army, should 
be honorably discharged, naturalized citizens of the United States. He was an early and earnest 
advocate of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and made a speech in favor of 
the confiscation of the property and liberation of the slaves of rebels early in the war. 

On his return to Chicago after the adjournment of congress, in July, 1864, he had an enthusi- 
astic public reception from the people of the city, vi-hich proved the high appreciation the public 
had of the character of his services to the state and nation. He ardently supported Mr. Lincoln 
for reelection during the campaign of 1864, delivering a strong speech in the house, which was 
widely circulated as a campaign document. Declining a renomination himself, he nevertheless 
devoted his time during the canvass to public speaking in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, 
Pennsylvania and New York in support of Mr. Lincoln. 

With Mr. Lincoln's approval, he was engaged during the last year of the president's life in 
preparing a life of Lincoln and a history of the overthrow of slavery. To facilitate his labors, 
which must be performed at Washington, Mr. Lincoln tendered him the position of United States 
district attorney for the District of Columbia, and also of that of auditor of the treasury for the 
postoffice department, but before the appointment was made the president was assassinated, and 
his successor appointed him auditor. Afterward, however, from dislike of Mr. Johnson's politi- 
cal course, he resigned the office in a very plain letter to the acting president, and returned 
to Chicago. 

The "Life of Lincoln" was completed soon after, and published in 1867, and forms a standard 
work of reference on the life of Mr. Lincoln and the downfall of slavery. In 1869 he wrote a 
sketch condensed from the larger work, and in 1871 the original " Life of Lincoln " was issued in 
a new and revised edition. The house of Mr. Arnold and most of its treasures was consumed by 
the fire of October, 187 1, the family barely escaping with their lives. 

Mr. Arnold was married at Cooperstown, New York, in October, 1837, to Miss Catharine D. 
Dorrance, daughter of Trumball Dorrance, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. She died at the Lake 
House, foot of Rush street, October 20, 1839. By her he had one son, who also died, at the age 
of five years. His second wife was Harriet Augusta Dorrance, sister of the preceding, by whom 



226 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

he had four daughters and two sons, both of whom are now dead. The last was Arthur Mason 
Arnold, a most promising youth, who was drowned in Rock River, near Dixon, Illinois, Saturday- 
afternoon, April 27, 1873, when near his fifteenth birthday. All the sad particulars were pub- 
lished in the Chicago "Tribune" of April 28 and 29, 1873, to which the reader is referred. 

Mr. Arnold is spending his closing years in quiet enjoyment, in the bosom of his family, of 
the plenty his years of arduous labors have provided. He is president of the Historical Society, 
and the duties of the office, together with his literary labors, serve to occupy his time pleasantly. 
While on a visit to England the last year, on private business, he was invited by the Royal His- 
torical Society of London to read a paper before it on Abraham Lincoln, at a regular meeting 
held June 16. 1881. The paper was greatly admired, printed, and extensively circulated. 

In religion Mr. Arnold is a liberal churchman and a member of Saint James Church in this city. 



HON. WILLIAM P. LAUNTZ. 

EAST SAINT LOUIS. 

W 7ILLIAM PARKINSON LAUNTZ, judge of the city court of record of East Saint Louis, 
VV is a son of Jacob and Matilda (Parkinson) Launtz, and was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, 
February 24, 1848. His father, who is a farmer, living in Salinas, Monterey county, California, is 
of German pedigree, and his mother is of remote English descent. She is a woman of a well cul- 
tivated, excellent mind, and a leader in Christian and social circles, she and her husband being 
members of the Methodist church. When living in Ohio, Mrs. Launtz was accustomed to write 
religious and political poetry for public gatherings and for other occasions, and many of her pro- 
ductions of that class found their way into newspapers. 

Our subject received a common English education, and in his teens went to Iowa with his 
parents, they some years since having gone as far west as California. Early in the year 1867 he 
made up his mind to join his father, then in the mines of Idaho, and, although the United States 
was at war with the Indians, Sioux, Black Feet, etc., he started from Fort Kearney on his long 
and extremely perilous journey, afoot and alone. In that way he traveled for thirteen hundred 
and fifty miles, most of the way through the Indian country, and those Indians of a most bel- 
ligerent disposition. He rarely ventured out in the daytime, but kept concealed in the sage 
brush and other coverts ; swam all streams, and averaged about forty miles per night. On one 
occasion he passed over a battle field, where the white men, who had fallen the day before, had 
just been gathered up in a horribly mutilated condition by their white comrades. 

Repeatedly Mr. Launtz supposed his time for this life was about up, but he escaped, pushed 
on, and finally, at the end of six weeks, reached Idaho. Much of the way through the most 
desolate parts of the country, he subsisted for days entirely on dried venison and water. His 
was the most daring foot trip of which we have any knowledge, and Mr. Launtz has been offered 
several hundred dollars for a minute account of it. The only reasons which the writer has ever 
heard him offer for withholding the narrative, are first, that the reader would doubt his veracity, 
and second, that he has no ambition to run a tilt with Buffalo Bill. 

When Mr. Launtz started on his trip from Fairfield, Jefferson county, Iowa, which led from 
Fort Kearney to Denver, from Denver to Salt Lake City, and thence to Fort Du Boyce, Idaho, 
he took some extra clothing, but that he threw away on the second or third day out from Fort 
Kearney, his only through companion being his revolver and ammunition. But for these he would 
not have reached Salt Lake, probably not Denver. Mr. Launtz spent about three years in the 
gold mines, and had good success. On returning he invested his funds in a fruit farm in Perry 
county, Illinois, and that venture was a failure. 

He commenced the study of law in 187 1, reading mainly with Mortimer Millard, of East Saint 
Louis, and was examined at Ottawa before the supreme court of Illinois, and licensed to practice 
in the state courts in September, 1873, and subsequently in the United States courts. In 1876 our 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



227 



subject took a trip to Idaho, California and the British possessions, to see if the prospects were 
better there than in Illinois for legal practice. He returned to East Saint Louis, where he has 
been very successful in his profession. In i88i he took another trip to the Pacific coast, going 
through Arizona, New Me.xico, California, and Colorado, his mission this time being the intro- 
duction of machinery in which compressed air is used for mining purposes instead of water. 

Mr. Launtz was appointed United States commissioner in 1881, and in September, 1882, he 
was elected to his present judicial office, the duties of which he is performing with decided ability, 
and great satisfaction to the public. Judge Launtz is a republican, but refused to run for a 
judgeship as a partisan, and he received quite as many democratic as republican votes. He is 
popular with all parties. 

In September, 1871, the judge was married to Miss Maggie Stagg, daughter of Rev. Isaac M. 
Stagg, a prominent minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and they have buried one son 
and have three children living. A gentleman who is intimately acquainted with Judge Launtz 
states that "he is well related by marriage; his social standing is as good as the best; he is 
a man of temperate habits, and guiltless of profane language ; a man of the highest integrity, 
an indefatigable worker, and doing a very hopeful and successful business." 



BENJAMIN F. CxARDNER, M.D. 

ATLANTA. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN GARDNER, physician and druggist, is a remarkable example of a 
self-educated man, having attended school only nine months in his life, yet becoming well 
read in several branches of science. He was born in Brown county, Ohio, June 22, 181 7, his 
parents being Rodman Gardner, also a native of Ohio, and Mary (Worstell) Gardner, a native of 
Kentucky. His grandfather, Benjamin Gardner, served seven years in the revolutionary army, 
going in as private and coming out as captain. The family was from Martha's Vineyard, Massa- 
chusetts. Rodman Gardner died when Benjamin was thirteen years old, and the widow was left 
quite poor with three children, of whom Benjamin was the oldest. At that early age he took 
charge of the family, working on a farm nine months in the year, the first three years, and attend- 
ing a common school the rest of the time. At the same time a blacksmith hired him to blow a 
a bellows in the evening, his wages being at first ten cents a night. 

At the end of the three years young- Gardner set up the blacksmithing business for himself, 
and soon not only became an expert at shoeing horses, but acquired great power over such ani- 
mals, so that he could tame the most vicious, made so simply by ill treatment. Knowing the 
great influence which mind has over matter, and a superior animal over an inferior one, and the 
power of gentleness, he soon, by kind treatment, handled with ease any animal brought into his 
shop. Receiving, by mishap, an injury wiiich prevented his longer working at his trade, Mr. 
Gardner studied phrenology, and lectured on that subject, pursuing also medical studies at the 
same time. He attended lectures at the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical Institute, but not then taking- 
all the courses; commenced practice in 1849, in Clermont county, Ohio, the next year went to 
Alton, Illinois, and from 1851 to 1854 was in practice in Saint Louis, where he also attended lec- 
tures. In the latter year he went to Waynesville, DeWitt county, Illinois. In i860 he was grad- 
uated at the Cincinnati Eclectic Institute, and in 1866 settled at Atlanta, where he is still engaged 
in medical practice and selling drugs, school books, etc. His professional business is confined 
almost exclusively to office practice. He has made a success of his profession, and is not, we 
believe, inclined to murmur at any of the allotments of life. He took care of his younger brother 
and sister until they were old enough to support themselves, and provided a comfortable home 
for his mother until her death at the ripe old age of eighty-seven years. 

The doctor had a hard struggle in his younger years, not only to support the family, but to 
secure his education. For years he was accustomed to work all day and pore over books half the 



228 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

night; and at length he was happy in a well stored mind, and fitness for one of the learned pro- 
fessions. 

Doctor Gardner is a thinking man, and has always had his views on politics, as well as other 
subjects. He was originally a whig, of strong anti-slavery tendencies; was in attendance at the 
birth of the republican party, attending its first convention at Bloomington, and has since voted 
the republican ticket. 

He is past master in Freemasonry, and has passed all the chairs in Odd-Fellowship. 

In 1847 he married Miss Mary Houser, of Clermont county, Ohio, and they have seven daugh- 
ters and one son, having never lost a child. The four oldest children, all daughters, are married. 
Sarah Emeline to George Onstott, of Atlanta; Caroline to Edward E. Beath, of Bloomington; 
Mary Sewana to Preston Osborn of Chicago, and Jennetta to Richard Gill, Jr., of Atlanta. The 
younger children are at home, part of them still pursuing their studies. Their names are Belle, 
Katie, Benjamin F., and Myrtle Augusta. 



OSCAR W. BARRETT. 

CHICAGO. 

OSCAR W. BARRETT is the son of Edward E. Barrett and Emmeline (Wilco.x) Barrett, and 
was born at Bristol, Ontario county. New York, June 13, 1836. His ancestors were English, 
and among the earliest settlers in New England. His father was a machinist, and a very ingen- 
ious mechanic. The old American Knitting Machine, which was the first invented in this country, 
which completed a stocking, was principally the product of his hand and brain. -Many other 
useful and ingenious devices originated with him, among them the hand stamp, and he seems to 
have been almost a universal genius. 

When a child Mr. Barrett's parents moved into Rochester, and he attended the village school 
till fourteen years of age. At that age the choice was offered him of a course in college and a 
professional career, or a practical education and a business life. The bent of his genius directed 
his course toward a life of activity, and he chose the practical education. At fourteen he went to 
Glens Falls Academy, where he remained, with a short interruption, three years. He then entered 
the service as confidential clerk and bookkeeper of William B. Lawton, importer and whole- 
sale dealer in English watches, in New York. He remained in New York for four years, 
when he determined to accept the famous advice of Horace Greeley to young men, and came 
west. He reached Chicago August 9, 1856, and by three o'clock p.m., of the same day, had 
obtained a situation as clerk with John S. Wallace, dealer in hard-wood lumber. He received 
the munificent salary of thirty dollars a month, and boarded himself. However, November i, he 
entered the employ of the late Hon. Samuel Hoard, wholesale jeweler, who died November 25, 
1881. He took the position of confidential clerk, bookkeeper and cashier at a handsome salary, 
and remained with him two years. During the panic of 1857 Mr. Hoard, with abundant assets, 
yet had paper coming due he knew not how to meet, and contemplated suspending. Mr. Barrett 
skillfully piloted the commercial craft through the storm, and landed her safely in the harbor 
out of danger. This feat brought him a good deal of credit with the house, and he received an 
offer from Mr. Hoard of abundant financial backing, if he would go into business. He decided 
to do so in company with a gentleman then in business in Hastings, Minnesota. The latter was, 
however, soon after wrecked in fortune by the sinking of a Mississippi steamer, having a large 
consignment of goods belonging to him. The loss was total, and broke up the contemplated 
partnership. 

Soon after, Mr. Barrett accepted the position of commercial traveler and collector for a large 
mercantile house, and went on the road.- For three years he traveled in the northwestern states, 
about ten thousand miles per year, mostly with horse and buggy. It was an excellent school, and 
he finished his business education on the great prairies of the Northwest. On giving up the road 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



231 



in April, 1863, he entered into the emploj' of B. W. Philips and Company, Insurance, as book- 
i<eeper and casliier, which firm he succeeded in 1866, and formed a copartnership with J. H. D. 
Blake, who, unfortunately, died in about two months afterward, and left the entire business to 
his partner. 

During the war he was one of the most useful and indefatigable workers in the city. When 
the Board of Trade battery was organized, he took his place in its ranks, but a younger man 
insisted on taking his place, and did so, but Mr. Barrett found quite as important a field of use- 
fulness at home, and labored unremittingly on behalf of the Union cause till the rebellion was 
crushed. 

Mr. Barrett is a prominent Mason and Knight Templar, having taken every degree in the 
York, Scotch and Egyptian rites, and held various important offices in the lodge. He is a repub- 
lican in politics, and in religion a Baptist. For fifteen or more years he has been an active mem- 
ber of the Second Baptist Church in Chicago, and particularly active in Sunday-school work. 
His genius for finance and undoubted integrity causes his friends and companions in the various 
relations of life to thrust innumerable positions of responsibility upon him. Wherever an 
efficient trustee, treasurer, or financial officer is required he is always in demand, so that he must 
act as treasurer and trustee for the church, president of the school board in Highland Park, where 
lie resides, secretary and trustee of Chicago University, etc. 

He was a severe sufferer by the great fire, and lost nearly his whole property, but has more 
tiian made it up since, and is now owner of large real estate properties in the city, besides having 
an increasingly profitable insurance business. June 30, 1862, he was married to Miss Genevieve 
Hoard, daughter of his employer, the late Hon. Samuel Hoard, by whom he has had five boys 
and two girls, all living. In person Mr. Barrett is of medium size, five feet and eight inches in 
height, weighs one hundred and seventy-five pounds ; has light complexion, brown hair and hazel 
eyes. He is snugly built, put up on business principles, and is active and business-like in his 
motions. He has a pleasing exterior, is very approachable and attentive to strangers, and exceed- 
ingly sociable and entertaining to his friends. He has a large and benevolent heart, is known as 
a generous and liberal giver, and is highly esteemed by a large circle of friends in the West. 



FRANKLIN M. HOBBS. 

YORKVILLE. 

FRANKLIN MOODY HOBBS, the oldest merchant in Yorkville, and one of the most reliable 
business men in Kendall county, is a son of Josiah and Miranda (Merrill) Hobbs, and was 
born in Falmouth, Maine, January 20, 1829. His grandfather, Josiah Hobbs, Senior, enlisted in 
the continental army in 1775, when not more than sixteen years old, and served until the inde- 
pendence of the colonies was gained, going in as a drummer boy and coming out as drummer 
major. The Hobbs family was of English pedigree, and settled in Maine long before the rupture 
with the mother country. The Merrills were also a Maine family. 

Franklin received a district-school education onl\% being more or less self-taught, and acquir- 
ing a good business education. He farmed with his father until nineteen 3'ears of age; then went 
into a cotton mill at Saco, and worked nine years, and subsequently one year in a machine shop. 
In the spring of 1856 he came to Bristol; traded there two years, and then built and opened with 
his brother-in-law Isaac Crooker, the store which he now^ occupies. There were a few buildings 
on the hill, but under the hill, where the village now stands, there was nothing but the grist mill 
and two or three little shanties, their store being the first building of the kind of the least pre- 
tentions. At first it was only fifty feet long, but a few years afterward it was increased to ninety. 

In August, 1862, Mr. Hobbs left the store in the hands of his partner, and enlisted in the ser- 
vice of his country, going in as first lieutenant of company H, 89th Illinois infantry, which was 
in the 4th corps, Army of the Cumberland. He was promoted to the captaincy at Murfreesboro; 
24 



!32 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



was in the several .engagements preceding the capture of Atlanta, and remained in the army a 
little more than two years, resigning his commission and returning to Yorkville in November, 1864. 

In 1873 Mr. Hobbs bought out his partner^ and has since been alone in trade. He is carrying 
tlie largest stock of merchandise in town, and has always had a reputation for square dealing. 
No financial cyclone has ever shaken him, and he has always stood, as he stands to-day, firmly on 
his feet. His business history is a credit to the mercantile trade. 

Captain Hobbs is a pronounced republican, but has aspired, we believe, to no political office. 
He has made himself serviceable to the cause of education by filling the offices of school director 
and school trustee, and has never been backward in aiding to push forward any measure calcu- 
lated to benefit the people. 

Two years before leaving his native state, January i, 1854, our subject was united in marriage 
at Saco with Miss Harriet N. Crooker, and they have seven children, all at home or at school but 
the oldest daughter, Clara E., who is married to W. D. King, of Elgin, Kane county. The names 
of the others are Charles F., who is in the store with his father, Alice M., Sidney P., Miranda, 
Glenn and Reuben M. 

ISAAC E. HARDY. M.D. 

AL TON. 

ISAAC EDWARDS HARDY, one of the oldest physicians still in practice in Madison county, 
Illinois, is a native of Barren county, Kentucky, his birth being dated March 8, 1825. His 
father, Isham Hardy, is a native of Pittsylvania county, Virginia, and is living with his son, Isaac, 
being in his seventy-eighth year (born 1805). The Hardy family settled in Jamestown, Virginia, 
in 1625, eighteen years after the pioneers in that state. Such of the great uncles of our subject 
as were old enough, participated in the successful struggle for independence. The mother of 
Isaac was Martha (Edwards) Hardy, who was born in Kentucky in 1803, and died at Alton in 
1876. The family moved to Hamilton county, Illinois, in 1825, when Isaac was an infant. He 
was educated chiefly at Shurtliff College, Upper Alton, leaving at the close of the junior year; 
commenced the study of medicine at Alton with Doctor B. K. Hart in the autumn of 1844; 
eighteen months later went into the Me.xican war as a private soldier, and served in that capacity 
until after the battle of Buena Vista, in which he received three slight gunshot wounds. He was 
detached as a nurse. 

Late in the year 1847 he returned to Illinois, and resumed his medical studies. He attended 
lectures in the medical department of the University of Louisville, Kentucky, receiving the degree 
of doctor of medicine March 5, 1849. That summer he spent at Madison, between Alton and 
Saint Louis, and, it being a cholera season, he had a very laborious practice. 

Doctor Hardy was in practice between two and three years in Genevieve county, Missouri, 
and in March, 1852, settled in Alton, where he has been in general practice for a little more than 
thirty years, except when in the service of his country. For four years, 1862-6, he was acting 
assistant surgeon. United States Army, the first year and a half having charge of the military 
post at Alton, and the last year charge of the Cairo General Hospital. Doctor Hardy has been 
a member of the city council two or three times ; was city phj^sician a dozen years or more ; was 
township supervisor of the poor in 1881, and is_now (1882) physician for Alton township. In 
many ways he has made, and is making himself a useful citizen. In national politics he is demo- 
cratic : in local contests he goes for the best men, irrespective of party leanings. He has been a 
Freemason since May, 1846; has taken the thirty-second degree; has held nearly all the offices 
in the order as far up as the Knight Templar, and has been a representative to the Grand Lodge 
of the state several times. He has also' passed the several chairs in Odd-Fellowship. 

Doctor Hardy was married in Hamilton county, Illinois, August 12, 1848, to Miss Sarah Jane 
Hardy, a distant relative, and she is the mother of nine children, seven of whom are yet living. 
Rachel Ida is married to Doctor J. J. Brown, of Troy, Illinois ; Marcia May to C. A. Niemeyer, of 
Creston, Iowa ; Joseph Edward is in Sherman, Texas, and the rest are at home. 



I 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 233 

Doctor Hardy, having been in two wars, and passed through at least three cholera seasons, 
lias seen some long bills of mortality and a good deal of human suffering; and his varied experi- 
ences in his profession, and his happy gift at communication, make him an entertaining conver- 
ser. He is a free, open-hearted man, cordial and cheerful in his disposition, and must be a very 
welcome visitor in the sick room. 



WILLIAM S. CALDWELL, M.D. 

FREEROR T. 

W T^ILLIAM SPENCER CALDWELL, one of the leading and most successful physicians 
VV and surgeons in Stephenson county, was born in southern Kansas, August 8, 1832, his 
parents Ijeing Abner and Susan (Foss) Caldwell. His father belonged to the family so prominent 
in North Carolina, and was a brother of United States Senator J. P. Caldwell, of that state. 

At fourteen years of age our subject went to Michigan, where he finished his literary educa- 
tion, and commenced his medical at the State University, Ann Arbor, and was graduated at the 
Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, in 1856. In that year Doctor Caldwell came into Illinois, 
and settled in Elizabeth, Jo Daviess county, with twenty dollars in his pocket, teaching school 
tlie first winter and then commencing business. Patients came to him before his patience had 
time to become exhausted, and he had a thrifty ride over that mining and hilly country. While 
there in 1858 he married Miss Caroline B. Hutchins, of that place. He remained in Elizabeth 
fifteen years, and then removed to Warren in the same county. Meantime, while at the former 
place, the doctor attended lectures at Jefferson College, Philadelphia, there receiving another 
degree of doctor of medicine in 1864. Two years afterward he went to Europe and spent a year, 
mostly at Heidelberg. He received the title of doctor of medicine from the Bellevue Hospital 
Medical College, 187 1, and from the llniversity of New York, 1873. No medical man in north- 
western Illinois has taken more pains in his medical equipments, or is reaping a richer harvest 
for the time and money spent in perfecting himself in his profession. Not satisfied, however, 
with the education received in this country, in the spring of 1877 he went abroad, and spent 
nearly two years walking the hospitals of Berlin, Vienna, Paris and London, and pursuing in 
those cities special studies in connection with his profession. 

Doctor Caldwell was eminently successful in his practice at Warren, but the field was not 
large enough, and on returning from Europe in June, 1879, he settled at Freeport, where in one 
short year he built up a very lucrative practice, nothing, it is safe to say, matching it in this part 
"f the state. Thoroughness of education and skill, in this instance, are being amply rewarded. 
Doctor Caldwell does not rely upon his five medical diplomas for continued success, but he 
makes good use of his large and choice library, and is a close student and a growing man. He is 
a republican in politics, a Thirty-second Degree Mason, and an Odd-Fellow, but nothing has the 
priority over his professional duties. 



HON, JAMES M. HUNTER. 

MOUNT CARROLL. 

TAMES MONTGOMERY HUNTER, lawyer, is a son of John and Susan (Ramsey) Hunter, 
J and dates his birth December 9, 1831, at Milton, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania. His 
mother was a native of Luzerne county, that state. His father was from the county of Donegal, 
Ireland, where his grandfather, James Hunter, was born and died, being a descendant of an old 
Protestant family in that county. John Hunter was a horticulturist, and a man of considerable 
culture and poetic taste, naming his son for a favorite English poet, whose hymns, with those of 
Watts, Wesley and others, continue to grace our singing books. His father died at Milton 'in 



^34 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

1853, and his mother in Perry, Iowa, in 1881. James was educated in the common and high 
schools of Milton; remained in his native county until 1849; moved to Centre county, same state; 
studied medicine a while with Doctor John P. Gray, of Bellefonte; shifted his quarters to the law 
office of Judge Samuel Lynn, of the same place, and was admitted to the bar in 1854. 

Mr. Hunter practiced his profession at Bellefonte three years, and then started for the West, 
he regarding this part of the country as a more promising field for a young man of the legal or 
of any profession. He located in Galena, Jo Daviess county, in 1857, where he remained until 
1862, when he settled in his present and pleasant home, and where he has made a highly credit- 
able record at the bar. The law is much more congenial to his taste than medicine; indeed, he 
may be said to love it; hence his progress in its study, his success in its practice, and his good 
professional standing. Few jury trials occur in Carroll county in which he is not retained either 
for the prosecution or the defense. 

Mr. Hunter is president of the McMahan and Irvine Consolidated Mining and Milling Com- 
pany, Nye county, Nevada, but does not, we believe, let anything interfere materially with his 
legal practice. Mr. Hunter is a republican in politics, and represented Jo Daviess, Stephenson 
and Carroll counties, conjointly with Doctor Little, of Elizabeth, in the state senate under the 
new constitution (1871-1872). He is a Master Mason, and has passed through Odd-Fellowship. 

Mr. Hunter has a second wife. His first was Margaret C. Baker, of Jo Daviess county, mar- 
ried in 185S, and dying in 1863, leaving three children, Mary Imogene, Belle and Margaret Craw- 
ford; and his second was Mary Jane Ginn, of Galena, married in April, 1864, by whom he has 
two children, Jennie E. and John. 



E. FOLLETT BULL. 

OTTAWA. 

ELIPHALET FOLLETT BULL, a prominent lawyer in La Salle county, was born in Belle- 
vue, Ohio, April 18, 1834, being a son of Mason Bull, farmer and mechanic, and Mary Ells- 
worth (Follett) Bull. His grandfather, Smith Bull, was residing in Vermont at the opening of the 
revolution, and participated in the battle of Bennington in 1777. His maternal great-grand- 
father, Benjamin Follett, had a large tract of land granted to him in Pennsylvania by the British 
crown, and was killed at the massacre of Wyoming, his widow and five children escaping by the 
aid of friendly Indians. Eliphalet Follett, son of Benjamin, and grandfather of our subject, was 
not born till some months after his father's death. 

Mr. Bull was on a farm until fourteen years of age; was educated in the high school at Per- 
rysburgh, Ohio, and taught school off and on while getting his education, in all si.\ or seven 
winters. He commenced reading law at Bellevue; went thence to Adrian, Michigan; finished 
his readings with Hon. F. C Beaman: came to Waterloo, Monroe county, Illinois, in 1853; was 
admitted to the bar at Mount Vernon in 1S54, and the next year came to La Salle county, where 
he has practiced his profession steadily for twenty-seven years. From 1855 to 1870 his residence 
was at La Salle, of which city he was mayor for three years. He has always had an office at 
Ottawa, the county seat, and since the last date mentioned has made this city his home. On 
coming to this county he soon built up a remunerative practice, and has long held a front rank 
at the La Salle county bar. We cannot learn that he has held any civil office except the one 
already mentioned, the municipal chief magistrate of the city of La Salle. He is a republican, 
but politics has never interfered with his legal studies and practice, his profession having claims 
prior to all others. His high position as a lawyer has been reached by the hardest climbing, and 
not by anything like intuitive strides. He loves his profession, as the writer once heard him 
declare, and has adhered to his studies with great tenacity, allowing no let up, and that is why 
he holds his present standing among the legal fraternity. 

A gentleman who has long known the subject of this sketch states that Mr. Bull has a good 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



235 



deal of business in the supreme court, and that he ranks high among that class of attorneys; that 
his local reputation as a criminal lawyer is second to that of no other man in the county or 
circuit; that as a speaker he has wonderful power over a jury, being not only logical and clear, 
but eloquent and very persuasive, and that in legal attainments he has but few peers in this part 
of the state. 

Mr. Bull is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order, but has held only a few offices, the highest 
of them being that of senior warden. He married, in 1856, Miss Helen Perrin, of Perrysburgh, 
Ohio, and they have buried two children and have three living; Lillian T., the oldest child and 
only daughter, is the wife of Silas W. Ruger, of Campbell, Minnesota; Edward Henry is a grad- 
uate of the University of Michigan, and Follett Wilkinson is attending the local schools. 



ORRIS K. GRIFFITH, M.D. 

H UNTIE V. 

ORRIS KINGSBURY GRIFFITH, physician, is a native of Trumbull county, Ohio, his birth 
being dated July 29, 1837. His father, Clement Griffith, a farmer, was born in Montgomery 
county, New York; his grandfather was from Wales, and his mother, whose maiden name was 
Anne Hewitt,' was a native of Saratoga county. New York. Her father, Randall Hewitt, who 
lived to be ninety-two years of age, was taken prisoner by the famous Indian chief. Brant, and 
taken to Canada, but we do not know how long he remained in durance vile. There seems to 
have been great longevity on both sides of the family, the paternal grandfather of Orris dying in 
his ninety-third or ninety-fourth year. Clement Griffith died in Ohio more than forty years ago, 
and in 1844 our subject came to McHenry county, Illinois, with his widowed mother, who is still 
living, being in her ninety-fourth year, her home being in McHenry county. 

Our subject was educated at the Marengo Academy, in which town he also read medicine with 
Doctor J. W. Green. He attended lectures at the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical Institute, from 
which institution he received the degree of doctor of medicine in 1861. From that date to 1865 
he was in practice at Ouasqueton, Buchanan county, Iowa; from 1866 to 186S, in Independence 
same county, and in the autumn of the latter year removed to his present home, where, as he 
had in the Hawkeye State, he has a good practice. The doctor was president of the board of 
trustees of the village of Huntley for two or three years, and takes a great deal of interest in its 
educational and other matters, he being decidedly public spirited, and an eminently useful citizen. 

In Iowa he was very active in politics, and, as the writer of this sketch happens to know, had 
much influence in the republican ranks. He liberalized in 1872, and is still, we believe, an inde- 
pendent voter. The doctor is a Blue Lodge Mason, and an Odd-Fellow. 

He married in 1862 Miss Elizabeth C. Taylor, of North Adams, Massachusetts, and they have 
one child, Mary, seventeen years of age. 



HON. JOHN S. BAILEY. 

AfACOMB. 

JOHN SIMPSON BAILEY, lawyer, master in chancery, and many years ago a circuit judge, 
hails from Bucks county, Pennsylvania, his birth being dated at Tinnicum, September'7, 1S14 
His parents, Samuel and Mary (Buckman) Bailey, were also natives of that county. The pro- 
genitors of the Bailey family came to this country prior to the American revolution, and settled 
on the so-called Irish Grant, Pennsylvania. 

The subject of this sketch had no schooling after he was fourteen years old, but from youth 
was fond of reading, and gave most of his leisure time to study. His father was a farmer early 
in life, and later a carpenter, and the son, after spending two years in a lottery office in Philadel- 
phia, went to work for his father in the same city, coming to Illinois in 1836. He continued to 



236 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

work at the carpenter's trade until 1839, when he taught school one year and read law at the same 
time at Ouincy with Ralston, Warren and Wheat. He was admitted to the bar at Springfield in 
the spring of 1841, and commenced practice at Mount Sterling, Brown county, where he remained 
for fourteen years. In 1846-7 he represented Brown and Schuyler counties in the state legisla- 
ture, and held the office of state's attorney for six or eight years. 

In June, 1855, Mr. Bailey settled in Macomb, the shire town of McDonough county, and has 
been in steady practice here since that date, excepting when on the bench. In 1858 he was elected 
judge of the fifth judicial circuit, to fill a vacancy caused by the appointment of Judge Pinkney 
H. Walker to the supreme bench, and held that office until t86i, when he refused to serve any 
longer. The salary in those days was $1,000 a year, and it cost him $1,300 to support his family. 
Judge Bailey was appointed master in chancery in 1861, and still holds that office. As a lawyer 
he is sound; prepares a case with great care and accuracy, and as a counselor has no superior at 
the McDonough county bar. On the bench he was clear-headed, considerate and impartial, mak- 
ing a record of which his friends have no occasion to be ashamed. He is a democrat, and in poli- 
tics " knows no variableness or shadow of turning." 

While at Mount Sterling he joined the Freemasons; was master of the Blue Lodge there for five 
years, and is now a Royal Arch Mason. Judge Bailey is senior warden of Saint George's Mission 
(Episcopal) Church, and a man of sterling character. He was first married in 1842 to Miss Salina 
Sweet, of Brown county, and she died in 1872, leaving six children, one of them, a son, since 
dying. He was married the second time in 1878 to Mrs. Martha (Spurck) Swinnerton, of Peoria 
county. 

EDWARD F. DUTCHER. 

OREGON. 

EDWARD FELLOWS DUTCHER, one of the oldest lawyers in Ogle county, is a son of 
Ruluff and Lucinda (Howe) Dutcher, and was born in Canaan, Litchfield county, Connecti- 
cut, April 2, 1818. His father, a farmer, was born at Dutcher's Bridge, same county, and was a 
captain in the second war with England, and his grandfather, Ruluff Dutcher, Sr., was born on 
the Atlantic Ocean while his parents were on the way from Holland to this country. His mater- 
nal grandfather, Elisha Howe, was a descendant from the pilgrim fathers and a soldier in the 
first war with England. 

Edward was educated at Lenox Academy, Massachusetts, and Salisbury, Connecticut; went 
to Lockport, New York, in 1836, and there read law with different parties, commencing with 
Woods and Morse, and was in law offices there until 1844, when he moved to the village of Lynn- 
ville, town of Yates, Orleans county, practicing in company with Judge Royal Chamberlain. 

At the time the Caroline was burned at Schlosser (1S37), three miles above Niagara Falls, our 
subject was the lad who went from Lockport to Buffalo and obtained a capias for Colonel 
Alexander McLeod, the British officer who ordered it burned, in favor of William C. Wells, the 
owner of the boat. During the patriot war (1837-8) young Dutcher was arrested at Hamilton, 
Upper Canada, now Ontario, July 4, 1838, at the time of the affair at Short Hills, and held for four 
days as a rebel, with seventeen other Americans, who sympathized with the Canadians in their 
struggle to remedy their grievances. 

In 1846 our subject came to Illinois, settled in Oregon, and has been in practice here steadily for 
nearly thirty-seven years, except when in the service of his country. We learn from the " History 
of Ogle County" that he enlisted August 13, 1862, as a private; that on the second of the next 
month Governor Gates authorized him to raise a company, with rank of second-lieutenant; that 
he enlisted loi men, and was elected major of the 74th regiment Illinois infantry. That regi- 
ment was in different army corps, and Major Dutcher was in the battles of Perryville, Lancaster, 
Kaob's Gap, Overall's Creek, Stone River, and all the engagements participated in by the regiment 
until his resignation, on account of disability, in March, 1863. He commanded the regiment 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 237 

seventy days after the battle of Stone River, at the time of the expedition to Franklin, Tennes- 
see, to attempt to cut off Forrest and Wheeler's cavalry, the whole command being under the late 
Major-General Jefferson C. Davis. Major Dutcher is a member of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic. His politics are democratic. As a lawyer he stands high. His practice extends over a wide 
extent of country, and he has all he can do. 

He was raised in the Episcopal church, to which form of worship he has a leaning, but there 
is no church of the kind where he resides. The major has a second wife. His first wife was 
Elizabeth S. Van Volkenburg, of Kinderhook, New York, married in 1849, and dying in 1876, 
leaving four sons, two daughters having previously died. His present wife was Mrs. Sarah 
(Marsh) Scripter, of Batavia, New York, married in 1879. The four children of the first wife are 
Edward S., William H., Ruluff E. and George A, 



DOCTOR FLORIAN E. HANSEN. 

WINCHESTER. 

FLORIAN EMILIUS HANSEN, dentist, and mayor of the city of Winchester, was born in 
the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1837. His father, Edward Richard 
Hansen, a teacher of music by profession, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and educated for the 
Lutheran ministry. The maiden name of his mother was Anna Eliza Maison, a native of Philadel- 
phia, and a grand-niece of Marquis Maison, marshal of France. 

When Florian was but six years old the family went to the island of Cuba, where our subject 
received most of his education. \\\ 1854 the family left Cuba, and for some time Florian was 
engaged in traveling through the eastern and western states, tarrying awhile in Springfield, in 
this state. He had commenced the study of dentistry in Cuba, and finished in New York, taking 
great pains to acquire a thorough knowledge of his profession. He practiced it for two or three 
years in New York city, and in the autumn of 1863 returned to Illinois and settled at Winchester, 
which has been his home for nearly twenty years, and where he has met with very encouraging 
success. For years he has been the leading dentist of Scott county. 

Doctor Hansen was an alderman of the first ward one term, and mayor of the city in 1881 and 
1882, making a public-spirited and efficient chief magistrate. In politics Mayor Hansen is a 
republican, and he is an earnest worker in the interest of his party, serving at one period as a 
member of the central committee of the thirty-seventh senatorial district. He is not an oflHce 
seeker, and will work much harder for the election of a friend than for himself. 

In 187 1 he married Miss Mary C. Woods, daughter of Colonel John R. Woods, deceased, 
(luring the civil war secretary of the soldiers' sanitary commission, his residence being at Win- 
chester. Doctor Hansen has been a member of the Baptist church since 1855, and is a man of 
solid character. 

CLINTON HELM, M.D. 

ROCKFORD. 

THE subject of this sketch is a son of Woodhull and Lucy (Ruggles) Helm, and was born in 
Blenheim, Schoharie county. New York, February 21, 1829. His father was born in Orange 
county, New York, and his mother in Worcester county, Massachusetts. The latter belonged to 
the New England branch of the family, now so widely scattered over the country, she being a 
distant relative of General Ruggles. 

In 1835 Woodhull Helm moved his family to Illinois, settling at first near Alton, and two 
years afterward removed northward into Ogle county, where the parents remained. In 1848 our 
subject came to Rockford ; here finished his literary education, taking an academic course ; 
Studied medicine with Doctor Lucius Clark ; attended lectures at Keokuk, Iowa, in the first class, 



2^8 UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPIIICAI. DICTIONARY. 

received his diploma in 1852, and tlie following season was offered the position of demonstrator 
of anatomy in the college, which he declined. 

Doctor Helm practiced two or three years at Oregon, Ogle county, then moved to Byron, 
where he remained until 1869. He went into the army as surgeon of the g2d Illinois infantry, 
and served three years, being staff surgeon with General Kilpatrick during the last year. He was 
taken prisoner at Chickamauga in September, 1863, with over fifty other surgeons sent to Libby 
Prison, and was exchanged after two months' confinement. Returning to Illinois, Doctor Helm 
resumed practice at Byron, and in 1869 removed to Beloit, Wisconsin, where he remained for 
eight years. In January, 1878, he settled in Rockford, and soon built up a large practice. He is 
a skillful surgeon, performing the most difficult operations with marked success. He has had 
numerous cases of ovariotomy, in nearly all of which the operations have been successful. 
Wherever he has been located he has done an extensive general business, so much so that he has 
had very little time to attend to anything else. He has held no civil office of any kind ; is a 
republican, but does not always get to the polls. He is a member of the Second Congrega- 
tional Church, Rockford, and his character stands high in the community. The doctor has 
done more or less writing, but very seldom gives anything to the medical or any other press. He 
married, in November, 1852, Miss Hannah S. Poyneer, of Salisbury, Connecticut, and they have 
had seven children, all yet living but one son. 



CHICAGO STEEL WORKS. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE business represented under the above name stands conspicuous among Chicago's thriv- 
ing industrial enterprises. It dates its origin from September, 1873, at which time it was 
incorporated with an invested capital of $100,000. For various reasons, however, the establish- 
ment did not get fully into operation until in July, 1874, and the amount of business done during 
the first few years was limited in extent, the average products being about one thousand tons of 
Bessemer steel goods per annum. 

The business is located at the corner of Noble street and North avenue, and at the beginning 
occupied a building covering an area of forty-two by sevent^'-two feet. With the growing 
demands of the trade, the facilities were increased, and the building enlarged from time to time, 
until it now (1883) has a frontage of two hundred and forty-six feet on Noble street, with an 
extreme depth of sixty-five feet, while the entire premises cover a triangular area of two hundred 
and forty by five hundred and thirty feet. The number of hands employed in the various depart- 
ments of the works, has been increased from twenty-five to seventy-five, who, with the aid of 
modern appliances with which the establishment is furnished throughout, turn out products to 
the amount of $200,000 per annum. A progressive policy has always prevailed in the manage- 
ment of the enterprise, it being the aim of those who have its affairs in charge to introduce every 
improvement in the line of new appliances necessary to keep pace with the progress of the day, a 
policy which has resulted in the building up of a model establishment. 

Of the various articles produced, a specialty is made of steel plow beams, sleeves and shovel 
blocks for cultivators, steel harrow teeth, etc., but limited space forbids that we give more than 
a passing notice of the more prominent products. The plow beams are made of tempered steel, 
and are shaped with a special view to securing the greatest strength with the lightest weight. As 
is known, the direct strain on a plow beam tends to straighten it out, and thus to stretch or part 
the under side. To overcome this, two provisions are made in the sections, namely, the body or 
under part is made much heavier than any other part ; and again, the comb on the top is so high 
that the leverage adds greatly to the natural strength of the body. Another important feature is 
the width of the body, which is so great that the plow is held firmly to its proper course, and all 
trembling avoided. The popularity of these beams is fully attested by the fact that two hundred 
and fifty thoiisand of theni have been sold. 




^(^^. 



.^^<1^. 




UNITED STATES B /OGKAPH/CA f. DICTIONARY. 24 1 

The shovel attachments constitute the latest and best improvements for cultivators. The 
shank or sleeve is attached to the iron beam of the cultivator by a rivet about which it may 
revolve, and is kept in place by a wooden pin. Should the shovel strike an obstruction, this pin 
breaks, and the shovel turns back and slides over it without damage. These goods have been 
before the public about six years, and have a very wide reputation that is rapidly increasing. 
The management of the business has always been economical and efficient, and to this, combined 
with the universal superiority of the products, must be attributed its remarkable success. 

In 1873 the enterprise was incorporated, under the state laws of Illinois, as The Chicago Steel 
Works. The directors are Catharinus P., John, Ebenezer, Edward H. and John H. Buckingham. 
The two latter gentlemen are the sons of C. P. Buckingham, and hold respectively the positions 
of superintendent and secretary of the works, being both well qualified by experience and educa- 
tion for the posts they most creditably fill. The president of this concern is General C. P. Buck- 
ingham. He is a native of Zanesville, Ohio, and was born March 14, r8o8. His father, Ebenezer 
Buckingham, was one of the pioneer settlers of Ohio. His mother was a daughter of General 
Rufus Putnam, of revolutionary fame, who was the first chief engineer of the United States army, 
and the first man to head an emigration for Ohio. 

C. P. Buckingham was appointed a cadet to West Point by President Monroe, and entered the 
academy there when seventeen years of age. One year later he was appointed assistant professor 
of mathematics, and for two years, besides prosecuting his studies, spent several hours each day 
in teaching. At the expiration of four years he graduated, ranking second in mathematics, phi- 
losophy and engineering, and sixth in general merit. Among his classmates were General R. E. 
Lee, Joseph E. Johnson, O. M. Mitchell, Thomas A. Davis, James Barnes, Thomas Swords and 
others of less celebrity. 

In [829 Mr. Buckingham was commissioned by President Jackson, sec<ind lieutenant in the 
;,d United States artillery, and soon afterward joined a party engaged in surveying (xreen River, 
Kentucky, with a view to rendering the same navigable. He spent the following winter in Wash- 
ington, completing the maps of this survey, and in September, i8jo, after a four months' furlough, 
was ordered to West Point as acting assistant professor of natural philosophy. He served in 
that capacitv for one year, at the end of which time he left the United States service and returned 
to civil life. In 1833 he was called to the chair of mathematics and natural philosophy at Ken- 
yon College, Gambler, Ohio, a position which he filled with credit for a period of three years, and 
ujion retiring from the same he was elected a trustee of the institution. Professor Buckingham 
removed thence to Mount Vernon, Ohio, and in 1849 became senior proprietor of the Kokosing 
Iron Works of that place. 

In 1856 he removed temporarily to Chicago, spending two years, as a member of the firm of 
Sturges, Buckingham and Company, in the construction and establishment of the grain houses 
of that firm, located on the premises of the Illinois-Central railroad, and known as the Central 
Elevators. At the expiration of that period of time (in 1858), he sold out his interest in the 
enterprise to his partners, who, however, continued the business under the old name until Octo- 
ber, 1866, when General C. P. Buckingham's two younger brothers, John and Ebenezer Bucking- 
ham, acquired the business and property, changing the firm name to J. and E. Buckingham. He 
then returned to his home in Ohio, and, resuming the management of his business, remained 
there till the opening of the civil war. 

Shortly after the fall of Fort Sumter he was tendered the assistant adjutant-generalship of 
Ohio, by Governor Denison, and on repairing to Columbus and reporting for duty, was at once 
appointed commissary-general of Ohio. After the commissary department of the state had been 
thoroughly organized, General Carrington, adjutant-general of the state, being commissioned in 
the regular army. General Buckingham succeeded to the office that was made vacant. A com- 
plete record of his labors while filling this office would fill volumes. Let it suffice to state that 
before the expiration of a year he had equipped and organized for the three years' service in the 
army, eighty thousand men. General Buckingham continued in office under Governor Todd, 
85 



242 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



and held the position until 1862. April i, 1862, he was proffered and accepted the office of brig- 
adier-general of volunteers and assistant adjutant-general of the United States army, with a 
special service in the war department. In the following July, in company with the secretary of 
state, he was detailed to visit the various state authorities, the object being to arrange for and 
facilitate the business of recruiting. After conferring, in company with Mr. Seward, with the 
governors of Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts, General Buckingham went alone to 
Cleveland, and there met the governors of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin, and in July, 
1862, upon his suggestion, the provost marshal's bureau was established. In October of the same 
year he was ordered to Columbus, Indianapolis and Rock Island, to select sites for government 
arsenals and his reports and suggestions respecting the same were strictly adhered to. 

In November, 1862, at the time General George B. McClellan was moving south after the bat- 
tle of Antietam, the war department at Washington having determined to remove that gentleman 
from his post of commander, and substitute General Burnside, General Buckingham was 
detailed to perform this delicate task. In order to reach these gentlemen and notify them of 
their orders, General Buckingham was forced to use a locomotive of the Orange railroad, running 
from Alexandria to Manassas Gap, as his motive power. This road had not been used for some 
time, and a great portion of its route was supposed to be infested by the enemy. After a most 
romantic, and yet tedious ride, they being continually compelled to stop to hew their wood, and 
draw their water, no provisions having, under the circumstances, been made for the expedition, 
the general reached Manassas Gap at night of the very day on which General Burnside had 
quitted that place. Taking to horse, he, about noon of the next day, reached Burnside, and 
delivered to him his orders, and at eleven p.m. succeeded in doing likewise to General George B. 
McClellan, thus transferring the command of the Army of the Potomac. 

In February, 1863, at the request of the committee on military affairs, of the United States 
senate, he drew up a bill, providing for a conscription law which was acted upon, and adopted 
without any material alterations. Such in brief is an outline of the life-history of C. P. Bucking- 
ham, a man who has both created for himself a prominent place in the industrial history of the 
Northwest, with which he has for many years been closely identified, and, following in the foot- 
steps of his illustrious ancestry, has risen to a high rank in the military annals of his country. 
He is preeminently a self-made man, of whom it mav justly be said labor omnia vindl. 



FREDERICK W. LEE, M.D. 

TISk'ILWA. 

I'^HE subject of this biographical notice is a son of Frederick W. and Rebecca (Richards) Lee, 
and was born in Guilford, New Haven county, Connecticut, June 10, 1S34. Both parents 
were born in that state, his father at Guilford and his mother at Norwich. Frederick had an 
academic education in his native town; in 1857 came to Sandwich, Illinois, and commenced the 
study of medicine with Doctor Merriam, and his mother dying the next year, he returned to 
Guilford. He there resumed his medical studies, and was attending lectures when the civil war 
began. He enlisted in the loth Connecticut infantry, and at the end of three months was dis- 
abled by sickness, and was discharged. He soon reenlisted, this time in the 20th Connecticut, as 
hospital steward, and served altogether about two years. 

In 1865 he finished his studies, received his diploma, and came that year to Illinois, locating 
at first in Aurora, where he remained for two or three years, and then settled in Harmon, Lee 
county. In the latter place he resided for eleven or twelve years, and had a good business. He 
also became very much interested in politics, and was for five or six years chairman of the 
republican central committee of the town. 

Wishing to be in a larger place. Doctor Lee removed to Tiskilwa in November, 1880, and is 
here building up a remunerative practice. He has not, we believe, changed his political senti- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



243 



merits, but seems to have dropped active politics, and is attending very closely to his professional 
duties. Latterly he has practiced both allopathy and homoeopathy, with a growing preference 
for the latter school. He is a diligent student, and keeps well read up in medical science. 

The doctor is a third degree Mason, a member and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and a man of sterling integrity. He is of Puritan stock, and cherishes Puritan ideas of the 
sacredness of the first day of the week and of the importance of a holy life, ideas which cannot 
be too prevalent in any part of the country. 

Before leaving the East the first time, in October, 1856, Doctor Lee was married to Miss Lucy 
A. Abell, of East Hampton, Middlesex county, Connecticut, and they have six children living, and 
lost their first-born child, Sadie R., in New Haven, when the father was in the army, and their 
\iiiingest, Sadie Y., at Tiskilwa in 1881. The oldest living child, Gracie M., is the wife of Charles 
W. Fitch, machinist, Chicago, and the others are at home, their names being Addie A., Charles 
F,, Ernest W., Mary D., and Kittie C. A few years ago the father of Doctor Lee came to Illinois, 
and is living with his son at Tiskilwa, being in his eighty-sixth year, yet quite robust for a man 
of that number of years. He has been an active Christian for more than half a century, and was 
old enough to take his father's place a short time as a substitute in the war of 1812-14. 



JOHN A. J. KENDIG. 

CIIICA GO. 

JOHN A. J. KENDIG was born December 14, 1834, at Bloomsburgh, Pennsylvania. His fore- 
fatiiers, however, were uniformly of Lancaster county since 1709, when the pilgrim, Martin 
Kendig, led his flock, a colony of about three hundred, from Bern, Switzerland, to settle there. 
He was a Mennonite bishop; purchased 2,000 acres of land for himself, a like amount for Le Fevre, 
and afterward recrossed the Atlantic in the interest of the settlement, but returning with addi- 
tional members to it. Through the industry of these people Lancaster rose in importance, till in 
1799 it became the capital of the state. Lancaster was among the first to take firm stand against 
English aggression, and July 9, 1774, passed by a unanimous vote resolutions of independence, 
seven articles of which were embodied by Jefferson in the grand declaration of independence. 
His mother's father was John Wertman, colonel of a cavalry regiment in the war of 1812. [See 
"Rupp's History of Lancaster County, a.d. 1844," pages 74, 76, 78, 79, 81, 85, 90, 378 and 456; 
also " History of the Religious Denominations of America."] Mr. Kendig's parents settled in 
Ashland, Ohio, in 1839. During his fifteenth summer he cradled eleven acres of oats in two days, 
plowed ten acres in three days, and pitched nine tons of hay from the wagon to the mow in one 
day. He practically assumed the responsibilities of business at ten years of age. During the 
following six years the farm and merchandising so prospered that his father was not quite willing 
lo spare such an energy from the enterprise; but the young man had fixed his heart on the high 
school. With all the cares of business he had so used the spare hours and the three winter months 
of school that he was, upon examination, given a certificate to teach a common district school. 
During the term, this young school-master taught that the figure of the planet we inhabit is 
round. The directors took exception to such a heresy. A debate ensued, in which Mr. Kendig, 
by forty verses of Scripture eloquently presented by the deacons, was defeated, and he was actu- 
ally compelled to desist from teaching this doctrine. 

At seventeen he entered the high school of Ashland, where he attracted the notice of W. B. 
Allison, now in the United States senate from Iowa. There were self-denials and another term 
of teaching before he was fully prepared for college. He entered Kenyon College with the class 
of '59. After the severe struggle of the first term the faculty appointed him superintendent of 
ihe college buildings, in which work he was enabled to make return for his tuition. President 
•Andrews, pleased with his attention so far, permitted him to look after his garden, horse, market- 
ing and accounts, and to sit at his table as a member of his family. This was valuable in another 



244 iJhrTTED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

respect. To the august president's dinners were invited the noblest men of the countr}-. Gov- 
ernor Salmon P. Chase made the address on commencement day, and gave to twenty-eight gradu- 
ates their diplomas. He graduated thus in 1859, but during his senior year began the study of 
law under Doctor Francis Wharton, author of "Wharton's Criminal Law," etc., who was then of 
Kenyon faculty, in the chair of literature. He came at once to Chicago, continuing his law 
studies in the office of Jesse B. Thomas; was admitted in 1861, and in the autumn Miss Abby E. 
Gates, the sister of Mrs. President Andrews and daughter of the late Simon S. Gates, and Mr, 
Kendig were married. In the following year he received the degree of master of arts from his 
alma mater. He was an earnest Sunday school teacher, and was superintendent for three years, 
He has been a delegate to three diocesan conventions. In an eloquent speech in the last he pre- 
vented a collision between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities in the Cheney trial. Through 
the influence of Professor Joseph Haven, whose intimate acquaintance he enjoyed for twelve years, 
Mr. Kendig joined the English literature class of Chicago under the professor's direction. Upon 
the death of Doctor Haven the class chose Mr. Kendig its leader, and so annually thereafter for 
seven years. In this connection he wrote a bold philosophical pamphlet entitled, "Intellect or 
Character," which attracted distinguished consideration, and was published under a resolution of 
the class. 

These, in addition to his professional labors, gave some impression of fatigue. Accordingly, 
June I, 1878. accompanied by his highly accomplished wife, he began a journey which extended 
around the world, and some account of which he has given in " Sketches of Travel — the East, the 
Far East, and Some of the By Paths Thither." The first edition was exhausted in ten days. He 
dwells at greater length on India, Japan and China. The facts in the two chapters on the latter 
country are justly regarded the most valuable statement on the Chinese question which has yet 
appeared. Mr. Kendig holds the Shinto religious system to be second only to the Christian, and 
shows that the rate of illiteracy of the United States is twenty per cent, while the rate under the 
Shinto religion in Japan is but ten per cent. His lecture of ten years ago delivered in Chicago 
and other places in northern Illinois, "Who Wrote Shakespeare," also more recently his lecture on 
" Here and There in the Land of the Book," are well remembered. On the first ballot in the 
spring of 1883 he was elected president of the Kenyon College Alumni Association. Attention 
has been drawn to a portion of his opening address before the annual banquet of the association, 
in which he says: "The fruits of the association are being gleaned, as is evidenced bj' the more 
intimate acquaintance which has sprung up between the members. There is one question in 
regard to education which is of growing importance, and which will demand attention from all 
the educatioual institutions in the country, and that is, that attention is given to cunning ratiier 
than to character. In our institutions of learning intellect is properly considered, yet it is but 
one division of the mind. That which cultivates us in what is right or wrong, in the artistic and 
in the beautiful, is too largely ignored. This remark is applicable to our immediate surroundings 
as citizens." 

In the beginning of Mr. Kendig's professional career, some incidents, from one so alone as he 
was, are worthy of mention. He had deposited a considerable sum with the Bank of Hoffman 
and Ghelpcke when the stump-tail times came. He withdrew his accounts, sold the depreciated 
bills for eighty cents on the dollar, lodged the gold in a vault, and quietly v(^aited for greenbacks 
to more than lift him out. In 1862 he and his bride were boarding with the widow of Thomas 
Stewart, one of the founders of the Chicago " Tribune," and he found that while Stewart was 
dying of consumption in Texas he had been foreclosed under a mortgage on a valuable farm in 
Crystal Lake, Illinois, and that if a second mortgage could be purchased, the farm, on account of 
error, might be redeemed. He borrowed the necessary money to purchase the second mortgage 
to get himself into a lawsuit, but in the sequel he had the farm, which he sold to C. H. Dole, who 
has made it the handsomest farm in the state of Illinois, for enough to pa)' every cent of the 
mortgage and interest, to hand the widow $1,450, and to retain a moderate fee for himself. 

Residing in the twentieth ward in the war times, and it being apparent that three-quarters of 



i 



UNITED STATES BIOCRAPHICAI. D/CT/ONARY. 245 

the population were foreign-born, and that, therefore, a draft for soldiers on the basis of the 
whole would take about all the natives, he undertook to get British protection before the draft, 
and have ail alien names stricken from the muster roll. At length the British consul, J. Edward 
VVilkins, was disposed to review his proceedings. He, therefore, after some correspondence with 
Provost Marshal General Fry, had a draft of fact adopted by the general government, which 
eliminated the consul as well as the fee to the British exchequer. His argument in the Robinson 
will case is well remembered; his success in the twenty-eight ejectment cases, which resulted in 
locating Fourteenth street, as well as his adjustment of the much involved title of the lands which 
now in perfect title constitute Ravenswood and Rogers Park, received encouraging mention. Mr. 
Kendig and the late G. W. Thompson were office companions for twelve years. 

While Mr. Kendig is not now frequently before the courts, he is, after twenty-one years close 
attention to professional dutv, in the possession of a commanding, lucrative and altogether envi- 
able practice. His modest hoine is a very model of all that that sacred name indicates. 



WILLIAM KERNS. 

AfOL/NE. 

W'lLLIAM KERNS, a resident of Moline for nearly thirty years, is a son of Simon and Eliz- 
abeth (Ocheltree) Kerns, and was born in East Marlborough, Chester county, Pennsylva- 
nia, July 4, 1820. His father was born in the same place, and his mother in Newcastle county, 
Delaware. The great-grandfather, Thomas Kerns, came from Ireland ; married in Chester 
county, and there his son, William Kerns, for whom our subject was named, was born. The 
family were Quakers, and hence took no part in the rebellion against England in 1775. Doctor 
Robert Bines, the maternal grandfather of Elizabeth Ocheltree, was a surgeon in the continental 
army. 

Mr. Kerns received an ordinary English education, to which he added more or less in after 
years by private study; moved with the family to Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio, in 1834, and 
was engaged in farming until thirty-three years of age. In May, 1842, he married Miss Beulah 
Shinn, of Salem, and in the autumn of 1853 brought his family to this part of the country, and 
after prospecting a short time in Iowa, settled in Moline. 

Mr. Kerns brought a team with him from Ohio, and was ready for any kind of work at which 
he could inake an honest living. He commenced by teaming at whatever he could get to do, and 
among other things helped to deliver the ties on seven miles of the west end of the Chicago and 
Rock Island railroad, then being nearly completed. Before leaving Ohio he had partially learned 
the carpenter trade of his father, who was a mechanic as well as farmer, and he did more or less 
at that business for a few years. 

Mr. Kerns was clerk of the village corporation of Moline from 1858 to 1861, and postmaster 
Irom the last date to 1869, with the exception of a short time during the early part of the admin- 
istration of President Johnson. In 1865 he became connected with Candee, Swan and Company, 
afterward the Moline Plow Company, working in the shops, and traveling at times in its inter- 
ests, collecting accounts, and always attending to its legal business, which was very important, 
and he remained in that connection until February, 1881. For the greater part of the time from 
February, 1867, till he closed his relationship with the company, he had charge of the defense of 
some of the most important suits that have ever been commenced in Illinois, involving as they 
did hundreds of thousands of dollars, most of them being brought for alleged infringements of 
patents and trade-marks. In these the company was very fortunate, never having a decree against 
it. Mr. Kerns is just now acting as executor and trustee of the late Robert K. Swan, who was one 
of the originators of the Moline Plow Company, and an esteemed friend of Mr. Kerns. 

Mr. Kerns has lived a somewhat quiet, unobtrusive life, holding no office, we believe, since he 
hit the postoffice. He has always been deeply interested in politics, and was a free soiler from 



246 UNITED STATES BIQGRA rillCAI. DICTIONARY. 

the time that slavery began to be a prominent question in politics. He indorsed the Buffalo 
platform in 1848, and voted for Van Buren and Adams that year; for John P. Hale in 1852, and 
with the republican party since its formation, excepting in 1872. 

Mr. Kerns has long been a strong advocate of temperance; has himself always been a man 
of excellent habits, and hence, as might be expected, is well preserved. His integrity has never 
been questioned by people who know him. 

As the fruits of the marriage already mentioned, Mr. and Mrs. Kerns have had four children, 
all sons, losing two of them. Anson, the third child, was taken sick when the family were immi- 
grating to Illinois, and died at Massillon, Ohio; George H., the eldest son, was killed at the bat- 
tle of Stone River, December 31, 1862; Simon A. is married, and connected with the Buford Plow 
Company, at Rock Island, residing at Moline, and Charles Sumner is a student at Kastman's 
Commercial College, Poughkeepsie, New York. 



CAPTAIN JOHN M. ADAIR. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JOHN M. ADAIR, who has charge of the department of indexes and archives in the office of 
the secretary of state, is a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, dating his birth May 11, 
1840. His parents were Samuel H. and Susan (Ottenbarger) Adair. When he was eight years 
old the family moved to Carroll countj'^, in this state, where he remained on his father's farm 
until seventeen 3'ears of age, when he became a clerk in a store at Mount Carroll. In that situa- 
tion he was found when the war broke out, and his patriotic instincts led him to offer his services 
to his country. He enlisted as a private in company E, 45th regiment Illinois infantry; was mus- 
tered in at Moimt Carroll, September 14, 1861, and was promoted to first sergeant in November 
following, and to second lieutenant on the first day of the following month. His regiment was 
at first in the army of the Mississippi, under General Grant, and participated in the capture of 
Fort Donelson, and in both days' fight at Pittsburgh Landing. During the summer of 1862 our 
subject was stationed at Jackson, Tennessee, his regiment being detailed to guard the railroad 
lines which communicated with General Grant's army and furnished transportation for supplies. 
Early in November the regiment broke camp at Jackson, and participated in the Mississippi 
campaign to Oxford, under General Grant, and about that time our subject was promoted to first 
lieutenant of his company. 

The gallant 45th participated in the memorable siege and capture of Vicksburg, being 
attached to Logan's division of McPherson's 17th army corps, and during that siege Lieutenant 
Adair was promoted to the rank of captain, vice Fisk, promoted. The summer of 1863 found him 
on detached service as assistant provost marshal at Vicksburg, having charge of river transpor- 
tation, etc. In the autumn following that regiment veteranized; the next spring had a furlough 
of thirty days, and Captain Adair being relieved from his post of duty already mentioned, returned 
to Carroll county with the veterans. 

In April, 1864, he and the regiment returned to duty, being attached to the 17th army corps. 
General F. P. Blair, commander. General McPherson having been placed in command of the 
army of the Tennessee, and shared in the dangers and glories of the Atlanta campaign. 

The health of Captain Adair failing, a little before the close of the war he resigned; returned 
to Mount Carroll, and was deputy circuit clerk until 1868, serving meantime, during the previous 
winter, as assistant secretary of the state senate. In the summer of 1868 he purchased an inter- 
est in the " Carroll County Gazette," at Lanark, and was its joint publisher, with J. R. Howlett, 
till the spring of 187 1, serving meantime, in the session of 1869, as enrolling and engrossing clerk 
of the senate. On disposing of his interest in the "Gazette," he purchased the Mount Carroll 
"Mirror," and conducted it with ability until the summer of 1874, when, in July, he left newspa- 
per life to take his present position in the index department of the secretary of state's office. 



i 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



247 



That piosition he has held steadily from that date, with the exception of the winter of 1881, when 
he was chief clerk of the secretary of the state. 

Most of these facts in regard to Captain Adair we glean from the " History of Sangamon 
County." in which work it is further stated that until he took charge of the department, the files 
"were in utter confusion, and the records without the means of reference. Out of this disorder 
and confusion," continues the same writer, "system and order have been wrought, and it is 
doubtful if any state in the Union has a better system of indexes and records than Illinois." The 
writer of this sketch has long known Captain Adair, and the thoroughness of his work in this 
branch of the state department is an index of the thoroughness of any labor which he undertakes. 
Nothing slip-shod passes out of his hands. 

He married, in November, 1878, Rebecca T., daughter of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Halderman, 
(if Mount Carroll, now both deceased. Mr. Halderman was the founder of the city of Mount 
Carroll, in 1840, and was actively engaged in business there from that time until his death, which 
occurred in June, 1880. Mrs. Adair was born in Mount Carroll, and until her marriage knew no 
other home. 

REV. FRANKLIN B. IVES, M.D. 

CHIC A CO. 

FRANKLIN BENEDICT IVES, physician and preacher, is a son of Almon Ives, farmer and 
practical surveyor, and Nancy (Tomlin) Ives, and was born in the town of Ellery, Chautau- 
qua county. New York, April 30; 1823. His father was born in Vermont, and descended from an 
old Connecticut family. His grandfather, Enos Ives, was one of the minute men at the battle of 
Lexington, and his paternal grandmother was a relative of General Ethan Allen, so that he came 
of good patriotic fighting stock. 

In 1834 Almon Ives emigrated from western New York to Illinois, and settled in what is now 
Kendall county, Illinois. He died in 1865 at Amboy, Illinois, his wife dying four years earlier. 

Our subject worked on his father's farm until twenty years of age, receiving an academic edu- 
cation; studied medicine with' his uncle, Isaac Ives; attended two courses of lectures at Rush 
Medical College, Chicago, and after practiring a year or two at Lamoille, Bureau county, took a 
third course of lectures at Rush, and received the degree of doctor of medicine in 1850. 

Doctor Ives was in practice a short time at Pavilion and about four years at Lamoille; then 
removed to Princeton, and while there, in 1854, was ordained and became the pastor of the Bap- 
tist Church, giving his whole time to pastoral work. 

Doctor Ives went thence to Tiskilwa, where he remained for twelve years, preaching and 
practicing medicine most of the time. While there he organized and by Divine aid built up a 
church of two hundred members. He also organized the Berean Church, at Westfield, fifteen 
miles from Tiskilwa, which soon had fifty or sixty members, and has always been self-sus- 
taining. He also reconstructed the Baptist Church at Dover, and had the satisfaction of seeing 
it tairly on its feet and self-supporting. 

In 1870 Doctor Ives returned to Princeton, building and dedicating a $10,000 house of wor- 
ship, and doing some office and general work as a physician. During his first two years at 
Princeton he divided his time between that place and Earlville, where he also built a church, both 
houses being dedicated substantially free from debt. 

After doing two men's work, physician and minister, for many years, Doctor Ives had to finally 
relinguish his pastorate on account of the state of his health. He settled in Chicago in 1875, and 
IS here attending very closely to medical practice in general, yet making a specialty for the last 
seven or eight years of diseases of the lower bowels, such as piles, fistula, irritable ulcers, strict- 
ures, etc. By special study of this class of diseases he has acquired great skill, and is having 
eminent success. But the doctor loves preaching too well to wholly abandon it. Many of his 
Sundays are spent in the country, and he has served Baptist churches at Waukegan, Crystal Lake, 



248 UNITED STATES B/OCRAPI/ICAI. DICTIONARY. 



^ 



Wilmette and Oak Park regularly for several months at a time, the church at Oak Park for sixteen 
months. He is a sound, earnest and able preacher, and greatly esteemed by his very large circle 
of friends. He holds his connection with the First Baptist Church of this city. 

Doctor Ives married in October, 1847, Miss Frances Luce, of Pavilion, Kendall county, Illi- 
nois, and they have four children, one son and three daughters: Frank is an attorney at law, Chi- 
cago; Alice is the wife of F. W. Breed, a prominent shoe manufacturer, Lynn, Massachusetts. 
and Nellie and Frances May are at home. The former is a stenographer — an expert in the art. 



ROSWELL B. MASON. 

CIIICA GO. 

MR. MASON, ex-mayor of Chicago, is a native of New Hartford, (Jneida county, New York, 
where he was born September 19, 1805. He is the fifth child in a family of seven sons 
and six daughters, of whom five are living at this time, April, 1883 His ancestors were a remarka- 
bly vigorous and long lived race. His grandfather, Levi Mason, lived to the great age of ninety- 
eight, and his father, Arnold Mason, to the age of eighty-four. He is himself, at the age of 
seventy-eight, strong and well, and engaged in active business, and worthily illustrates his family 
characteristics. Levi Mason, originally a resident of the colony of Rhode Island, removed with 
his family at an early day to western Massachusetts, and settled at Cheshire, in Berkshire county. 
He was a soldier of the revolution, and did his duty faithfully and fearlessly in that great struggle. 
Arnold Mason, his eldest son, when he came to manhood, journeyed westward along the fertile 
Mohawk Valley, and established himself on a farm in the county of Oneida, in the state of New 
York. He was a captain in our army in the war of t8i2, and man}- incidents of that contest the 
subject of this sketch distinctly remembers. Until about thirteen years of age Mr. Mason spent . 
his winters in the common district school and his summers on the farm. He then entered the 
academy at New Hartford, where he remained for two years more. In the summer of 1821 his 
father took a contract to furnish stone for the locks on the Erie canal, nine miles above Albany, 
and during that summer and the following winter Mr. Mason, then a boy of sixteen, drove a team 
employed in hauling stone a distance of twenty miles. This work made him acquainted with 
Edward F. Gay, the assistant engineer in charge of the construction of the canal from Albany 
to the crossing of the Mohawk River. In the spring of 1822 this gentleman offered him a situa- 
tion as rodman in his engineering party. Mr. Mason accepted this position, and it proved to be 
the beginning of his life's work as a civil engineer. He remained with Mr. Gay until the com- 
pletion of the Erie canal work, in the fall of 1823. In the spring of 1824 he went with Major 
Beach, the chief engineer, and E. F. Gay, his assistant, to the Schuylkill canal, with headquarters 
at Reading, Pennsylvania. In the latter part of August this employment was terminated by sick- 
ness, and he returned to his home at New Hartford. Recovering, however, soon after, he joined 
an engineering party organized by Holmes Hutchinson, of Utica, New York, to make a survey of 
a canal from Lake Champlain, through the northern counties of New York, to the Saint Law- 
rence River, at Ogdensburgh. This undertaking was finished late in the fall, and he spent the 
winter in Utica, making maps and estimates for the proposed improvement. In the spring of 
1825 he rejoined his old employers, Major Beach and E. F. Gay, on the Morris canal, in New 
Jersey, making headquarters for some time at Morristown. After a few months Mr. Gay resigned 
his position as principal assistant engineer, and Mr. Mason took his place. He was connected 
with this work for six years continuously, and during the latter part of that period was chief 
engineer and superintendent of the canal. In the spring of 1831 he once more joined Mr. Gay, 
and as his principal assistant was engaged in the construction of the Pennsylvania canal, or that 
part of it extending from Huntingdon to Hollidaysburgh, on the east side of the Allegheny Moun- 
tains. On September 6 of this year he was married to Miss Harriet L. Hopkins, daughter of 
Royal Hopkins, of Parsippany, New Jersey. After a wedding tour to his parents' home in New 




op»r Jr S 1.0. 




yLCeud-^-^iA. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



25' 



Hartford, he took his bride to Williamsburgh, in Pennsylvania, on the line of the canal on which 
he was engaged, where he remained till near the close of the year 1832. The work being then 
completed he returned to New Jersey, and spent the winter at his father-in-law's home, in Par- 
sippany. Early in the spring of 1833 he was appointed by the Morris Canal and Banking Com- 
pany superintendent of the Morris canal, extending from Newark across New Jersey to Easton, 
in Pennsylvania. He retained this position for four years, or until the spring of 1837, when he 
took charge of the construction of a feeder from the Pompton River, and of a large reservoir at 
Long Pond, one of its sources. 

The winter of 1836-7 was spent in making a survey for the Housatonic railroad, extending 
from Bridgeport, Connecticut, to New Milford, and up the Housatonic Valley to the north line of 
the state, at North Canaan. The era of canals was passing away, and the more wonderful one of 
railroads had begun. The first locomotive engine ever built was manufactured and used on an 
English tramway in the very year in which Mr. Mason was born, 1805. It was only an experi- 
ment, and the driving-wheels were cogged to prevent slipping. In 1S30 the locomotive was first 
made with plain wheels, and came into practical use on the Liverpool and Manchester railway. 
In the spring of 1829 rail, iron and locomotives were imported from England by the Delaware 
and Hudson Canal Company for a road from their coal mines to Honesdale. In 1828 the Balti- 
more and Ohio railroad was begun; in 1830 the Hudson and Mohawk, from Albany to Schenectady, 
was built. In the legislative session of 1830-1 not fewer than twelve railroad companies were 
incorporated in Pennsylvania, mostly for operation in the coal regions. The Housatonic railroad 
was one of the longest and earliest built of any of the primitive roads of our country. Work 
began on it in the spring of 1837, under the management of Mr. Mason, who had been appointed 
chief engineer. In the spring of 1838 he moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he remained 
as engineer and superintendent for a period of ten years, or until 1848, meanwhile extending the 
road to West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, to a connection with the Boston and Albany railroad, 
at the state line near that place. During the year 1847 he was consulting engineer of the Nauga- 
tuck railroad, extending from Bridgeport to Waterbury, in Connecticut. In the spring of 1848 
he became chief engineer of the New York and New Haven railroad, which was completed in 
the fall of 1849, when he was appointed its superintendent, and held that office for the next two 
years. During the year 1850 he also had charge of the construction of the Vermont Valley rail- 
road, from Brattleboro to Bellows Falls. 

Mr. Mason came west in the spring of 1851, and took charge of the construction of the Illinois 
Central railroad, which he completed in October, 1856. After its completion he resigned his 
position as chief engineer, and took charge as contractor of a road running west seventy miles 
from Dubuque, Iowa, In the spring of 1857 he moved his family to Dubuque, where he remained 
till the failure of the company compelled him to abandon the enterprise, after completing forty 
miles of the road and partly grading the balance. He resumed his residence in Chicago in the 
spring of 1859. The year previously he had taken with Magill and Denton a contract to grade 
forty-two miles of the Minneapolis and Cedar Valley railroad, from the north line of Iowa to 
Owatonna, Minnesota. Work continued on this road till the spring of 1859, when this company 
also failed, and the enterprise was abandoned. In that year he took, in company with Magill, 
Denton, Kieth and Snell, a contract to grade twenty miles of the Racine and Mississippi railroad, 
near Freeport, which was completed in a few months. 

In i860 he became superintendent of the Chicago and Alton railroad, and in 1861 was 
appointed comptroller of the land department of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, which 
position he retained till August i, 1867. He then took charge of the construction of the Dunlieth 
and Dubuque bridge, which was completed in December, i868. While at the head of the land 
department of the Illinois Central railroad, in 1865, he and William Gooding were appointed by 
the legislature of Illinois members of the board of public works in Chicago, on behalf of the 
state, to take charge of the lowering of the summit of the Illinois and Michigan canal. He dis- 
charged the duties of this place till November, 1869, when he resigned the office to enter upon 
26 



252 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



the duties of mayor of Chicago, to' which he had been elected for two years. His administration 
proved to be one of the purest and most satisfactory Chicago had ever known. Toward its close 
occurred the most memorable event in the history of the city, the great fire of October, 1871. 
He discharged the onerous responsibilities so suddenly placed upon him by this terrible catastro- 
phe with a wisdom and energy which won universal admiration and praise. From the courtr 
house, burning over his head, he sent telegrams to Milwaukee, Detroit and other points for all 
the fire engines they could spare, and not till the great bell on its roof came crashing down 
through its floors to the ground, and the structure was a mass of smoke and fiame, did he leave 
his post. When it was seen that the city was doomed a single sentence from his pen went east- 
ward over the wires, and was cabled to every part of the civilized world: "Before morning one 
hundred thousand people will be without food and shelter. Can you help us?" 

That appeal and the noble response which came to it from all parts of the earth, where civil- 
ized men dwell, has become historic. As never before, the diverse and antagonistic races of men 
felt that they all belonged to a common brotherhood, having one father, Adam, and one Maker, 
God. But when the generous contributions of food, clothing and money came pouring in from 
every quarter, it became a question of the gravest character how best to manage their distribution 
to the needy. Vigorous efforts were made to place this matter in the charge of the city common 
council, and ingenious arguments were used to show that it legally belonged to that body alone. 
But there was in the city an organization known as the Relief and Aid Society, of the highest 
character and efficiency, with all of the machinery requisite for the proper transaction of this 
most important work. After careful deliberation Mayor Mason decided, upon his own responsi- 
bility, to intrust to that society all moneys and supplies received by him for the benefit of the 
people of Chicago. That act proved one of the wisest of his administration, for the ability and 
integrity with which that society discharged its great trust has become a matter of history. 

One other act rendered necessary by the chaotic state of affairs was harshly criticised by some 
in authority at the time, whose powers they fancied he had usurped, but its wisdom has been 
fully justified by the cooler judgment of later times. Immediately after the fire, before the embers 
had ceased to smoke, while the unprotected vaults and safes of the ruined city invited the attempts 
of the unscrupulous. Mayor Mason received telegrams from all parts of the country advising him 
that the thieves and thugs of the country were pouring in unbroken streams toward Chicago. 
They had scented the plunder afar off, and were flocking like buzzards to their pre)^ The city 
police were partly demoralized, and they were too few in number to protect the exposed property. 
What must be done? What could be done but to invoke the supreme power under which we 
live, and call in that authority which was created to protect the lives and property of citizens 
when all ordinary sources of safety were inadequate? Mayor Mason did invoke the supreme 
authority of the land in the person of the lieutenant-general of the army of the United States, 
Philip Sheridan, who at once placed the city by proclamation under martial law. Although but a 
few companies of United States soldiers were actually stationed in Chicago, yet the magic of the 
name of Philip Sheridan, and the knowledge that all marauders would be summarily dealt with 
by military instead of civil law, struck terror into the hearts of evil-doers and made the city as 
peaceful as a country village. 

Mayor Mason, in the performance of the duties of his office, enforced the city ordinances with- 
out fear or favor, but showed a proper compassion for those betrayed into evil ways who desired 
to reform. At one time, when the bridewell was crowded to repletion with petty criminals, two 
and three in a single cell, he gave to one of the aldermen authority to examine into their cases 
and release the most inoffensive of the number. He did so, and about seventy were given their 
liberty. This, too, has been criticised, but the act was as creditable to the head as to the heart of 
his Honor, who proved that he understood fully the power of kindness, and trusted more to gen- 
tleness and admonition than to severity to reform petty criminals. 

In 1873 he was appointed by the governor of Illinois one of the trustees of the Illinois Indus- 
trial University, and in 1878 was reappointed by the succeeding governor to the same office, and 
has just completed a term of ten years as such trustee. 



I 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 353 

Mr. Mason is a republican in politics, but was elected to the mayoralty on an independent 
ticket. He is a member of the Presbyterian denomination, and is one of the elders of the Fourth 
Presbyterian Church of Chicago. He was one of the original incorporators of the Presbyterian 
Theological Seminary of the Northwest, which was organized February 16, 1857, and has held 
the offices of director and trustee almost continuously to the present time. He is now president 
of the board of directors. For the last fifteen years he has been president of the Chicago South 
Branch Dock Company, and attends regularly to its business affairs. 

He is the father of five sons and three daughters, all of whom are now living except his eldest 
son, George Arnold Mason, who was killed, at the age of twenty, by a railroad accident in 
the year 1855. His other children are all married and settled in life, and he has twenty-five 
grandchildren. 

A man of simple and temperate habits, his faculties are unimpaired, and his usefulness unaf- 
fected by the lapse of vears. He enjoys a serene and happy old age, conscious of duty well done 
in all the relations of life, sure of the respect and affection of all who know him, and held in the 
highest esteem hy the community in which he dwells. 



NATHANIEL B. GOULD. 

CAMBRIDGE. 

NATHANIEL BARTLETT GOULU, president of the First National Bank of Cambridge, 
is a son of Amos Gould, Jr., and was born in the town of Piermont, New Hampshire, March 
.51, 1828. He is a lineal descendant of Zaccheus Gould, who was born in PZngland about 1589, 
and came to this country about 1638, settled finally in Topsfield, Massachusetts, and there died 
about 1670. His wife, Phebe Gould, died in 1663, leaving six children, five daughters and one 
son, who all married and had families. The Goulds in this country, who trace their pedigree 
directly back to Zaccheus Gould, are quite numerous, and honorably represent the various 
branches of industry and the learned professions. An incomplete sketch of the posterity of 
Zaccheus Gould was published in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1872. Amos Gould, Sr., the grand- 
father of our subject, was a revolutionary soldier, and after the close of the war moved from 
Massachusetts to Canaan, New Hampshire. He married Rebekah Perly, and had thirteen 
children — a large family. Amos Gould, Jr., married Nancy Harris Bartlett, a native of Canaan, 
New Hampshire, and a descendant of one of the early Massachusetts colonists, and they had a 
family of nine children, six sons and three daughters, all yet living but one daughter. The 
mother is also living. The father died at Moline in 1S64. Three of the sons reside in Moline, 
and three in Cambridge. 

Nathaniel B. Gould received an ordinary district-school education, and was engaged in farm- 
ing in New Hampshire until the spring of 1851, when he came to Moline, Illinois, and for five 
years was engaged in traveling for John Deere. In 1856 Mr. Gould settled in Cambridge, and 
was here engaged in hotel keeping, in company with an older brother, Amos Gould, until 1861, 
when he went on a farm. For nine or ten years he gave his time almost exclusively to agri- 
cultural pursuits, and indirectly is still thus engaged. For the last decade or more he has given 
his attention largely to the improvement of his village property, and attending to the interests 
of the corporation. He has been supervisor of the township of Cambridge for more than a 
dozen years, and was chairman of the court-house building committee, which had the expend- 
ing of about $75,000. The building was completed in 1880. Mr. Gould has also been a school 
director for nine or ten years, and it is safe to say that no other man in Cambridge devotes more 
time to educational and other matters of general benefit to the community, he being thoroughly 
imbued with enterprise and public spirit. He is quite active in the Henry county agricultural 
board. 

On the organization of the First National Bank of Cambridge, in July, 1881, he was made its 



254 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



I 



president, and that position he still holds. He is a republican in politics, pronounced and unwa- 
vering, and believes that the mission of the party is not yet fully completed. Mr. Gould is, we 
believe, connectejl with no Christian organization, but is friendly to the churches generally, and 
contributes liberally to the support of the gospel. 

He was married November 24, 1859, to Miss Mary Jane Jennings, daughter of Levi Jennings, 
'of Cambridge, and they have had two daughters, Nellie L. and Katie M., a bright and prom- 
ising girl of sixteen, now taking a preparatory course in St. Mary's Seminary for young ladies. 
Nellie died in her sixteenth year, February 23, 1879, and her demise was a heavy blow, not 
only to her family, but to all the younger people in her large circle of friends. She was an 
amiable young lady, of more than ordinary promise, a bright scholar, and was preparing to 
enter Vassar College. . 

AARON G. KARR. 

BIOOMINGTON. 

AARON G. KARR, lawyer, and professor in the law department of the Illinois VVesleyan Uni- 
versity, is a native of this county, his birth being dated at what is now Heyworth, August 
23, 1839. His father, William Karr, was born in Sussex county. New Jersey, and his mother, 
Rachel Garrison, in Kenton county, Kentucky. Aaron was educated in the model school of the 
Normal University, Illinois; studied his profession in the law department of the University of 
Chicago; was graduated June 30, 1869, and after practicing two years in that city, in company 
with Robert H. Forrester, settled in Bloomington (1871), where he has had a successful run of 
business. For some time his younger brother, Henry L. Karr, was in partnership with him, but 
has removed to Gunnison, Colorado. 

Our subject occupies the chair of common law and equity pleadings in the law department of 
the Illinois Wesleyan University, and is filling it with decided success. He is a close student and 
a growing man. One of the trials which drew the attention of the people to his talents and skill 
in managing criminal cases was that of the People vs. Aimer, the defendant having assaulted 
Awe, a Bloomington saloon-keeper, with intent to kill. Aided by his brother, he managed this 
case with such ability as to receive the highest compliments of the best judges in such matters. 
The press of Bloomington has since then, on more than one occasion, praised his efforts in the 
courts of justice. " He is recognized as a reliable and sagacious practitioner, and when his ser- 
vices are once secured by clients, they cling to him with confidence. With his fellow-attorneys 
he stands in excellent repute." So says a local paper. 

His politics are democratic, but he does not give to them so much time as to make it a detri- 
ment to his profession. 

ISAAC W. GARVIN, M.D. 

.S YCA MORE. 

ISAAC WATTS GARVIN, for nearly forty years a physician and surgeon in De Kalb county, 
Illinois, and still in active practice, is a native of Butternuts, Otsego county, New York, his 
birth bearing date March 17, 1820. His father was Rev. Isaac Garvin, an Episcopal clergyman, 
born in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, and his mother was Lucy Bostwick, a native of Delaware 
countj'. New York. The family moved from Butternuts to Weathersfield, New York, and subse- 
quently to Buffalo, where Rev. Isaac Garvin died thirty years ago. His widow died about 1872. 
Doctor Garvin finished his literary training at Franklin Academy, Delaware county, New 
York; studied medicine with Doctor H. H. Bissell, of Buffalo: attended his first course of lectures 
at Geneva, New York; practiced medicine two years at North Java, Wyoming county. New York, 
commencing in 1842; attended two courses of lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, from 
which institution he received the degree of doctor of medicine in 1844: came to Genoa, De Kalb 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 255 

county, that year, and practiced there till uS6i, when he moved to Sycamore, which has since been 
his home and the central field of his radiations. His practice has always been general and good, 
and attended with marked success. He has held very few civil offices, and has given his time 
almost exclusively to his profession. He is a member of the County Medical Society, and was its 
president one term. 

In politics he was originally a democrat, and a warm admirer of Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, 
bnt broke away from that party in 1S60 and voted for Abraham Lincoln. He is still attached to 
the republican party. 

He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order, a Congregationalist in religious bias, a regular 
attendant on Christian worship when at home, a liberal contributor for the support of the Gospel 
and collateral causes, and a man of unblemished character. 

The doctor was first married at North Java, New York, in June, 1843, to Louisa Hughes, who 
died the next year, and the second time in January, 1848, to Miss Lucinda Sherman, of Burling- 
ton, Kane county, Illinois, having had by her five children, of whom only two, both sons, are now 
living: Edward C. is in a commission house at Kansas City, Missouri, and Frank Hamilton is 
attending the public schools of Sycamore. 



T 



OLIVER LOWNDES DAVIS. 

DANVILLE. 

HE subject of this sketch, a native of New York city, was born December 20, 1819, the son 
of William Davis and Olivia (Thompson) Davis. His father was a native of Saratoga, New 
York, and after removing to New York city, was for many years engaged, with varying success, 
as a shipping merchant. The mother of our subject was a native of Connecticut. Oliver received 
his early education in the select schools of New York, and afterward studied at Hamilton Acad- 
emy, and still later at an academy in Canandaigua, New York. After closing his studies in 
school, he entered the service of the American Fur Company, which was founded by John Jacob 
Astor, and which was at that time under the presidency of Ramsey Crookes. He continued with 
this company until 1841, when, having determined to make his home in the West, he removed to 
Illinois, and settled at Danville, his present home. 

Early in life he had looked forward to the time when he could enter the legal profession, and 
now, in keeping with his long cherished desire, he placed himself under the tuition of Isaac P. 
Walker, and began the study of law. By close application and untiring diligence, he made rapid 
and permanent progress in his studies, and December 15, 1842, was admitted to the bar. Open- 
ing an office on his own account, he continued his studies in connection with his practice, and 
soon established himself in an extensive and lucrative business, and became widely known as an 
able advocate and an honorable, high-minded lawyer. 

In 1861, upon the formation of the twenty-seventh circuit court, Mr. Davis was elected judge, 
and commissioned March 27 of that year. July i following, he was again commissioned, and 
held the office until July 10, 1866, when, owing to the meagerness of the salary, he resigned, and 
resumed the practice of his profession, which he continued with marked success until 1873, when 
he was elected judge of the fifteenth circuit court. This office he held until 1879, when he was 
elected and commissioned judge of the fourth circuit court, an office which he still holds. Dur- 
ing this time (September 25, 1877) he was appointed, by the supreme court, one of the judges of 
the appellate court, an office to which he was reappointed June 14, 1879, and again June 10, 1882. 
Throughout his wide acquaintance Judge Davis is known for his legal acumen, and honesty and 
purity of motive, while his equitable rulings and true gentlemanly bearing have secured to him 
the high esteem of all who know him. As a lawyer he has honored his profession, while as a 
judge he holds the unqualified respect of both bench and bar. 

In politics Judge Davis was originally a democrat, but upon the organizati(jn of the republi- 



256 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

can party, he became identified with that body. He was elected to the state legislature in 185 1, 
and again in 1857. Aside from this he has declined political preferment, finding more satisfac- 
tory occupation in the practice of his chosen profession. In his religious views he is a Presbyte- 
rian, having united with that church in 1870. 

Judge Davis was married December 5, 1844, to Miss Sarah M. Cunningham, a daughter of 
Hezekiah Cunningham and Mary (Alexander) Cunningham, of Vermilion county, Illinois, where 
she was born. Her father was a native of Virginia, and her mother of Georgia, in the history of 
which state many members of her family, which is traced back through a long line of illustrious 
ancestors, have been prominent actors. Of ten children that have been born to Judge and Mrs. 
Davis six are now living. 

ORVILLE F. BERRY. 

CARTHAGE. 

ORVILLE FRANK BERRY, of the firm of Sharp and Berry Brothers, and grand master of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen for the state of Illinois, dates his birth at Table 
Grove, McDonough county, this state, February 16, 1S52, his parents being Lee and Martha (Mc- 
Connell) Berry. We learn from the "History of Hancock County" that his father was for years 
a prominent man in McDonough county; that he was deputy sheriff and sheriff; that he was a 
captain of militia during the Mormon excitement and outbreak, and that he closed a life of emi- 
nent usefulness at Table Grove in 1858. The widow died two years later. 

Orville finished his education at the Fountain Green high school; read law at Carthage with 
Mack and Baird, and was admitted to the bar by the supreme court in January, 1877, He formed 
a partnership with Judge Thomas C. Sharp, sketched on other pages of this work, and a year 
later his younger brother, Melvin P. Berry, was taken into the firm, the name of which we have 
already given. Melvin P. Berry was born at Table Grove, 1853; educated at Carthage College; 
read law with Mack and Baird, of Carthage, and was admitted to the bar in February, 1879. 
The firm of Sharp and Berry Brothers is one of the leading law firms in the county, and does a 
large business in the several state and federal courts. Mr. Berry is an indefatigable worker in 
the interests of his clients, and is a growing man. 

The subject of this notice is a prominent member of the republican party, being chairman of 
both the senatorial and county committees in this district. He takes a great interest in poli- 
tics, and makes a large number of speeches during every canvass, there being probably no more 
effective worker in the county, and is now mayor of the city of Carthage. 

Mr. Berry is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order, and at the head of the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen in the state, being widely known, and a young man of much influence. He 
was married in Fountain Green township, in March, 1873, to Miss Anna M. Barr, a native of 
Pennsylvania, and they have buried three children and have two living, Clarence and Frank. 



JOSEPH KIRKLAND. 

CHICAGO. 

JOSEPH KIRKLAND, lawyer, and son of William Kirkland, A.M., at one period professor in 
Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, and of Caroline M. (Stansbury) Kirkland, author, was 
born at Geneva, New York, January 7, 1830. The progenitor of the family in this country was 
John Kirkland, a member of the colony that settled in Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1635. Joseph 
Kirkland, the grandfather of our subject, was a general of militia in the war of 181 2-14, the first 
mayor of Utica, New York, and a nephew of Rev. Samuel Kirkland, a missionary to the Six 
Nations of Indians a little more than a hundred years ago. John Thornton Kirkland, D.D., a 
son of the above, and a cousin of General Joseph Kirkland, was president of Harvard College, 
1810-1828. 



J 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



257 



Mr. Kirkland was educated partly in common schools and largely at home, and in 1835 the 
family came as far west as Pinckney, Livingston county, Michigan, where, we believe, Mrs. Kirk- 
land wrote her first and famous work, "A New Home; Who'll Follow ? " which raised her at once 
to an honorable place among the female authors of the country. That volume was followed by 
" Western Clearings," and other works popular thirty and forty years ago, and still having 
admiring readers. Later in life Mrs. Kirkland edited the " Union Magazine," a very well known 
periodical, which had a wide circulation. Mrs. Kirkland died in New York city in 1864, and her 
husband at Newburgh, New York, in 1847. 

The subject of this sketch was a clerk in New York city for several years; came to the West 
in 1856, and was auditor of the Illinois Central railroad. On the breaking out of civil war, he 
enlisted in company C, 12th Illinois infantry; served until 1863, being promoted to second lieu- 
tenant, captain and major, and participating in the engagement at Rich Mountain, the siege of 
Yorktown, and the battles of Hanover Court-house, Gaines' Mill, Malvern Hill, Antietam, and 
Fredericksburgh, He received no wound himself, but at the last named battle had his horse 
shot from under him. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 

After the war Major Kirkland was for some years engaged in coal mining in Vermilion coun- 
ty, Illinois, and Fountain county, Indiana. From 1875 to 1878 he was deputy collector of internal 
revenue, Chicago. He studied law in this city, was admitted to the bar in January, 1880, and is 
a member of the firm of Bangs and Kirkland, his partner being Hon. Mark Bangs, whose sketch 
and portrait appear in this work. 

Major Kirkland is an independent republican, but we cannot learn that he has been very active 
in politics. He married, in 1863, Miss Theodosia Burr Wilkinson, of Syracuse, New York, and 
they have fiuir children. 

JAMES M. GARLAND. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JAMES MAURICE GARLAND, merchant, and member of the Illinois house of representa- 
tives for the thirty-fifth district, embracing Sangamon county, is a native of Springfield, 
dating his birth September 26, 1835. His father was Nicholas A. Garland, born in Albermarle 
county, Virginia, in 1806. and belonging to an old Virginia family. The great-grandfather of 
James took up arms against King George III, and bravely fought for the independence of the 
colonies. When the father of our subject became of age, he inherited a dozen or more slaves in 
his part of the estate, and having conscientious scruples on the subject of holding them in bond- 
age, he brought them to Illinois, gave them their freedom, and stipulated to pay them a certain 
amount of wages. 

The mother of our subject was Mary Phillips, daughter of Rev. Samuel Phillips, D.D., of Bed- 
ford county, Virginia, a noted preacher and physician for more than fifty years. He died at Lib- 
erty, Virginia, some years before the civil war. Mrs. Garland was the mother of eight children, 
of whom James M. was the third. He finished his education in the high school of Springfield, 
his studies embracing some of the higher mathematics, Latin, etc., and at nineteen years of age 
he became a clerk for E. B. Hawley, who, four or five years later, took him into partnership. 
That business connection lasted about ten years, when, in 1869, Mr. Garland bought out his part- 
ner, and since then has been alone in trade. He keeps a general stock of dry goods, and is doing 
a good business, being among the leading men in his line in the city. Mr. Garland is a straight- 
forward, fair dealer, scorning all the tricks of the trade, and increasing his patrons and friends 
from year to year. 

Mr. Garland was a member of the county board of supervisors for Capital township for three 
terms, and in that position he made a good record, and his usefulness as a public functionary was 
brought to the notice of the people, ultimately paving the way, no doubt, to his elevation to his 
present seat in the legislature. Sangamon county is democratic, and it was a bold step on the 



2 5'8 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

part of Mr. Garland to allow his name to go before a republican convention, as a candidate for 
the house. But his friends probably knew his strength quite as well as he did. They put him 
forward in November, 1880, and elected him, and he is making a first-class working member. In 
the first session in which he was a member, he was made chairman of the committees on inaugu- 
ration ceremonies and on visiting state institutions, and a member of the committees on corpora- 
tions, finance, railroads and insurance. He seconded the nomination of General Horace H. 
Thomas for speaker of the thirty-second general assembly, and his speech made on that occasion, 
though short, was well worded and decidedly neat and happy. General Thomas is a native of 
Vermont, and Mr. Garland's reference to the Green Mountain boys, a title of honor wherever 
liberty is loved and right is respected, was timely and taking. Happy, also, was the speaker's 
reference to Chicago, as furnishing, in General Thomas, her first presiding oflBcer in this house, 
she being the splendid metropolis of the Mississippi Valley and of the rich Northwest. Mr. Gar- 
land was the father of the bill for the appropriation to complete the Lincoln monument, and of 
the bill for the bureau of labor statistics. Mr. Garland cast his first vote for John C. Fremont, in 
November, 1856, having reached his majority a few weeks before, and has always voted the 
republican ticket. He married, in February, 1858, Mary E. Hawley, daughter of Eliphalet B. 
Hawley, and they have seven children living, three sons and four daughters, and lost one son in 
infancy. 

HON. JAMES McCOY. 

FULTON CITY. 

THE oldest lawyer in Fulton City, and one of the leading lawyers in Whiteside county, Illinois, 
is James McCoy, a native of Greenbrier county, Virginia. He is a son of William McCoy 
and Nancy (Hannah) McCoy, and was born September 22, 1816. The McCoys were originally 
from Scotland, and settled at first in Maryland, moving thence to Virginia. James received an 
academic education in Monroe county, Virginia; read law, and when nearly of age turned his 
steps westward, believing that in this part of the country were the best openings for a young man, 
having the legal profession in view. He reached Fulton in May, 1837, was smitten with the 
beauty of the site for a town, then little more than a site, and concluded to make this his home 
for life, though he did not settle down immediately. April, 1839, he went to Ohio, and married 
on the twenty-third of that month Miss Elizabeth Russell, of Champaign county, formerly of 
London county, Virginia, returning to Fulton in the following October. 

In 1840, when Fulton had become a village of perhaps 300 inhabitants, Mr. McCoy entered 
in earnest upon the practice of his profession, to which he has since given very close attention, 
when not engaged in public duties. His practice, as we learn from the " History of Whiteside 
County," has taken in all the courts of Illinois and adjoining states, and the district, circuit and 
supreme courts of the United States. 

The writer of this sketch has known Mr. McCoy for a score of years, and cheerfully bears tes- 
timony to his high moral as well as legal character and standing. His record in all respects is 
an honor to the profession. He has been a leader in movements tending to build up the home of 
his adoption; was prominent, not to say foremost, in the enterprise brought forward in 185 1 
to connect the Mississippi River with the lakes by rail, and took conspicuous part in securing 
the river terminus at Fulton City; was a director and the first president of the Mississippi and 
Rock River Junction railroad, now the Chicago and North- Western Railway Company, one of the 
roads having the above mentioned object in view, and it was mostly due to his untiring efforts 
that the bill to incorporate a company to build a road from Lyons, Iowa, to Council Bluffs, 
same state, was secured. When, in 1857, the legislature passed an act giving the county court 
concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court, he was elected judge of Whiteside county, and 
resigned at the end of two years. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention in 1869 and 
1870 to form a new constitution, in which body his legal mind and sound judgment were very 





^2^ ^^^ 



UNITED STATES BfOCR.ir/f/C.U. DrCTRWAKY. 26 1 

serviceable in securing the incorporation with tlie new state cliarter, of many of its very best 
features. 

Judge McCoy has always taken much interest in the cause of education, and was one of the 
trustees of the Illinois Soldier's College, located at Fulton City; held that position while the col- 
lege retained that name, and has also held it since the institution took the name of Northern Illi- 
nois College. No man in Fulton City has a deeper interest in its educational, material and social 
welfare than the judge. 

He is a republican, and was a delegate to the national convention which renominated Presi- 
dent Lincoln (1S64), and was a presidential elector in 1868. 

Mr. and Mrs. McCoy have six children living, and have buried one son. Melvina is the wife of 
Robert E. Logan, of Union Grove; William J. is a lawyer, married to Marie Aylsworth, and liv- 
ing in Morrison, Illinois; Albert Russell married Fannie Cougar, and is a lawyer in Clinton, Iowa; 
Addison \V. is married to Georgiana Freeman, and is a physician in Wichita, Kansas; Augustine 
is at home, and Edward, the youngest, is a lumber merchant in Sinu.x Rapids, Iowa. 



HENRY C. DONALDSON, M.D. 

MORiaSON. 

HENRY CHAPMAN DONALDSON, the oldest medical practitioner in Whiteside county, 
was born in Guilford, Chenango county,- New York, April 19, 1825. His father was Rev. 
Asa Donaldson, a Presbyterian minister, who was born in Munson, Hampshire county, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1788; married Delia Allen, at Burlington, Otsego county, New York, in 1812;' was 
licensed to preach by the Union Association in Madison county, New York, in 1817 ; commenced 
his ministry at (iuilford in 1818, and was installed in May of the following year. He was pastor 
at Guilford between thirteen and fourteen years; removed to Mansfield, Tioga county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1832; served the Presbyterian church there until the autumn of 1839; removed to 
Bureau county, this state ; began a pastorate at Dover, that county, in October, 1839, and con- 
tinued it for seventeen years, and died at Chariton, Iowa, in 1876, in his eighty-eighth year, liter- 
ally "fidl of years." His whole life was faithfully spent in the service of his master. 

It is a family of remarkable longevity on both sides. The mother of Rev. Asa Donaldson, 
whose maiden name was Abigail EUenwood, died at the age of ninety-nine years ; her husband at 
the age of ninety-three, and Asa's only brother, Eli Donaldson, at ninety-three. Asa Donaldson 
had five sisters, most of whom died between seventy and eighty, and at least one of them exceeded 
four score years. 

Henry C. Donaldson was the seventh child in a family of twelve children, all but one of whom 
lived to manhood and womanhood, and two of the sons chose their father's sacred calling. All 
of the children were active members of either the Presbyterian or Congregational church; all 
reared families, and all but three are living at the present ume. 

Our subject received an ordinary English education ; studied medicine at Dover, Illinois, with 
Doctor William Robinson ; practiced lirst at Prophetstown, Whiteside county, commencing in 
1847 ; attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which institution he received the 
degree of doctor of medicine in 1850, and after practicing one more year at Prophetstown, moved 
to Como, in the same county. Twelve years later he settled in Morrison (May, 1863). Thirty- 
five years' constant practice in Whiteside county has brought him in contact with at least three 
generations of its inhabitants, and he is one of the best known men in its limits. His old patrons 
have unbounded confidence in his skill, and will go a long way to call him rather than try a new 
man. At no period of his life has his practice been better than at present, and his profession has 
been a complete success. 

Doctor Donaldson is one of two men, who, in 1S51, originated the Whiteside County Medical 
Society, of which he was an early secretary, and has been its president several times, holding that 
27 



262 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

office now (1882). He was also one of the originators of the Roclv River Medical Society, which 
embraces Lee, Ogle and Whiteside counties, and of which he has also been an officer. He is also 
a member of the Illinois State Medical Societ}', and was a delegate some years ago to the Ameri- 
can Medical Association, holding the same position, under appointment, at this time. He is cor- 
oner of Whiteside county, and serving his second year. 

The doctor is a member of the Congregational church, and has been a trustee for the last 
fifteen years or more. He is also deacon, and a thorough-going Christian worlcer, being county 
secretary of the Illinois State Sunday School Association. Doctor Donaldson married, at 
Prophetstown, in January, 1S49, Miss Bethiah Ellithorp, a native of Saratoga county. New York, 
and they have had four children, two sons and two daughters, burying one of the latter. Ira B., 
the elder son, is a banker at Norfolk, Nebraska ; Lizzie is the wife of Doctor W. L. Duffin, of 
Guttenberg, Iowa, and Earl S. is reading medicine with his father. The elder daughter, who 
died, Evelyn, was the first wife of Doctor Duffin, mentioned above, and died in June, 1878. We 
learn from the sermon preached at her funeral, that she was "accomplished in mind and heart, 
a perfect lady in the truest sense of the word. She understood how, as few do, to lead the circle 
of her friends into the channels of pure and purifying conversation. Her deportment on all 
occasions was alike pleasant, cheering, natural, and as. such, she will serve as a model worthy of 
imitation." She was very active in Christian labor, a member of the Congregational church, 
and a prime mover in organizing a Sunday school in the German town, in Iowa, where her 
husband was, and still is, in practice, and where she died. 



HON. THOMAS C. SHARP. 

CARTHAGE. 

THOMAS COKE SHARP, the oldest newspaperman in Hancock county still in the editorial 
chair, is a son of Rev. Solomon Sharp, a pioneer Methodist preacher in the Philadelphia 
conference, and was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey, September 25, 1.S18. His mother was 
Jemima Budd, a native of Burlington county. New Jersey. Mr. Sharp was educated at Dickinson 
College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, taking the scientific course; entered the law school at the same 
place in 1837, and during a year and a half, while pursuing his legal studies, supported himself 
by teaching a high school. He also filled the place of the tutor in mathematics in the college for 
six months. 

He was admitted to the bar of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, in April, 1840, and the next 
August we find him in a law office of his own in Ouincy, this state. The next month he took 
down his shingle, and hung it out at Warsaw, in this county. Being at that time a little deaf, 
the next year he laid aside his law books, and took to journalism. He purchased the " Western 
World " of D. N. White, Mr. White's foreman, James Gamble, joining Mr. Sharp in the venture, 
and not long afterward they changed the name to the " Warsaw Signal," the former name being 
too high-sounding and pretentious to suit the taste of Mr. Sharp. Before the close of 1841 he 
found himself sole proprietor of the paper; but it had so heavy a debt upon it that in 1S42 he 
gladly surrendered it into the hands of Mr. White. 

In September of that year Mr. Sharp married Mrs. Hannah G. Wilcox, widow of J. R. Wilcox, 
and she died in 1879, leaving three children by her second husband. For a year and a half Mr. 
Sharp tried farming, when, being satisfied that his forte did not lie in that direction, in February, 
1844, he resuscitated the "Signal," which took the place of the Warsaw "Message." The Mor- 
mon war of words was now raging in Hancock county, and Mr. Sharp was the "Jupiter Tonans" 
of the anti-Mormon press. He thundered away; the clouds thickened; war came in reality; 
Joe and Hiram Smith were killed at Carthage, June 27,1844. Mr. Sharp and others, innocent 
of the charge of firing, were tried, and nobody connected with the war was hung. A full account 
of our subject's connection with the Mormon affray may be found in Gregg's "History of Han- 
cock County," to which the reader is referred. 



UNITED STATES BIOLiKAPIlICAL DICTIONARY. 263 

The Mormons left Nauvoo in the autumn of 1^46, when Mr. Sharp sohl tlie " Siirnal," and for 
awliile engaged in out-door business for liis health. He was a member of the constitutional con- 
vention in i<S47; was elected justice of the peace in 1851; the first mayor of Warsaw in 1853; held 
that office at sundry times, five years in all; started, in 1854, the Warsaw "Express," a neutral 
paper, devoted largely to railroad interests; sold out in fifteen months; changed his politics from 
an anti-Nebraska democrat to a republican, and in 1856 was the candidate of that party for con- 
gress in a strong democratic district, and made an able but unsuccessful canvass. 

In 1864 he took charge of a Union paper called the Warsaw "New Era "; sold out the next 
year, and the paper came to Carthage, taking the name of the Carthage "Gazette" (June, 1865). 
In the autumn of that year Mr. Sharp was elected county judge, and he then moved to Carthage. 
He held that office four years, and was defeated for reelection, the democrats having gained the 
ascendancy in the county. Resuming the practice of law, he followed it exclusively for a short 
time, and was then persuaded to return to journalism, taking editorial charge of the "Gazette" 
at the close of 1869, and purchasing the paper in June of the next year, still continuing his law 
practice. From that date, with the exception of a little more than one year, he has had the edi- 
torial control and management of the paper, which he makes a powerful exponent of republican 
principles. 

Since 1878 he has been practicing law in company with O. F. Berry, and since 1879 with M. 
P. Berry, the three constituting the leading firm at the county seat. A resident of Hancock 
county for more than forty years. Judge Sharp is thoroughly conversant with its histor}', with 
which he is also intimately identified. A sound lawyer, a trenchant writer, and an honest man, 
he has a host of friends in the county, and their number is increasing much more rapidly than 
his years. 

CHARLES HAY, M.D. 

IVARSA \V. 

THE gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch is one of the oldest 
physicians and surgeons in Hancock county. He is a native of Fayette county, Kentucky, 
a son of John and Jemima (Coulton) Hay, and was born February 7, 1801. He belongs to a fam- 
ily somewhat noted for its longevity, his father living to be ninety years old, and a sister of his 
father to one hundred and four. Adam Hay, grandfather of Charles, was in the revolutionary 
army. The Hay family settled in Virginia in the early part of the eighteenth century, the pro- 
genitor being of remote Scotch descent, yet coming from the province of Alsace, Germany, to 
this country. 

Our subject was educated by a private tutor, Samuel Wilson, who was also the tutor of Henry 
Clay, Joseph C, R. J. and John C. Breckenridge, and other prominent men of Kentucky and the 
South; read medicine with Doctor William H. Richardson, of Lexington, Kentucky; attended 
lectures at Transylvania Medical School, same city, and received the degree of doctor of medi- 
cine in 1829. Doctor Hay located in Salem, Indiana, where he was in practice for twelve years. 
While there, in October, 1831. he was married to Miss Helen Leonard, a native of Bristol, 
Rhode Island. They celebrated their golden wedding October 12, 1881. While in Indiana the 
doctor edited the Salem "Whig" for five years. 

In the autumn of 1841 he came into this state, and settled at Warsaw, where he was in the 
eminently successful practice of his profession until about 1877, when he retired, and is now living 
a quiet and contented life with the companion of his younger years. Mrs. Hay is a woman of 
fine mental qualities and great force of character, a daughter of Rev. David A. Leonard, a gradu- 
ate of Brown University, a Baptist minister and a splendid Greek scholar. She had two sisters, 
Mrs. Farnham and Mrs. Merryweather, who were superior scholars and great linguists, and she 
has two sisters living in Warsaw, Mrs. Grover and Mrs. Hinch. 

Doctor Hay has been a very useful citizen outside of his profession. He was the leader in 



264 UNITED STATES FUOGRA TIIICA L DICTIONARY. 

founding the Warsaw public library, of which he is still one of the directors; was a member of 
the board of education several years, and for a long time was overseer of the town poor, holding 
the latter office until he absolutely declined to serve any longer. He is also a director of the Oak- 
land Cemetery, Warsaw, and has always shown a commendable spirit of enterprise. 

For a long period Doctor Hay was a member of the Hancock County Medical Society, and 
occasionally read an essay before that body. A paper which lie wrote on the Asiatic cholera in 
1833 was published in the Transylvania "Journal of Medicine," and attracted a good deal of 
attention. 

Doctor Hay joined the Freemasons soon after coming to Warsaw, but has never gone higher 
than the third degree. He is a veteran in the temperance cause, and an earnest worker in the 
general interests of humanity. 

Doctor and Mrs. Hay have four children living, and have buried two, the oldest and youngest. 
Edward Leonard, the first born, died at Salem, Indiana, aged eight years. Augustus Leonard, the 
oldest child living, is a captain in the United States army, and was in the service during the latter 
part of the civil war. Mary P. is the widow of Major A. C. Woolfolk, a lawyer by profession. He 
was in the service of his country from 1861 to 1866, being quartermaster at Cairo most of the 
time. He died in Colorado in 1880 of a disease contracted in the army, and his widow brought 
his remains to Warsaw, and they lie in Oakland Cemetery. She resides with her parents. Colonel 
John Hay is well known as President Lincoln's private secretary; as secretary of the legation to 
Paris under Minister Bigelow; charge d'affaires to Vienna in place of John L. Motley; secretary 
of legation to Madrid under General Sickles, etc. In the civil war he was on the staff of General 
Gilmore, and breveted colonel. Charles E. Hay, the \'oungest child living, was a lieutenant on 
the staff of General Hunter, and breveted captain at the close of the rebellion, and is now a gen- 
eral merchant at Springfield, this state, and connected with the rolling mills of that city. Helen 
J., the youngest child of all, was married to H. O. Whitney, of Keokuk, Iowa. He went through 
the four years war for the Union. She died in Warsaw in 1873, and also sleeps in Oakland Ceme- 
tery. The whole family of sons and sons-in-law were in the service of their country — a band of 
noble patriots all. The sons are all men of fine talents and excellent literary taste, brilliant as 
well as patriotic. If the mother of tlie Gracchi was proud of her sons, Mrs. Hay ought to be. 



JOHN B. DAVISON, M.D. 

MOLINE. 

T OHN BEST DAVISON, who belongs to the older class of medical men in Rock Island county, 
J is a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, his birth being dated June 11, 1826. His 
parents were Thomas W. and Mary (Best) Davison, both natives of tiiat state. The son received 
an academic education at Ligonier, in his native county; studied his profession for tiiree years 
with Doctor Thomas Richardson, of Greensburgh, the shire town of Westmoreland county; 
attended a course of lectures at Jefferson College, Phi'adelphia; commenced practice in 1S52 in 
Indiana county, Pennsylvania, and was in that county and Westmoreland until 1858, when he came 
into this state and located at Camden, now Milan, Rock Island county. 

In 1S62 Doctor Davison went into the army as first assistant surgeon of the 90th Illinois 
infantry, the Irish legion, Colonel O'Meara, of Chicago, commander. The surgeon did not go 
into the field, and our subject performed the duties of surgeon during the six or seven months 
that he was with the regiment. At the end of that time he broke completely down while in Mis- 
sissippi, and was obliged to resign. Returning to Rock Island county, Doctor Davison resumed 
practice at Milan. In 1867 he went to Philadelphia; took another course of lectures in Jefferson 
Medical College, and received the degree of doctor of medicine. In 1869 he removed from Milan 
to Moline, in the same county, and in a very short time built up a remunerative practice. In Sep- 
tember of the following year he was married to Miss Nettie II. Edwards, daughter of William H. 
Edwards, of Moline. 



UNITED STATES BlOaRAPIIICAL DICTION A RY. 



265 



The writer uf this sketch has known Doctor Davison since about the time he settled there, and 
while his practice is general, and he makes a specialty of no one branch, he has many difficult 
cases in surgery and a very liberal share of practice in obstetrics. His standing in all respects is 
first-class. 

Doctor Davison is a republican in politics, a Knight Templar in Masonry, a member of 
Everts Commandery, No. t8, Rock Island, an Odd-Fellow, and a member of the Congregational 
Church. His moral, like his professional, standing is excellent. He holds a membership in the 
State Medical Society and in the American Medical Association, and is known to the profession 
outside the state of Illinois. The doctor has done some work in connection with the Moline 
school board, but has shunned office as much as he could consistently with his duties as a citizen. 



CHARLES W. GRIGGS. 

CHICAGO. 

/-^IIARLES WADSWORTH GRIGGS, lawyer, of the firm of Bonney, Fay and Griggs, dates 
\^ his birth at West Troy, New York, December 17, 1843, his parents being Ira and Alida Mabie 
(Exceen) Griggs. His father was a machinist, whose ancestors were from Connecticut. The 
pedigree of his mother is traced directly back to Holland, and the family in this country were 
among the early settlers in the Mohawk Valley, New York. Our subject finished his literary 
education in the Utica (New York) Academy; came to Chicago in 1858; read law with C. C. Bon- 
ney, who is elsewhere sketched; was admitted to the bar on reaching his majority, December 17 
1864, and immediately taken into business with his preceptor, under the firm name of Bonney 
and Griggs. In 1869 J. E. Fay was associated with them, under the style of Bonney, Fay and 
Griggs. It is one of the most reputable law firms in the city of Chicago, every member standing 
high in his profession, and bearing in all respects an irreproachable character. 

Mr. Griggs enjoys an enviable reputation as a lawyer. His mind is judicial in its constitution, 
his knowledge accurate, and his judgment well-balanced. He is inclined to be over cautious and 
to underrate the value of his own services. His absolute integrity and thorough reliabilitv have 
given him a valuable clientage, and the qualities above described have enabled him to achieve 
success in the profession without the graces of oratory, which are so great an aid to many lawyers. 

Mr. Griggs is an independent republican, but we cannot learn that he ever dabbles in politics 
or would be regarded as a partisan. One thing is certain, he would not support a tainted nomi- 
nee of any party. 

He is a member of the Reformed Dutch church, now known as the American Reformed 
church, and is a man of solid Christian character. Mr. Griggs is a man of fine social qualities, 
and his manners are thoroughly polished. He married in 1870 Emma, daughter of Edward Wal- 
ter, of Chicago, and they have three children. 



ALFRED W. ARMSTRONG, M.D. 

KIRKWOOD. 

ALFRED WEIR ARMSTRONG, one of the older class of medical men in Warren county, 
. and a gentleman of excellent standing in his profession, was born near Knoxville, east Ten- 
nessee, January 22, 1807. His father, John Armstrong, a farmer, was born in Knox county, same 
state, and his grandfather, Robert Armstrong, was from Ireland. Alfred's mother, before her 
marriage, was Nancy Weir, also a native of Tennessee. He received a classical education at 
East Tennessee Universit)', Knoxville, taking the full course; taught the Latin language one year 
in the same institution, and Latin, together with some of the English branches, two years in the 
male seminary, same place. During this period he was also engaged in the reading of medical 
works; then studied two years with Doctor Mcintosh; attended medical lectures at Drake's Insti- 



266 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. 

tute, Cincinnati; was licensed to practice, and commenced at Knoxville, May i, i<S36, bnt con- 
cluded not to remain there. A few weeks later he went to Rutledge, Grainger count}', Tennessee, 
and after being there two years was appointed deputy surgeon of the army for Cherokee immigra- 
tion, holding that position one year. He continued to practice in the vicinity of the Cherokee 
agency until 1844, when he moved to Crawfordsville, Indiana. There he practiced most of the 
time for thirteen or fourteen years. While there he attended a course of lectures in Rush Medi- 
cal College, Chicago, receiving the degree of doctor of medicine in February, 1848. Immedi- 
ately afterward, partly for his health, he spent one season in Texas. 

In 1858 Doctor Armstrong came into Illinois, and settled at Young America, now Kirkwood, 
where he has been ever since, excepting a year spent in California (1873-4) and a year in Arkan- 
sas (1877-8). Failing to be pleased with the climate of either of those states, he returned to 
Illinois. He has been in general practice, and in his younger years did an extensive business. 
Latterly he has sought to avoid long rides, and his calls are mainly in and near the town. His 
neighbors speak very highly of his skill as a physician and of his character as a man. He is a 
member of the Presbyterian Church. 

The doctor reads the medical periodicals with the zest of earlier years, and keeps well posted 
on the progress of medical science. He is a member of the Military Tract Medical Society, and 
is well known among the fraternity of his profession in this part of the state. He is now and 
for a number of years has been president of the board of health of Kirkwood, but has held very 
few offices of any kind, giving his time to his profession. His politics are democratic. 

Our subject was first married in Tennessee in 1836 to Miss Margaret FulkersDU, a native of 
Virginia. She had four children, and died in 1845. One child died before her, and the other 
three children have since joined her in the world of spirits. He was again married in the autumn 
of 1847, in Indiana, to Miss Mary E. Westfall. of that state, and they have three children: William 
D., a dentist, Kirkwood; Sarah Louisa, wife of Samuel F. Allen, Kirkwood, and Martha M., who 
is at home. 

LAWRENCE C. EARLE. 

CHICAGO. 

L\WRENCE C. EARLE, artist, is a grandson of Edward Earle, a British officer who retired 
/ on half pay, and came to this country in the early part of the present century, and a son of 
John E. Earle, who was a jobber in dry goods, velvets, and broadcloths in New York city at the 
time of Lawrence's birth, November 11, 1844. His mother was Mary (Dorset) Earle, a native of 
that city. In 1857 the family moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where the father was engaged 
extensively in the manufacture of woolen cloths until his death in 1S74. Mrs. Earle is still living, 
and resides with her son in Chicago. 

Our subject received an academic education, including the classics ; aided his father awhile in 
the manufacturing business, and in 1S72 went to Munich to study his profession. There he 
remained nearly three years, returning at the close of 1874, making his home in Chicago, and 
attending very diligently to his studies and work as an artist. In the autumn of 1880 Mr. Earle 
went to Florence and Rome, and spent a year or more in the study of water colors, returning 
well satisfied, we believe, with his progress in the art. He makes figure painting a specialty. 
Mr. Earle is a man of great strength of character, having a fine sense of honor, a scrupulous 
regard for all moral obligations and a lofty conception of his duties in life. In social intercourse 
he is graceful and attractive, his artistic training and extensive travels having made him a most 
enjoyable as well as an improving companion. He is always welcomed in the most cultivated 
and discriminating circles of society, and wins enduring friendships wherever he goes. 

As an artist he has always been a pains-taking and laborious worker, and though he executes 
with a rapidity that is very unusual, and that seems marvelous to those not accustomed to it, he 
nevertheless seems to be ever striving to improve his methods, and consequently shows a steady 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 267 

growth in the excellence of his prodvictions. In former years he worked almost entirely in oil 
colors, but in later years he has been quite enthusiastic in his water color work, and his versatil- 
ity and aptitude are so great that he seems equally effective in both materials. Having always 
been a devoted sportsman and successful hunter, his tastes have always been in the direction of 
game animals and hunting scenes, and many of his game pictures are equal to anything of the 
kind ever produced in America. 

COLONEL WILLIAM H. FULKERSON. 

JERSEYVILLE. 

WILLIAM HOUSTON FULKERSON, a native of Claiborne county, Tennessee, born Sep- 
tember 9, 1834, has the best stock farm in Jersey county and one of the best in Illinois. 
He came here in 1866, and commenced with 320 acres, two miles north of Jerseyville, the county 
seat, and subsequently enlarged his farm to 620 acres. He has other farms in this county, but 
Hazeldell, the homestead, is strictly a stock farm, with a fine brick house, a gem of architectural 
beauty and comfort, standing a few rods west of the public road, with model outbuildings, cow 
barn, horse barn, etc., standing still farther back from the road. Everything about the premises 
indicates wise planning and convenience, and the comfort of beast as well as man. 

In "Glosser's Guide and Gazetteer of the Chicago, Alton and Saint Louis Railroad" we find 
the following reference to this famous stock farm: 

"The large herd of blooded cattle found here comprises some of the choicest and most beauti- 
ful animals in America — Continental Europe and the states of Kentucky, Vermont and Vir- 
ginia largely contributing to the colonel's grazing fields and stables of thoroughbred short-horns. 
Hazeldell is noted for its charming situation, and the genuine hospitality accorded strangers, 
whether on business or for the purpose of sight-seeing. Well set back from the old state road, 
on a gradual rise of ground, is Colonel Fulkerson's conspicuous residence — conspicuous for its 
architectural symmetry and its middle tower, from which is afforded an extended and unobstructed 
view of the stock-raising and wheat-growing fields of one of the richest agricultural sections in 
the United States. 

The house is a model of convenience and comfort, being lighted with gas and heated by hot 
air. It is luxuriously furnished, and contains a well-selected library. The coloners reception room 
bears unmistakable evidence as to the superiority of his stock in trade. Scores of blue and red 
ribbons, gold and silver medals, awards from the various national, state and county fairs, is con- 
clusive of the old adage, that 'blood will tell.' In fact, everything in and about the premises 
indicates taste, refinement and wealth. The colonel is the happy possessor of a very interesting 
family, having married a most estimable' lady, the daughter of Joseph Russell, of Hawkins county, 
Tennessee. The result of this happy union is five children, three boys and two girls, playful and 
intelligent, exhibiting evidences of a careful tutorship. 

Such is a brief insight into the Hazeldell stock farm and the home of Colonel William H. 
Fulkerson, a gentleman who is singularly fortunate in knowing how and having the nerve to prop- 
erly utilize and enjoy wealth. He is equally singularly fortunate in that he has all friends and 
no enemies. A man of temperate habits, cool brain, fluent in conversation, industrious and truth- 
ful in all things, his exemplary life is well worthy the study of the rising youth." 

At first Colonel Fulkerson made a specialty of fine horses, but he now keeps only about thirty, 
while he has a round hundred short-horn cattle, including the finest lot of heifers the writer ever 
saw on anyone farm. Mr. Fulkerson is proud of his cattle, his horses, his Poland, China and red 
Berkshire pigs, his Angora goats, and he has a right to be, for he has made the raising of thor- 
oughbred stock a study, and it is among the best of its kind in this great state. 

Our subject is as full of enterprise as his barns are of stock or his house of premium ribbons. 
He has two good orchards; raises an abundance of small fruit; is a prominent member of the 
Alton Horticultural Society; was president of the Jersey county fair in 1881-2; was countj^ judge 



268 UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPFflCAL V/CT/ONARY. 

at one period; at another, the general manager of the Jerseyville branch of the Wabash railroad, 
and in public spirit and push is one of the foremost men in this part of the state. 

The colonel is a son of the late James Fulkerson, M.D., who was also a farmer, and sprang 
from an old Virginia family. His grandfather was Colonel Peter Fulkerson, who commanded 
troops in the continental army, and his mother was Frances Patterson, a sister of General Patter- 
son, who was in the second war with England, the Mexican war and the late civil war, and who 
died in Philadelphia in 1882. 

The colonel himself was educated at West Point, and has himself done some fighting. He 
was in the Mormon .war of 1858-9, having charge of a government supply train, and in the late 
civil war. He rose from a private in company A, 63d Tennessee infantry (Confederate), step by 
step, to the command of the regiment, and was twice wounded. He had a brother-in-law killed 
who was in Stuart's famous black horse cavalry, and the horse which that brother rode, now 
thirty-one years old, is on the farm of our subject. 

Prior to that unpleasantness Colonel Fulkerson was in the mines of California and in British 
America, and afterward lived on the plains, doing anything honorable that turned up. 

The colonel has a well selected library, much larger than one is accustomed to see in a farm- 
house; is well read on other subjects besides cattle breeding and horticulture; has traveled over 
no inconsiderable part of the United States and a small part of Canada, and is decidedly enter- 
taining in conversation. In hospitality it is enough to say that he was reared at the South. 



loHN DEERE. 

MOLINE. 



THE subject of this sketch is one of the best examples of that class of citizens usually styled 
self-made men. John Deere was born at Rutland, Vermont, February 7, 1804. His parents 
were William Ryland and Sarah (Yates) Deere, his father being a native of England, his mother 
of English parentage. They immigrated to Canada, and afterward settled in Vermont. 

His early educational advantages were limited. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to 
Captain Benjamin Lawrence, at Middlebury, Vermont, to learn the blacksmith's trade, and when 
twenty-three years old he was married to Demarius I.amb. Having become master of his trade he 
commenced business on his own account, and conducted it with varying success at different towns 
in Vermont, until the year 1837, when he decided to remove to Illinois, and selected Grand 
Detour, Ogle county, as his future home, and immediately resumed his former occupation. 

Reci^gnizing that the urgent need of the country was a better quality of plows, he set himself 
to the task of improving upon the cast-iron and wooden mold-board plows then in use. Pro- 
curing from Chicago some saw-plate steel he hammered out upon his anvil the first cast-steel 
plow that was ever made, and the only kind that would cleave without carrying the alluvial soils 
of the Mississippi Valley. A plow that would not clog was before unknown to the Illinois farmer, 
and from that time down to the present his resources have been continually taxed to supply the 
demand for the then, as now, famous John Deere plows, and as fast as capital and credit accumu- 
lated, the business was extended. The hard times that succeeded the commercial revulsion of 
1837 gave an impetus to immigration, and the West began to settle rapidly. With characteristic 
enterprise and energy he extended his trade to remote points, by adopting a system of wagon 
transportation and delivering his plows to various agencies for distribution to the farmer. To 
better accommodate a widely extended and continually increasing trade, he sold out his shop in 
Grand Detour and removed in 1847 to Moline, Illinois, where a water power had been partially 
developed, and where the Mississippi River and its tributaries afforded cheaper and better facili- 
ties for freighting raw material to the factory, and transporting finished plows to the various river 
towns, and for distributing to distant settlements. Having rented here more extensive works, 
the first year's product amounted to one thousand plows. Tiie manufacture of steel in this country 





(?-/vx^ (^Jt&t^jC^ 



UNITED STATES BfOGRA TIIICAL DICTIONARY. 27 I 

was at that time in its infancy, and inferior in quality to the foreign product, so that it became 
necessary to look to England for steel of the requisite quality, and the first steel for mold-boards 
and shares was imported in 1847 by John Deere. 

Having been the first to open this avenue of supply, he and his associates have ever since been 
the largest consumers of steel for the manufacture of plows in this country; and it is but just to 
American steel manufacturers to say that for many years American steel has taken precedence 
over the foreign article. The pioneer in the manufacture of steel plows, he has continued to 
occupy the leading position, and the name and fame of the John Deere plow extends to every 
state in the Union. So great has been his success tliat other firms have attempted to appropriate 
the name by which his plows are known. 

In 1868 the firm was incorporated under the style of Deere and Company, vi^ith John Deere, 
president, Charles H. Deere, vice-president and treasurer, and Stephen H. Velie, secretary. 

A correspondent of the Lowell (Massachusetts) "Morning Mail " thus writes in regard to the 

great plow town of the Northwest: 

Miii.iNE, Illinois, August 14, 1882. 

Editor " Moknini: M.ml: " By plow town your correspondent means a town where plows are made. There are 
many such towns in the West. Chicago is one of them. One firm there — Furst and Bradley — employ something like 
500 men in making steel plows. There is a much larger establishment at South Bend, Indiana, and a few other plow 
factories of fair size are found in that state. 

Rock Island, Canton, Monmouth, Peru and half a dozen other towns in Illinois are doing a creditable business in 
this line, but the great plow town of the Northwest is Moline, three miles from Rock Island, and on the Illinois side 
of the great grandsire of waters. Here a round 1,000 men are employed the year round in making steel plows. One 
firm, the Moline Plow Works, monopolizes 700 of these men. John Deere, the grand mogul of steel plows on this con- 
tinent, was, in his younger years, a Vermont blacksmith. He came into the land of prairies nearly fifty years ago, 
and in 1838 began to make plows at Grand Detour, on the Rock River. 

In 1847 Mr. Deere came to Moline. Here, at the start, he built a small shop, — large then, for steel plows were a 
new thing in those days, — and began operations on a moderate scale, enlarging from time to time as his orders 
increased. Prior to 1876 he had enlarged his premises three or four times; that year he added more than fifty per cent, 
and in 1881 put up another mammoth brick structure three stories high. The total floor area of the several buildings 
is. by actual measure, eight and three-quarters acres, and in them are consumed annually 1,785 tons of steel, 4,150 tons 
of bar and pig iron, 450 tons of malleable iron, 2,500 tons of Pennsylvania coal and coke, 1,000 tons of grindstone, 
300 barrels of oil and varnish, thirty-five tons of emery, and 2,100,000 feet of oak and ash timber. In these several 
shops are five turbine water wheels and a Crawley engine of 500 horse power. 

The 700 men employed by John Deere and Company have made for the market of 1S82 no less than 97,000 plows, 
which find their way into all civilized countries on the Western Hemisphere where such plows are in use. The other 
plow company here put something like 70,000 plows on the market annually. 

John Deere, the father of steel plows, is seventy-eight years old, being born in 1804, and he is still quite young, even 
sprightly. He is a temperate man, a Christian, a pillar of the Congregational Church, brimful of social cheer, and 
looks to-day as though he might serve as one of the pall-bearers to the nineteenth century. 



HENRY S. GREENE. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

HENRY SACHEVERELL GREENE, attorney-at-iaw^ and lately a member of the firm of 
Hay, Greene and Littler, was born in the North of Ireland, July 12, 1833, his parents being 
James Greene, and Margaret (Forester) Greene. At six years of age Henry came to Canada West, 
now Ontario, and was reared at Port Hope, county of Durham, on the shore of Lake Ontario, 
receiving a fair English education. 

In 1857 he came to this state, read law in the office of Judge Weldon, of Clinton; was admitted 
to practice January, i860; became a partner of Hon. C. H. Moore, of that place, and practiced in 
that connection for six years. During the last half of that period Mr. Greene was attorney for 
the Chicago and Alton Railroad Company for Logan and McLean counties, resigning that position 
on removing to Springfield in July, 1868. From that date the law firm of Hay, Greene and Lit- 
tler held the same position for that railroad company until January i, 1881, when the partnership 
28 



272 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

was dissolved. For several years prior to its dissolution, this firm had charge of the legal busi- 
ness of the Wabash Railway Company in this part of the state, as we learn from the "History of 
Sangamon County." From the same source we also learn that for several years Mr. Greene has 
been the general counselor for the Wabash, Saint Louis and Pacific Railway Company for Illinois, 
in which state it owns and controls by lease 1,300 miles of railway lines, and he is also consulting 
counsel for outside business of the company, controlling in all no less than 3,000 miles of road. 

For two years prior to the consolidation of the American Union and Western Union Telegraph 
Companies, Mr. Greene was counsel for the former company, and attended to its extensive litiga- 
tion with the latter. So rapidly has the legal business of our subject extended, and st) large has 
it become in connection with corporations, that he has been obliged almost entirely to withdraw 
from general practice at the bar; and his duties outside of the state, we are informed, are larger 
than those in it. In civil practice, to which he confines himself, he is one of the foremost lawyers 
in central Illinois. No man at the bar in this part of the state makes a clearer or abler argument 
on a legal proposition. 

While the civil war was in progress in 1863, Governor Yates appointed Mr. Greene attorne) 
for the eighth judicial district (embracing DeWitt, Logan and McLean counties), and he was 
subsequently elected to this same office. Before the expiration of the latter term, Mr. Greene was 
elected to the legislature, by the republican party, and in 1867 resigned his office of state's attor- 
ney, to aid in making and amending laws, serving one regular term, and two special terms in the 
general assembly. The business of legislating, however, was not congenial to him, and before the 
expiration of his term he removed from his district, and since that time he has never been active 
in politics, or a candidate for any office. 

While a resident of Ontario, in 1854, Mr. Greene was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth 
Hogle, a native of that province, and of New Hampshire parentage, and they have one daughter 
and one son. 

GENERAL DANIEL DUSTIN. 

SYCAMORE. 
ANIEL DUSTIN, a county official, and one of the leading men of De Kalb county, dates 



D 



his birth at Topsham, Orange county, Vermont, October 5, 1820, his parents being John K. 
and Sally (Thompson) Dustin. The Dustin family was originally from Massachusetts, and is 
traced directly back to Hannah Dustin, the famous heroine of Haverhill, Massachusetts (1697). 
Daniel received a district school education ; worked on his father's farm during the busy season 
until twenty years old; taught school five terms; studied medicine at Topsham and Corinth, 
Vermont ; attended lectures at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, where he received 
the degree of doctor of medicine in 1846, and after practicing at East Corinth about three years, 
went to California, where he remained for eight years, being in practice for five years, and keep- 
ing a general and drug store the rest of the time. While in that state he was a member of the 
legislature for Nevada county, in 1855-6. 

In 1858 Mr. Dustin came to Sycamore, and was engaged in the drug business until he 
enlisted in the 8th Illinois cavalry, which was organized at Saint Charles, Kane county, in Sep- 
tember, 1861, our subject being placed in command of company L. Three months afterward he 
vi'as promoted to the rank of major. This regiment was in the Army of the Potomac, and in 
March, 1862, joined the general advance on Manassas, in General Sumner's division. In the early 
part of the spring of that year, at four different times it drove the enemy across the Rappahan- 
nock. In May of that year it was assigned to the light cavalry brigade, General Stoneman 
commanding. The regiment did important service at Gaines' Hill dispatch station, and Malvern 
Hill, by skirmishing with the enemy ; remained on picket on the James River, while the army 
lay at Harrison's Landing; led the advance on the second occupation of Malvern Hill, and, with 
Benson's battery. United States artillery, bore the brunt of the fight, and brought up the rear of 
C)ur retreating forces at Barrett's Ford and Chickahominv. 



I 



UNITED STATES BIOGKAI'HICAL DICTIONARY. 273 

In August, 1862, Major Dustin was appointed colonel of the 10.5th Illinois infantry, and was 
mustered in with his regiment on the second of the next month, at Dixon, Illinois. His regiment 
was in the Army of the Cumberland, and in the spring of 1864 was brigaded with the io2d and 
129th Illinois, the 70th Indiana and the 79th Ohio, with which regiments it remained during the 
war, the same being in the ist brigade, 3d division of the 20th army corps. Immediately after 
the Atlanta campaign, Colonel Dustin was placed in command of the 2d brigade of the same 
division and corps, and remained in command of that brigade until the collapse of the rebellion. 
He accompanied General Sherman in his grand march to the sea, his brigade bearing its full 
share of the hardships of that memorable campaign to Savannah, and through the Carolinas. 
After the battle of Averysboro, North Carolina, where the enemy were driven from their position, 
our subject was brevetted brigadier-general, a promotion which his coolness, dash and bravery 
in that engagement had well merited. 

General Dustin's brigade took part in the grand review at Washington, Ma}' 24, 1865, and 
was mustered out of the service June 7. General Dustin has a spotless military record, and 
was one of the most gallant officers sent from De Kalb county. With the exception of three or 
four vears, since returning to Sycamore, he has been kept in some county office, having been 
county clerk and countv treasurer before accepting his present position, that of clerk of the cir- 
cuit court, and ex-ojficio recorder. He is a cor.scientious and perfectly reliable man, and faith- 
fully discharges the duties of every post assigned to him. In politics he is a staunch republican. 

General Dustin is a thirty-second degree Mason, and has held various offices in the order, such 
as master of the Sycamore Lodge, high priest of the chapter, head of the Sycamore Commandery, 
and grand commander of the State of Illinois. His religious connection is with the Congrega- 
tional Church, in which he has held different offices, being clerk at the present tifne. 

He was first married, in 1847, to Miss Isabella Taplin, of East Corinth, Vermont, she dying in 
1850, leaving three children, and the second time in California in 1855, to Miss Elmira E. Pauly, 
bv whom he has one child. 



w 



HON. WILLIAM B. DODGE. 

WAUKEGAN. 

ILLIAM BURLING DODGE, the oldest hardware merchant in Waukegan, and one of 
its leading citizens, dates his birth at Canoga, Seneca county. New York, August 6, 1824. 
His father, Reuben D. Dodge, merchant, was at one period a member of the New York house of 
representatives, and subsequently of the senate of that state, and his grandfather, Stephen Dodge, 
was a captain in the war of 181 2-14. This branch of the Dodge family were pioneer settlers in 
Madison county. New York. The wife. of Reuben Dodge was Mary Burling, who was also a 
native of the state ot New York. 

Our subject received a good English cducaticm, finishing it at the Canandaigua Academy, and 
in 1 843 came, with the family, to Lake county, Illinois, settling on a farm at Libertyville, where 
William remained until 1846, when he became a clerk in a store at Waukegan. Two years later 
(1S48) he commenced the hardware business, and has followed it steadily for thirty-four years, 
the first half of that period or more alone. For the last fifteen or sixteen years G. B. Wat- 
rous has been in partnership with him. and in January, 1876, his only son and only child, William 
H. Dodge, was taken into the firm. Two years after starting in business Mr. Dodge married 
(November 27, 1850) Harriet S. Getty, daughter of Adams Getty, of Waukegan, and they have 
had only the one son mentioned, a promising young man, of excellent business habits. 

Mr. Dodge having been a resident of Lake county nearly forty years, and in business all but 
the first five years, is one of the best known men in the county, and very highly esteemed for the 
probity of his character, his prompt and straightforward business habits, and his readiness to 
serve the public in any position where it is deemed advisable to place him. He filled the office of 



274 IWITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

city supervisor from 1867 to 1874, when he declined to serve any longer. During that period he 
represented Lake county one term in the Illinois legislature, and in the spring of 1877 was elected 
mayor, and by continuous reelections was kept at the head of the municipality of Waukegan for 
four years, discharging his duties with great satisfaction to the public. 

Mr. Dodge is one of the fathers of the republican party, which he helped organize in this state 
near the close of 1854, and he has stood by its colors with unwavering fidelity. He is a Master 
Mason; also an Odd-Fellow; and at one time held the office of noble grand in the latter order, 
the lodge-in Waukegan being now extinct. He is a member of Christ Episcopal Church, and has 
filled for many years the office of vestryman; also at one time that of warden. Nobody who 
knows him doubts the sincerity of his faith or the purity of his life. 



JOHN A. JONES. 

SrRIXGFIELD. 

THAT branch of the Jones family from which the subject of this sketch, John Albert Jones, 
descended, was from Wales, Edward Jones, M.D., the great-grandfather of our subject, 
coming to this country at the time William Penn came over. He it was who began the settle- 
ment of Marion, near Philadelphia. Evan Jones, son of Edward, was also a physician. Evan 
had five sons, John, James, Evan, Thomas and Edward, the last and youngest being the father of 
our subject John Jones, M.D., attended lectures in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Metz, France, and 
was professor of surgery in the University of Pennsylvania, and the tutor of more than one emi- 
nent physician. He was President Washington's family physician, and a surgeon in the revolu- 
tionary army, which latter position he resigned on account of ill health. Subsequently he wrote 
a work on "Gun-shot Wounds." which at one period was high authority among the medical fra- 
ternity. James and Evan Jones were merchants in New Orleans, in colonial days. The former 
who was subsequently recorder of the city of New York, was killed in a duel with Judge Livings- 
ton, and the latter came very near being killed in a duel with the colonial governor of Louisiana. 
It happened in this wise. The governor was an austere, overbearing man, and the leading men 
of New Orleans signed a round robin for his removal. The governor went on board the vessel 
which w-as to take the document to England, seized it, showed it to every man whose name was 
on the paper, and every one denied his signature but Mr. Jones. Him the governor challenged. 
They met with swords, and Mr. Jones was so disabled as to be laid up for months. Thomas 
Jones was a. physician in New York city, and his daughter Catherine was the second wife of 
Governor De Witt Clinton. 

Edward Jones, the father of our worthy clerk of the United States circuit court, was a native 
of the Empire State, and, born in 1754, was the first .chief clerk in the United States treasury 
office, being appointed by Alexander Hamilton in 1790, and serving in that position for thirty- 
nine consecutive years. When Mr. Hamilton left the office he gave Mr. Jones a highly compli- 
mentary letter, which is still preserved in the family. Edward Jones married Louisa Maus, a 
native of Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania. Her paternal ancestors, as we learn from the " History of 
Sangamon County," were officials of note, both in England and this country. Our subject has 
certificates given to different members of the Maus family connections, extending from William 
and Mary in 1691, down through the reigns of the three Georges to 1804, the commission after 
1776, of course, being by American officers. 

John Albert Jones was born in the District of Columbia, May 29, 1806. He commenced his 
classical studies at Georgetown, District of Columbia, under Doctor Carnahan, afterward presi- 
dent of Princeton College ; was three years in the Jesuit College, in the same place ; eighteen 
months under the instruction of Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., and was graduated at Columbia 
College. District of Columbia, class of 1825, and received the degree of master of arts in course. 

Mr. Jones left school with impaired health, and in 18,^5 came to Illinois. Settling in Tazewell 



J 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 275 

county, he edited the " Pekin Gazette," which afterward took the name of the " Tazewell Tele- 
graph," a whig paper, the pioneer journal in that county. During this period Mr. Jones also 
served as a justice of the peace. In October, 1837, he was appointed, by Judge Jesse B. Thomas, 
clerk of the circuit court of that county, and in 1841 was reappointed by Judge S. H. Treat. The 
ne.\t year he was made master in chancery of that court. 

Under the new constitution of 1848, as we learn from the history already mentioned, Mr. Jones 
was elected clerk of the circuit court, and four years later (1852) was reelected, and served four 
years longer. On leaving that office, on motion of his early and abiding friend, Abraham Lin- 
coln, he was admitted to the bar by the supreme court, he having been engaged for years in the 
study of law. 

In March, 1861, immediately after forming his cabinet, Mr. Lincoln appointed Mr. Jones super- 
intendent of commercial statistics of the United States at Washington, to which place our subject 
moved. There he remained, faithfully attending to his duties, until May, 1866, when he resigned, 
came to Bloomington and took his present office by appointment of Judge Davis, late acting vice 
president of the United States, this appointment being sanctioned by Judge Treat, in July, 1867. 
He then settled in Springfield, and has been master in. chancery since 1868. 

Mr. Jones is a member of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church, and a man of pure moral character. 
In June, 1840, he married Ann Maria Major, of Bloomington, Illinois, daughter of William T. 
Major, of Christian county, Kentucky, and they have buried their youngest child, and have two 
sons and three daughters living. 

Mr. Jones is a hale old gentleman, very active for a man of his age ; possesses a clear and 
remarkable memory ; is full of reminiscences of the olden times; abounds in good cheer, and is 
the life of the home and social circle. Mr. Jones had two brothers, James and Edward. The 
former was a graduate of Columbia College, and of the University of Pennsylvania, and in 183 1 
settled in New Orleans, where he aided in founding the Medical University, in which he occupied 
a chair, dying in October, 1873. Edward had a classical and military education, studied law, 
practiced at Pekin, Illinois ; was in the Black Hawk and Mexican wars, and died at Pekin in 
1857. 

ABRAM HOLDERMAN. 

SENECA. 

IS the son of Abram and Charlotte (O'Neal) Holderman. His father was by descent a Penn- 
sylvania Dutchman, and his mother of Irish blood. Abram Holderman, Sr., was born in 
Chester county, Pennsylvania, and when eighteen years old removed to Ross county, Ohio, where 
he married. They were a prosperous and prolific pair, and seven sons and seven daughters grew 
upon the household tree. Eleven of the family reached maturity, and ten of them married and 
raised families of their own. The total number of their children was loi. Abram, Sr., was an 
e.xtensive farmer and stock-raiser in Ohio, and used to drive large herds to the Philadelphia and 
Baltimore markets. In July, 1831, he took the western fever, and came into Illinois prospecting. 
There were no white settlements in this part of the state at that time, and upon reaching Door 
Prairie, Indiana, he hired an Indian to pilot him through. He had no definite idea where he 
wanted to go, but came seventy miles into the Indian country before stopping. They rode on 
horseback through pathless prairies, slept in their blankets when night overtook them, with their 
saddles for pillows, and on the morning of the third day a lovel)' grove, in the midst of broad 
prairies, invited his possession, and he stuck his stakes. 

The land had been surveyed a couple of years previously, and he selected eighty acres of tim- 
ber on what proved to be seminary lands. Returning for his family, he made 'ready as soon as 
possible, and started for the land of promise. One great Pennsylvania wagon, drawn by four 
horses, one common two-horse wagon, and one large ox wagon, contained his family and his 
household stuff. Himself, wife and nine children, three wagons, eleven horses, nineteen head of 



2^76 UNITED STATES EtrOGRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. 

blooded cattle and three yoke of oxen formed the grand cavalcade. Like his ancient namesake, 
"he, with all his goods possessed, turned his footsteps toward the West." But while he could 
not boast of as many wives, he had more children and almost as much substance as Jacob him- 
self, the father of the twelve patriarchs. 

The journey was an immense undertaking in those days, when roads and bridges existed only 
as a result of a far-off civilization, but it was full of excitement and pleasing, as well as painful, 
incidents. They had to ford and sometimes to swim the streams, and flounder through the 
sloughs, in which they were often mired, but they had plenty of help, and always conquered. 
Their route lay along the southern shore of Lake Michigan, and they had Chicago in mind as 
one stopping point; but, failing to get through as expected, night overtook them when about 
twelve miles out. Their provisions being exhausted, they all went supperless to bed, and their 
teams as hungry as themselves. Morning came, and no breakfast, but they were sustained by 
visions of plenty in the young city twelve miles away, and started early for the land of promise 
and a square meal. Imagine the feelings of that hungr\' crowd when two bushels of oats, at $4 
per bushel, and a solitary loaf of brown bread, was all the embryo city could produce to feed 
eleven persons, eleven horses, and a herd. of cattle. The frugal mother had a little Ohio butter 
left in a jar, and one slice of bread and butter each sufficed to stay their hunger till they could 
escape such inhospitable shores, which they did. as Lot escaped from Sodom, in haste and with- 
out looking behind them. Twelve miles more through mud and water, ankle deep and upward, 
brought them to Widow Berry's Point. Here they struck supplies, fed and rested till the follow- 
ing day. Forty-seven dollars paid their little bill and laid in supplies for the rest of the journey, 
now only about fifty miles further. To Plainfield, the nearest town, was thirty miles, which they 
reached that night, without further incident than the inevitable floundering through bottomless 
quagmires which about every day brought them. 

Another twenty miles, and Kellogg's Grove was reached, between which and the new home 
lay the forbidden depths of Big Slough. Here the whole party mired down, and it took two days 
of hard work to get the wagons through to hard ground, one by one, with all the force they could 
muster. But the end was reached at last, in October. 1831, and for two weeks the party found 
shelter in the cabin of hospitable Edmund Weed. Another eighty acres of the choice timber was 
immediately added to the former purchase. Two small cabins had been erected on it by the 
former owner, in one of which the family wintered. Mr. Holderman and one of the boys went 
with a team to the Vermilion River, where they succeeded in buying twenty-six bushels of wheat 
and ninety pounds of an animal somewhat resembling the modern hog, but called by the boys 
prairie shark. They succeeded also in buying a fine fat steer, whose carcass, frozen solid, fur- 
nished the family with fresh meat all winter. 

Before spring, however, the flour was all gone, and for six weeks the family lived on pounded 
corn, so poor the horses refused to eat it. With the opening of navigation the father went to 
Saint Louis, purchased seed corn, groceries and provisions, amounting to about $400, and had 
them brought by a keel-boat as far as Ottawa. The stuff made five wagon-loads, and consumed 
four days in transportation from Ottawa. On the morning of May 17, which was the day follow- 
ing the safe arrival of the last load of their summer supplies, a friendly Indian, b}' the name of 
Peppers, came with a hasty message from Shawbenee that eighty of Blackhawk's Indian braves 
were on the war-path, and that their only hope was an immediate flight to Ottawa. Five families 
had by this time gathered around Holderman's Grove in a fine, compact settlement, and they all 
collected at Holderman's in hot haste for defense or instant flight. It was near night, and dread- 
ing lest they should meet the treacherous redskins on the journey through the darkness, they 
resolved to await the coming of the following day. Peppers had reported that Hollenbeck and 
family, who had settled on Fox River, were murdered, as he had heard the report of guns after 
he left them, but it afterward proved erroneous. Hollenbeck was absent, and the boys had fired 
off their guns to reload with a fresh charge, and the whole family had secieted themselves in the 
brush. Before day Holderman, Cummings and Kellogg went out with their horses toward Hoi- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 277 

lenbeck's to reconnoiter. At daybreak they came in sight of the savages, who, after murdering 
liie family, as their friends supposed, were making merry with the whisky and tobacco which 
Ilollenbeck had on hand. A sentry posted on the cabin roof dropped to tlie ground at sight of 
the three horsemen, and the whole band, forty strong, vanished like rabbits in ttieir burrows. 
Only one, peeping from behind the corner of the house, sought to engage the white men in a 
parley, while others, skulking through the ravine, got in range from their ambush and tired upon 
them. This stampeded the little party, without further injury than a few bullet ht)les thrcnigh 
coat and hat, but the whole howling band of savages were instantly in full pursuit. Although 
well mounted, they had little ammunition, and soon realized that they were leading the savages 
upon their defenseless families, to their certain destruction. A shrewd manoeuver alone saved 
them. Reaching a rise of ground, with the Indians in full sight, at the suggestion of Holderman 
the party suddenly halted, and Holderman, swinging his hat and shouting at the top of his voice, 
seemed to be signaling a reserve force to come on. This bold action convinced the Indians that 
a large party were beyond their sight, and taking counsel of their fears, they beat a hasty retreat 
and left the neighborhood. 

By preconcerted arrangements, the families kept a lookout, and on a signal from the return- 
ing scouts, the horses were hitched to the wagons, the women and children and a few hastily 
gathered supplies were bundled in, and when the party reached them all was in readiness for 
(light. The sleeping children were snatched from their beds, and some of them tossed into the 
wagons in their night-clothes. A speedy trip to Ottawa saved their lives, for the outwitted sav- 
ages, on discovering that they were not followed, returned and wreaked their vengeance on Hol- 
(lerman's summer supplies, destroying what they could not carry off, and driving away all the 
stock in the neighborhood. However, they only got them as far as the Fox River, when, in 
attempting to get them across, the cattle escaped and returned home. After a few weeks spent 
in Ottawa, where they helped to build a rude log fort, the company went to Pekin, Illinois, and 
did not find their way back to their homes till the following August, when the war was over. 

After this the settlement prospered and grew rich. Holderman followed his former occupa- 
tion of cattle-raising and farming, and grew rich too. He at one time sent a drove of 313 head 
of fine fat cattle to Philadelphia, in care of his sons. Barton and Abram, Jr., tiien a lad of eighteen 
years. They got 312 of them through, and sold at $52.50 a head, more than doubling their money 
after paying all expenses. 

Abram remained with his father until twenty-three years old, when Abram, Sr., gave him a 
a plow, a harness, and the use of ail the land he could work, with the advice: "Earn your own 
money, and you will know how to prize it; but if you want any help at any time, come to me." 
Hiring $700 of William Hoge, afterward his father-in-law, he joined forces with his elder brother, 
Barton, and worked a farm of 240 acres in the town of Felix, owned by their father. This is the 
farm afterward bought by Samuel Holderman. At the end of two years the brothers settled up 
and divided, and Abram received in cash his share of the profits, $1,800. He then married Miss 
Mary, the daughter of William Hoge, who, coming from Virginia, had reached the country two 
weeks before the Holdermans, and settled on Nettle Creek. 

Immediately after their marriage, which took place May 6. 1847, they settled at Holderman 's 
Grove, and lived in one of his father's houses, who had by this time bought nearly all of his 
neighbors' farms. Here they lived two years longer, till 1849, and then moved on to a quarter 
section of land he had bought near Seneca, at $3 per acre. Considering his antecedents, it was 
inevitable that he should go to raising cattle, and he at once bought all the young cattle he could 
pay for. From this time on, the history of his life is a repetition, from year to year, of substan- 
tially the same events. He multiplied his flocks and herds till the free range was fenced up, and 
then bought land to pasture them. Then more cattle, and again more land. Fenced his land in 
the winter, and b'roke prairie in the summer. Worked what he wanted to comfortably, but always 
rented the greater part of it. And so his landed estate increased, till now it lies along the canal 
and the Rock Island railroad a distance of seven miles east and west, and his herds are well nigh 



278 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

countless. Including the portions of his fiuir grown children, he is the owner of about 7,000 
acres of the choicest land in the valley of the Illinois River. 

He is the father of eight children: seven sons, three of whom died in childhood, and one 
daughter. To four of them, vi'ho are of age, he has given about 2,000 acres of his land in nearly 
equal parts. James A., his eldest son, married Virginia Bashaw, and has three children. He has 
settled on his farm of 650 acres, and, like his ancestors, is a successful farmer and stock man. 
The others are unmarried. 

Mr. Holderman is a republican, but takes no interest in politics outside of his own town. 
There are but eighty voters in his town, and they manage their matters in a very original man- 
ner. On election day they all gather at the polls, appoint a committee to name the candidates, 
and make their election unanimous; yet, strange to say, they have hard work to get the officers 
chosen to accept the honors conferred. Mr. Holderman has been school director twenty-five 
years, road commissioner twenty, and supervisor five or six times, till he positively won't take it 
any more. He is fond of company, and generally keeps a dozen or fifteen hunting dogs and as 
many horses. Fox and coon hunting is his greatest diversion, and he greatly enjoys a grand hunt 
over his immense estate with a party of his friends from Chicago and elsewhere. He is known 
all over Illinois as Abe Holderman, the coon hunter, and has led many a party headlong into the 
ditch when after coons in the dark. His schooling in youth was practically limited to a six 
months' term, but he mastered old Daball's arithmetic in that time, and no man in the state can 
beat him when he sits down to figure, which he usually does before he trades. 

Although now past sixty years of age, he is as active, strong and hearty as most men at forty. 
His wife, now fifty-five, is more feeble, but both yet enjoy life with much zest. With such an 
immense estate about them, neighbors are a luxury, and schools and churches only found in 
town; but the family are exceedingly friendly and hospitable, and enjoy a visit immensely; their 
latch-string is always found hanging outside. 



JOSHUA C. KNICKERBOCKER. 

CHIC A GO. 

JOSHUA C. KNICKERBOCKER was born in Gallatin, Columbia county, in the state of New 
York, September 26, 1837, and is of remote Holland extraction, although his ancestors, pater- 
nal and maternal, were for several generations natives of Columbia and Dutchess counties in the 
Empire State. 

In the spring of the year 1844, his father, David Knickerbocker, with his family, joined the 
tide of western emigration, and removed to Alden, in McHenry county, in the state of Illinois, 
where he settled upon a farm which he continued to occupy and cultivate until his decease, which 
occurred February 22, 1874, his relict, Susanna Knickerbocker, dying August 12, at the same place 
in that year. The children consisted of four in number, all of whom survive: Isaac D. Knicker- 
bocker, who resides on the old homestead in Alden, the subject of this sketch, Mrs. Hannah M. 
Bowman, wife of Prentice Bowman, of La Porte City, Iowa, and John J. Knickerbocker, a well 
known member of the Chicago bar. 

Judge Knickerbocker was educated in the common schools and at the academy in Alden. In 
the winters of 1856, 1858 and 1859 he engaged in teaching district schools and in prosecuting his 
private studies in the more advanced branches of education. Having determined to devote him- 
self to the law, he removed to Chicago in March, i860, and at once commenced a course of legal 
study. In March, 1862, he was admitted to practice by the supreme court of the state, opened 
an office at No. 14 Metropolitan Block, and at once entered upon a remunerative practice. In 
common with many others, he suffered the misfortune of having his office, including a valuable 
law library, burned in the great fire of October 8, 9, 187 1. He was joined in business by his 
brother, John |. Knickerbocker, in 1867, and thus was formed the well known law firm of J. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 28 1 

C. and J. J. Knickerbocker, which continued until December, 1877, when it was dissolved by the 
election of the senior member of the firm to the office of probate judge of Cook county. Judge 
Knickerbocker was elected supervisor of the first ward of Chicago in 1864, for one year, alderman 
of the first ward in 1865, for two years, and reelected in 1867 for a like term. In 1868 he was 
nominated for representative in the twenty-sixth general assembly, and in a close and doubtful 
district was elected by a majority of more than two thousand. In 1869 he was nominated by 
acclamation by the republican county convention for county judge, but, owing to ireconcilable 
complications, the whole ticket suffered defeat. In 1875 he was appointed by the governor a 
member of the state board of education, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the late 
Doctor John H. Foster, reappointed in 1877 and in 1883 for a term of six years. While at the bar 
[udge Knickerbocker devoted himself largely to probate business, a department of the law to 
which he had devoted much study, and which was congenial to him, and in October, 1877, he was 
nominated for the important office of probate judge of Cook county, with little effort on his part, 
while a contest for the nomination was made by several able competitors, who made a vigorous 
and protracted personal canvass. He was elected and organized the present probate court of 
Cook county, December 3, 1877, under the act of the general assembly passed and approved in 
April of that year. In October, 1882, he was renominated for probate judge by acclamation, and 
was reelected. 

No man enjoys a more extensive and favorable acquaintance with the people of Cook county 
than Judge Knickerbocker. All the public and private trusts committed to his charge have been 
executed with promptness and fidelity. In the councils of the city and state his official influence 
and action have ever been in the interests of good government. 

The court over which he presides has jurisdiction over the estates of all deceased persons, and 
over the persons and estates of all infants, lunatics, idiots, spendthrifts and drunkards in Cook 
county, and adjudicates annually upon more property than all the other courts of Cook county 
combined. To administer the delicate and sacred trusts of such an office requires learning, indus- 
try, vigor and patience. We believe we express the universal opinion when we say these trusts 
have never been more promptly, impartially and satisfactorily executed than under the adminis- 
tration of Judge Knickerbocker. 

DANIEL D. MERIAM. 

QUINCY. 
ANIEL DODGE MERIAM, a prominent lumber merchant, is a son of David and Betsy 



D 



(Conant) Meriam, and was born in Brandon, Rutland county, Vermont, February 9, 1821, 
being the youngest child by a second wife. His father was born January 28, 1760, and the day 
before he was sixteen years old, enlisted in the war for independence, taking part in the engage- 
ments at Dorchester Point, Bennington, the capture of Burgoyne, etc. He was a hatter by trade, 
and a farmer, a deacon of a Congregational church forty-eight years, and died at Brandon, Feb- 
ruary 15, 1849. Betsy Conant was a daughter of Ebenezer Conant, adjutant-general during the 
revolutionary war. She died June 3, 1S42. Both families were among the early settlers in the 
New England colonies. 

The subject of this sketch was educated in the district schools of his native state; was 
engaged in farming until twenty-nine years of age, when he came to the West, and for two years 
was in mercantile business at Berlin, Green Lake county, W^isconsin. He then identified himself 
with the lumbering interests of that state, and in June, 1857, settled in Ouincy, and opened a 
lumber j'ard. Shortl}' afterward he discontinued his connection with the manufacturing branch 
of his business, and has since given his whole time and attention to the purchase and sale of lum- 
ber, making a success in that line. He is a man of first-class business tact and talents, straight- 
forward and reliable. 

Mr. Meriam is a republican, of whig antecedents, but not an office seeker. Indeed we cannot 
29 



282 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

learn that he has ever held an}^ kind of a civil or political office. He occasionally attends county 
and state conventions, and works earnestly for the success of the nominees of his party, but will 
do nothing for his own political advancement, having no ambition in that direction. In 1861 he 
was appointed by President Lincoln receiver of the United States Land Office at Olympia, 
Washington Territory, but did not accept the office. He joined an Odd-Fellow's lodge at Bran- 
don in 1850 ; has held a few positions in the order, and belongs to the encampment. 

He is a member of no church, but usually, we believe, attends the Baptist, of which his first 
wife was a member. He was first married, July 6, 1842, to Miss Sarah W. Spencer, daughter of 
Deacon Ezra Spencer, of Pittsford, Rutland county, Vermont. She died, July 9, 1880, leaving 
three children: Cassias M., who is of the firm of D. D. Meriam and Son ; Albert Spencer, a lum- 
ber dealer in Quincy, and Ella G., who is married to C. A. Bronnaugh, of Quincy. Mr. Meriam 
was married the second time, March i, 1881, to Mrs. E. T. Hall, widow of Doctor Eli Hall, late of 
Rockford, Illinois, and daughter of Doctor Josiah C. Goodhue, of the same city. 



E 



LYMAN H. DAVIS, M.D. 

WOODSTOCK. 
YMAN HALL DAVIS, the oldest medical practitioner at Woodstock, and one of the best 



known men in McHenry county, was born in the village of Amber, town of Otisco, Onon- 
daga county. New York, June 13, 1822. He is of Welsh descent. His grandfather, John Davis, 
was a surgeon in the revolutionary war, and his father, Jonathan S. Davis, was a farmer, stock 
driver, general speculator, and a prominent man in the county mentioned, serving for several 
years as its sheriff. He died at Amber in 1853. His wife was Sarah Carter, whose fatlier was a 
blacksmith in the revolutionary army. She died in 1834. 

Lyman finished his literary studies at Homer Academy; commenced his medical studies at 
Lafayette; continued them at Syracuse, and finished at the Geneva Medical College, taking four 
courses of lectures, and being graduated in February, 1843. 

Doctor Davis first practiced for a term of four years at Homer, in company with Doctor Web- 
ster, a noted physician; removed thence to Lakeville, Livingston county, and there remained 
until the spring of 1852, when he left his native state, came to Illinois, and settled at Woodstock, 
then little more than the nucleus of a village. The country was not very thickly settled then; 
physicians were not abundant, and, geographically speaking, he had a very extensive ride from 
the start, extending not only over a large part of McHenry county, but sometimes into adjoining 
counties, including Walworth county, Wisconsin. In the course of time, as villages sprang up, 
and medical men multiplied, his rides became more restricted in extent, but not in number. 
Occasionally, however, even now, the doctor has professional calls in the Badger State, and does 
not like to disappoint families, however distant, whose physician, in many instances, he has been 
for more than a quarter of a century. He is not only widely known, but greatly esteemed alike 
for his medical skill and his usefulness as a citizen. ' 

Doctor Davis was alderman of Woodstock when it was a village, and has served as mayor one 
or two terms since it became a city. He is a member of the Fox River Medical Association, and 
a few of his papers read before the fraternity have been published in medical periodicals, but we 
believe he does not write a great deal for the press. The doctor has not very strong lungs, and 
has to guard against overwork and exposure in our northern climate For nearly thirty years he 
has been accustomed to spend his winters at the South or on the Pacific coast, and thus he keeps 
himself comparatively well toned up the year round. 

While a resident of Lakeville, New York, Doctor Davis held the office of postmaster, and at 
Geneseo he was made a Freemason, and is a master in the order. The year after commencing 
his practice (1844) he married Eliza Delamater, daughter of Peter Delamater, of Tomkins county. 
New York, and she died in .August, 1881, leaving three children: Sarah C, the elder daughter, is 



UNITED STATES BIOUKAPIIICAL DICTIONARY. 283 

the wife of Ira Slocum, stock and grain dealer at Woodstocl^; Katie E., the other daughter and 
youngest child, is living with her sister, and Frank Buell, son-in-law, is a thrifty farmer, living 
near town. As a physician and business man Doctor Davis has been greatly prospered, and was 
pecuniarily placed in very comfortable circumstances years ago. Besides considerable property, 
mostly in buildings in the city, he has three or four hundred acres adjoining and partly in the 
corporation, of which he is making a first-class stock farm. 

At the time of our writing this sketch the doctor is feeling a good deal at sea, the death of his 
most estimable wife making it necessary that he should break up housekeeping; which he has 
done. She was a woman of excellent domestic habits, an affectionate wife and mother, and a 
very active worker in the Presbyterian Church. At the time of her death a local paper thus 
spoke of her: 

"Seldom has our community been more saddened, and multitudes of devoted friends stirred 
to deeper grief, than at the announcement on the evening of July 14 that this estimable lady, so 
widely known and beloved by all, had passed away forever from our midst. Endowed with great 
energy of character and strength of will, which were assiduously devoted to the accomplishment 
of every good work, united with an affectionate heart and mosU genial manners, no one in all 
the circle of her social intercourse forgets her attractive influence, and the genial sunshine of 
encouragement and hope which she never failed to shed upon those around her. Her friendship 
for all the religious denominations of our city was a marked feature of her character, but her 
strongest attachments were with the church of her early youth, the Presbyterian, with which she 
identified herself immediately upon her arrival in Woodstock, and whose prosperity engaged her 
best energies and most earnest desire up to the closing days of her life. Her labor of love in this 
respect is attested to by the grief of the entire church over her loss. In her family, as a devoted 
wife and most affectionate mother, her self-forgetfulness was ever prominent in ministering to the 
comfort and happiness of the home circle. But a greater self-forgetfulness was that exhibited 
during her long protracted illness, when, in her anxious solicitude for the health and comfort of 
those nearest and dearest to her, she allowed neither weariness, sickness nor pain of her own ever 
to cast a cloud upon the peace or joy of those whom she bore so tenderly upon her heart. And 
when at last, in peaceful resignation and with no anxiety save in the behalf of others, she fell 
asleep in Jesus, it was but to realize her own unwavering hope, and add another to the roll of 
those who, 'through faith and patience, inherit the promises.'" 



HON. ALFRED M. JONES. 

WARREN. 

ALFRED MILES JONES, United States marshal for the northern district of Illinois, dates 
L his birth at New Durham, New Hampshire, February 5, 1837. His father, Alfred S.Jones, 
a farmer most of his life, is descended from an old New Hampshire family, whose progenitor in 
this country was from Wales, and from whom Paul Jones was also a descendant, and his mother, 
whose maiden name was Rebecca Miles, was also of New Hampshire birth, and is a relative of 
the Adams family of Quincy, Massachusetts. Both parents are yet living, their home being at 
Warren, Jo Daviess county, this state. Before Alfred was two years old the family moved to 
Vermont, and when he was nine, to Hebron, McHenry county, Illinois. He learned his letters 
out of a Baptist hymn-book, long before he was old enough to go to a school; finished his educa- 
tion at the Rockford Academy; taught a district school the winter he was eighteen, and in April, 
1857, settled in Warren, where he was in business for nearly a quarter of a century. 

Mr. Jones cast his first vote for president in i860, for Abraham Lincoln, and has always been 
a stanch republican. He was elected to the legislature in 1872, for the tenth representative dis- 
trict, and in that session was chairman of the committee on contingent expenses. He was 
reelected, and at the second session, when the democrats and grangers were in the majority, was 



284 ■ UNITED STATES BFOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

chairman of the house republican caucus, and leader of his party in that body. After the state 
had been lost to the republicans for two consecutive elections, in 1878 Mr. Jones was made chair- 
man of the republican state central committee, and his party triumphed. He was assigned the 
same post in 1880, and the hosts whom he led were again victorious. He believes with all his 
heart that the best interests of the country require the continued dominance of his party, and no 
man in the state labors more earnestly and effectively to that end. His services to the party have 
been repeatedly recognized by its men in power. In 1877 he was appointed, by Governor Cullom, 
one of the commissioners of the penitentiary, and was made secretary of the board. In 1879 he 
was appointed, by President Hayes, collector of internal revenue for the third district, and his 
present office of marshal he received at the hands of the lamented Garfield only a few weeks 
before the assassin's bullet laid him on his death-bed. 

In every position in which Mr. Jones has been placed he has shown liimself eminently fitted 
for it, he being not only capable, but active, prompt and trustworthy. He has the fullest confi- 
dence of the public generally, as well as of his own party. In Jo Daviess county, where he is best 
known, he has a host of friends, and, we believe, no enemies. 

Mr. Jones is a Master Masos, a member of the Freewill Baptist church, and a man the purity 
of whose life is unquestioned. He married, in October, 1857, Emeline A., daughter of Jesse 
Wright, of Warren, Illinois, and they have two children. Mr. Jones is six feet and three and a 
half inches in height, and equally as tall in nobility of character. There is nothing low or stoop- 
ing in his composition. He carries his conscience as he does his watch — is never without either, 
and always comes to time in social and moral, as well as in civil and political, duties. 



HON. HIRAM H. CODY. 

CHICAGO AND NAPERVILLE. 

HIRAM HITCHCOCK COUV, a native of Vernon Centre, Oneida county. New York, was 
born June 11, 1824, the son of Hiram Cody and Huldah (Hitchcock) Cody. His paternal 
grandparents, Samuel Cody and Susannah Cody, were among the pioneer settlers of Oneida 
county. The former was a soldier in the revolutionary army ; the latter, with pardonable pride, 
traced her lineage to one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His maternal grand- 
parents, David Hitchcock and Mercy Gilbert Hitchcock, formerly of Connecticut, but during 
many years residents of Hamilton, Madison county, New York, were universally respected for 
their many virtues. For several generations back, his ancestors have all been Christian people, 
identified with either the Methodist Episcopal or Congregational churches. His father was a 
man of unusual mental and physical vigor, with a good degree of self-culture, and known for his 
frankness and independence in thought and action. His mother was a woman of earnest, decided 
Christian character, superior culture and refined tastes. Of his four sisters, all of whom were 
ladies esteemed for their intelligence and excellent traits of character, only the youngest is now 
living. The eldest and youngest were married successively to his wife's eldest brother. Doctor 
S. P. Sedgwick, formerly professor in Bennett Medical College, of Chicago. The second sister 
was the wife of Hon. E. O. HjUs, of Bloomingdale, Illinois, and the third was married to Mr. 
Samuel Talcott, of Rockton, Illinois. 

His early education was thorough, and was conducted with the design that he should enter 
the legal profession; and in all his instruction this purpose was kept in view, and being well 
known to him, made a very deep impression upon his hopes and aspirations for the future. His 
father, however, determined to remove with his family to the West, when the subject of this 
sketch was about eighteen years of age. This circumstance, though it seemed at the time to 
interfere seriously with his plans for the future, proved to him a blessing in disguise, by inducing 
his removal to the West, and settlement in Illinois. 

In 1843, with his father's family, he removed to Lisbon, Kendall county, Illinois, whither many 









'/^l.'^L-i-y 




UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 387 

of his old townsmen had preceded him. One year later the family settled at Bloomingdale, Du 
Page county. 

In August, 1847, Mr. Cody removed to Naperville, having been elected clerk of the county 
commissioner's court of Du Page county. Two years later, upon the adoption of the constitution 
of 1848, he was nominated by acclamation, and in 1849 elected, the first county clerk of the 
county, thus serving as clerk six years, during which time, aside from his official duties, he vigor- 
ously applied himself to the study of law, and finally, in June, 185 1, realized the long cherished 
hopes of his earlier years, by being admitted to the bar. Upon the expiration of his term of office 
he went before the convention, and, though a majority of the delegates favored his renomination, 
he voluntarily withdrew his name, his purpose being to retire from public life, and devote himself 
to the study and practice of his profession. Aside from these he has held no offices by virtue of 
a political party vote. Politically, his views were democratic, but when the voice of treason was 
heard, and efforts were making to sever the union of states, discarding party prejudices, he 
thought only of his country's welfare. His earnest efforts and eloquent appeals, in behalf of the 
Union cause, will ever be remembered by his fellow-citizens ; and it was to these that Du Page 
county was largely indebted for her brilliant record made during the war. 

In 1 86 1, in a convention assembled without distinction of party, he was nominated, and after- 
ward almost unanimously elected, county judge of Du Page county. In 1869, at a time when the 
citizens of his county were nearly equally divided upon the question pertaining to the removal of 
the county seat, he was the candidate of the anti-removal division for delegate to the constitu- 
tional convention, then about to be held. The election of 1867 was claimed to have resulted in 
favor of removal by a majority of about one hundred ; yet, notwithstanding this, and also the 
fact that the vote of his county was three-fourths republican, and Hon. Thomas B. Bryan, a gen- 
tleman well known in business circles throughout the state, and especially in Chicago, was the 
opposing candidate. Judge Cody was elected by a majority of between one and two hundred. In 
the convention he was one of the most useful members, and his service therein was exceedinglj' 
valuable and efficient. Feeling bound by the will of those, who, irrespective of party, had elected 
him, no less than by his own inclination, he acted with the small number of independents, who, 
in the convention, really held the balance of power, which they so used, alternating the election 
of officers between the two parties, that party spirit was more nearly banished from that assem- 
bly than from any deliberative legislative bod\' that ever convened in Illinois. In the convention 
he was chairman of the important committee on revision and adjustment, and with characteristic 
energy, vigilance and foresight, so conducted the work of the committee that upon the day, and 
at the hour fixed for final adjournment, its report was found complete, something new in the his- 
tory of such conventions. The appreciation of the committee's services was clearly attested by a 
unanimous vote of thanks, which was the only one of the kind given to any committee during 
the entire session. Aside from this, the record of the convention, the flattering notices of the 
Springfield papers, and the personal testimony of his fellow-members, furnish abundant evidence 
of the ability which he displayed in this responsible and honorable position. Upon the resigna- 
tion of Hon. S. Wilcox, judge of the fourth judicial circuit of Illinois (composed of the counties 
of Kane, Du Page and Kendall), in the fall of 1874, the minds of his fellow-citizens at once fixed 
upon Judge Cody as his successor. A district convention for nomination having been called, a 
mass convention was at once held in Du Page county. About one hundred and fifty of the most 
substantial men in the county, irrespective of party, composed this convention, which was the 
largest of its kind ever held in the county. When from this body a delegation comprising men 
whose personal appearance, superior abilities, and genuine merit made them a tower of strength, 
were selected to present the name of a candidate from Du Page county, they needed no formal 
instructions as to who it should be, but went into the district convention with a unanimity and 
moral force that insured success, and secured the nomination of Judge Cody, who, September 
8, was elected by the largest majority ever given in the circuit, every town in his own county giv- 
ing him a majority. In the three south towns, which had been his home since 1847, out of a 



288 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. 

total of ten hundred and twenty-one votes, ten hundred and seven were cast for him, thus show- 
ing that where he was best known, his abilities were most highly appreciated. 

During his term as circuit judge, in 1877, the appellate court of Illinois was established, and 
the counties of Lake, McHenry, De Kalb and Boone were combined with the old fourth circuit, 
forming the twelfth judicial circuit of the state, the law making this change providing also for 
three judges in each of the thirteen circuits of the state. 

In 1879 a republican convention made a party nomination for judges, the circuit having a 
republican majority of over twelve thousand, which of course terminated Judge Cody's official 
service, although the people throughout the circuit, without organization in his favor, voted for 
him in such numbers that he lacked but about two thousand votes of being reelected. This 
unexpectedly large voluntary indorsement of the people, irrespective of party, under the circum- 
stances, gave substantial evidence of popular appreciation. 

Judge Cody immediately formed a business connection in Chicago, where he has since that 
time, been practicing law, retaining his residence, however, at Naperville, in Du Page county. 
The firm of which he is a member, Gary, Cod)' and Gary, is widely known, and stands in the front 
rank of the profession. 

In the fall of 1880, the democratic senatorial convention for the fourteenth district, against 
his protest, nominated Judge Cody for state senator, an honor which he peremptorily declined. 
Soon after this, in the same year, he was unexpectedly and unanimously nominated a candidate 
for congress by the democrats of the first congressional district. His professional engagements 
compelled him to decline this nomination also, and devote himself to the large and continually 
increasing business interests confided to his care. For the same reason, when the congressional 
districts had been changed, and in 1882, he was unanimously nominated for the same position in 
the eighth district, he again declined, though he believed at the time, and his friends insist they 
now know, that his election was certain. Though he is still called a democrat, he is thoroughly 
and absolutely independent in his views, taking little or no part in party politics. 

As a judge he was peculiarly free from prejudices, and his thorough investigation of the law, 
his clear perception, and his careful, deliberate and correct opinions have made for him a most 
enviable reputation. During his whole term as county judge, no appeal was taken from his decis- 
ions. When he began his labors as circuit judge, by reason of the illness of his predecessor, 
there was an immense accumulation of unfinished business. He quietly but persistently dis- 
charged his responsible duties, and at the end of his term left all the dockets in his circuit in far 
better condition than they had been for many years. Of the cases appealed during his term 
more than eighty per cent were affirmed by the supreme court. 

As a lawyer he has ever been noted for his care and skill, and faithfulness to his clients. Pos- 
sessing fine abilities as a public speaker, his clear voice, distinct articulation, well chosen lan- 
guage and earnest sincerity, rendered him a popular and successful advocate. As a citizen, he is 
loyal and true, and has been especially faithful to the interests of the community in which he 
lived. As a man. Judge Cody possesses most admirable qualities. Warm and sympathetic in his 
friendships, courteous, affable, social and genial, he possesses that plain style, and matter-of-fact 
directness of purpose, and that modest and unobtrusive manner, to be expected in one who, like 
him, has an utter contempt for all shams and mere pretense. His aim in life has been to unfold 
his nobler manhood, and to make the highest use of his powers for the benefit of his fellow-men, 
and this with an unselfishness that his friends are inclined to consider an injustice to himself. 

He was married, December 31, 1846, to Miss Philomela E. Sedgwick, daughter of Parker 
Sedgwick, M.D., formerly of Lowell, Oneida county. New York, but since 1843 a resident of Du 
Page county, Illinois, where he is widely known as an eminent and successful physician. Of his 
eight sons one is a minister, three are lawyers, and four are physicians. Mrs. Cody is a lady of 
intelligence and refinement, esteemed for her earnest piety, and her true womanly qualities, a 
devoted wife and fond mother. 

They have from early life been members of the Congregational Church at Naperville, in which 



I 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 289 

for a quarter of a century, the judge has been superintendent of the Sabbath school. Their 
eldest son, Hiram S., was admitted to practice law in September, 1877, and died in March, 1879, 
at the age of twenty-four years. During his brief practice at the bar, he gave unmistakable 
promise of brilliant success as a lawyer, while in every other respect his future was equally prom- 
ising. 

There are remaining three sons and five daughters, constituting a family circle of culture, 
refinement and intelligence, and making a home in which the judge may well be said to be a 
contented and happy man. 

Such is a simple outline of his life history, to which little need be added. The character of 
the positions which he has held is a faithful test of his ability. This, and the substantially unan- 
imous indorsement of an intelligent people, with whom he has lived for over thirty years, speak 
of his genuine merit and worth, in language that cannot be misunderstood. In representing the 
interests of others he has been singularly fortunate and happy, and as a reward of his rare hon- 
esty of purpose, his undoubted fairness to opponents, he is the favorite of a whole people. If we 
search for the secret of his success, we shall find it, not alone in his native abilities, but also in 
his sterling integrity, his loyalty to principle, and his firm determination to be absolutely honor- 
able and manly in all his endeavors. 



WILLIAM F. BAYNE, M.D. 

MACOMB. 

WILLIAM FIELDING BAYNE, a medical practitioner in McDonough county for nearly 
thirty years, was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, January 2, 1827. His father, William 
Bayne, was a native of Virginia, of Scotch descent, and married Barbara Blankenbaker, who was 
of Holland descent, and whose father spent four years in the continental army, fighting for inde- 
pendence. In 183 1 William Bayne moved from Kentucky to Adams county, this state, and was 
engaged in cultivating the soil until his death, which occurred in Hancock county, in 1854. The 
widow died in 1869. 

The subject of this biographical notice farmed till he had reached his majority, then worked 
a while at the carpenter's trade, studying medicine at the same period, giving his entire time dur- 
ing the winters to that branch of science. He then read one full year with Doctor George H. 
Young, of Columbus, Adams county ; attended lectures in the Eclectical Medical Institute, Cin- 
cinnati ; commenced practice at Barry, Pike county, and the next year (1854) settled in Macomb. 
Here he was in active and successful practice when civil war burst upon the land. August 2, 
1861, he enlisted in company B, loth Missouri infantry: was commissioned captain, and had 
command of the company for two years, when his health broke completely down, and he resigned. 
To improve his health the doctor now took a trip to the Rocky Mountains, and in the autumn of 
1864 resumed practice at Macomb. In October, 1869, he went to Philadelphia, and took a course 
of lectures in the Eclectic Medical College of Pennsylvania, receiving the degree of doctor of 
medicine in February 1870. 

Latterly Doctor Bayne has made a special study of chronic diseases, and diseases of women, 
and he has a large office and city practice, seldom going into the country. He is a studious man 
in medical science, and has an excellent reputation for skill and success. He has reported a few 
important cases for medical journals, but never writes merely for the sake of appearing in print. 
He has been a member of the National Eclectic Medical Association since 1870, and often attends 
its annual meetings. He is known outside the state of Illinois. 

The doctor served at one period as a member of the local school board, and was its president 
one year; was alderman some years ago; mayor in 1878-9, and is again (1882) serving as alder- 
man. He takes considerable interest in municipal matters, and is willing to devote some time in 
trying to advance them. 



290 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



In early life Doctor Bayne was a whig, and is now a republican, taking a good deal of interest 
in the welfare of his party. In religion he is a Methodist, and has been either a trustee or stew- 
ard nearly all the time since a resident of Macomb. He is also an Odd-Fellow ; has passed the 
several chairs in the subordinate lodge, and the encampment, and has occasionally represented 
the local lodge in the Grand Lodge of the State. 

Doctor Bayne was first married, in 1851, to Miss Martha A. Herndon, of Columbus, Adams 
county, she dying of child-birth a short year afterward, the child also dying three or four months 
later. In 1854 he married Lydia Jane Fream, of Schuyler county, Illinois, and she is the mother 
of seven children, only three of them now living. One of the deceased, William A. Bayne, a 
married man and worth)- citizen, was killed by accident on the railroad in September 1881. The 
living are Charles Ellsworth, George Grant and Nellie May. 



CHAUNCEY B. DEAN. 

BEL VIDE RE. 

CHAUNCEY BAINBRIDGE DEAN is a son of Bainbridge N. and Lydia (Smith) Dean, and 
was born in De Kalb county, Illinois, January 23, 1848. His father was from the state of 
Maine, where the family early settled, the progenitor being from England. The great-grand- 
father of Chauncey served through all the long war for independence, and came out without 
receiving even a scratch. 

Our subject received only a common school education; studied law in the University of Mich- 
igan, reading also with Hon. Jesse S. Hildrup, of Belvidere, during vacations, and is a graduate 
of the law department of the university mentioned, class of '73. Mr. Dean practiced his profession 
one year in Denver, Colorado; then returned to Belvidere, and is doing business in the courts of 
his circuit and in the supreme court of the United States at Chicago. He is a sound lawyer, a 
studious and growing man in his profession, and as county judge he is prompt in business, and 
popular among the people. 

Mr. Dean was elected county judge in November, 1877, and in accordance with the revised 
constitution, his term did not expire until the close of 1882; in the fall of 1882 he was reelected 
without opposition for a term of four years. When the city charter of Belvidere went into opera- 
tion, in the spring of 1881, Judge Dean was elected city attorney, and still holds that office. He 
fills official posts with decided credit to himself and to the general satisfaction of the people. 
He is of the republican school of politics, and a third degree Mason. 

In June, 1873, immediately after his graduation at Ann Arbor, Michigan, Judge Dean was 
married to Frances K., daughter of Henry W. Kellogg, of that city, and they have one son and 
one daughter. 

ROBERT LINDBLOM. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE subject of this sketch was born in Sweden, November 17, 1844. His father. Nils Lind- 
blom, was a merchant in the interior at Loviseberg, named after his wife, C. Lovisa (Tolf) 
Lindblom, who died in 1853, and was followed a year later by her husband, leaving a family of 
five boys, of whom Robert was the third. He, with his two older brothers, was sent to a private 
tutor, and after four and a half years' constant study, without one single holiday, entered the 
commercial and agricultural college of Labbetorp, from which he graduated in i860, and moved 
to Orebro, where he entered upon the profession of civil engineer, but after two years' service in 
the office of C. F. Froman, he concluded to abandon the profession, and engage in commercial 
pursuits. After several minor engagements, he finally accepted a position in the office of E^ric 
Soderlindh, the wealthiest and most extensive grain merchant in Orebro, where he remained 





r.nj.by E,r.,Willi«me SBriNY 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 293 

until early in 1S64, and left to accept a position in Orebro Enskilda Bank, vacated by iiis friend, 
Forsshind, who had tendered his services to Denmark in its struggle with Prussia. The war soon 
ended, and his friend returned. The position in the bank was one of the most coveted in the 
[irovince, and while Lindblom wanted it, he also knew that his friend would like it back, but was 
too delicate to ask it, so Lindblom concluded all at once to hand in his resignation in favor of his 
friend, and announced his intention to go to America, which he speedily did, and landed in New 
York, November 17, 1864, on his twentieth birthday. After a year's hard struggle in the metrop- 
olis, he left for the West, with but three dollars in his pocket, and no ticket. 

It is characteristic of his subsequent thrift that when he arrived in Milwaukee, his capital had 
increased to ten dollars. He did not remain in Milwaukee, but went at once to the little town of 
Otsego, in Columbia county, Wisconsin, where he obtained employment in a country store. 
Straws show which way the wind blows, and trifles mark the character of men. Mr. Lindblom 
could not stoop to comply with the requirements of that business, and was discharged for being 
more truthful than discreet. He returned to Milwaukee, and in January, 1866, commenced to 
work for L. J. Higby and Sons, in one of their many warehouses, at a dollar and a half a day. 

His employers were not long in discovering the value of their man, and advanced him step by 
step, through all the departments of the elevator and freight business, until he was made cashier 
in their general office. This position Mr. Lindblom retained until his employers moved to New 
Orleans. After occupying the same position for a time, under the Saint Paul Railroad Company, 
he accepted a position as head man in the commission house of VanKirk and McGeoch, in 1868, 
and remained until 1873, when his employers disposed of their grain business, and Mr. Lindblom 
formed the commission house of Shroeder and Lindblom. The new firm had small means, but a 
large amount of push and ability, and even the first year took rank as one of the leading houses 
in Milwaukee, making |!8o,ooo in commission. Prosperity continued until, by accident, and with- 
out any intention to speculate, Shroeder and Lindblom became jointly interested with VanKirk 
and McGeoch in a large wheat transaction, in 1875, which resulted in the famous November cor- 
ner, and subsequent collapse of both firms in 1876. Not long after the firm dissolved, and Homer 
Germain went in with Mr. Lindblom, the new firm name being Germain and Lindblom. Shortly 
afterward, Mr. Shroeder left Milwaukee, and Mr. Lindblom alone had to shoulder their joint 
papers. In 1878 Mr. Lindblom came to Chicago, and opened a house, under the firm name of 
Lindblom and Germain, retaining also the Milwaukee house In this new and large field, Mr. 
Lindblom at once became a prominent actor, but the constant drain upon his earnings, caused by 
payments of the old firm's papers, made his capital insufficient for his growing business, and he 
concluded to make connections, whereby he could give his trade the benefit of larger capital. 
Lindblom and Germain dissolved, and soon after Mr. Lindblom formed connection with Mr. 
Nichols and Company, where he had ample scope for his energy. His success since then has been 
phenomenal. 

In the spring of 1881 he revisited his old home in Sweden, and with his wife, made the tour 
of the continent. His old employer, Mr. Soderlindh, still occupied the old villa, just outside of 
Orebro, where he had spent his summers for thirty years. The old gentleman, in his eighty- 
second year, and his estimable wife, were here surrounded by their nine children, just as Mr 
Lindblom left them seventeen years ago, and into this family were now admitted Mr. Lindblom's 
American wife, and the French wife of the oldest son, neither of whom could speak, but soon 
learned, the Swedish language. 

On his return to Chicago, in the fall of 1881, Mr. Lindblom formed a partnership with his old 
partner, Mr. Nelson VanKirk, under the firm name of Robert Lindblom and Company. The 
career of this house has been something remarkable. Their customers are among the wealthiest 
men, east and west. Their views are sought for, and published, as authorities. They have been 
connected with several large transactions, every one of which has been successful, and they will 
not be connected, in any respect, with any deal not based on real merit, Mr. Lindblom attributes 
3" 



294 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY, 



I 



his success to two causes, First, he has never betrayed a conlidence, or a client, and, second, he 
always tells the truth, and by so doing, mystifies the traders on the board. 

Politically, he is a liberal republican, but not a partisan. He has held several positions of 
honor in the party, among them that of secretary of the central republican club, of Milwaukee, 
but has never sought, or accepted, office. He has, however, taken the stump on several occasions, 
and is regarded as an earnest and logical speaker. In 1872 he started, and edited, a daily news- 
paper, in Milwaukee, in company with A. A. Singer. It was called the "Daily Guide," and was 
originally intended as a campaign paper, to forward the election' of Harrison Ludington, as 
mayor. It became the official organ of the city, in recognition of its services in electing the first 
republican mayor of Milwaukee, subsequently passed into other hands, and was finally absorbed 
bv the "Daily News." In religion, Mr. Lindblom is a liberal in its true and religious sense. He 
was reared a Lutheran, but has grown beyond the narrow confines of sectarian creeds, yet toler- 
ating all. 

In 1874 Mr. Lindblom was married to Miss Hattie L. Lewis, the daughter of the late James 
Lewis, and Mary D. (Campbell) Lewis, his wife, who were among the oldest settlers of Milwau- 
kee. The ceremony took place at the residence of the bride, in the very house where she was 
born. His brother, Oscar Lindblom, was also united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Lewis, a sister 
of Hattie, at the same time and place. • 

Mr. Lindblom is six feet tall, of fair complexion and nervous temperament. He decides 
promptly, and acts without hesitation. This dash makes him at times appear reckless, and yet 
there are few men on the Board of Trade as conservative as he is. He simply does promptly 
w^hat he knows he wants to do, and if he has any choice at all he would rather be in the minority 
than the majority. He has unbounded confidence in himself, and possesses the magnetism to 
inspire this confidence in others. One of his competitors remarked that "Bob Lindblom makes 
me think I am right, when I know I am wrong." He is still a very young man, with all the pos- 
sibilities of education, experience, capital and a good name before him. His constitution is not 
robust, but by a regular, happy, domestic life, he husbands his strength, and may become as old 
as he is prominent. 

WILLIAM PRENTISS. 

MACOMB. 

THE state's attorney for McDonough county, with whose name we head this sketch, was born 
in Davenport, Iowa, September 19, 1848, his parents being William Prentiss, senior, and 
Elizabeth (Gapen) Prentiss. His father was born in Pickaway county. Ohio, in 1815; was a 
graduate of the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, and died at Vermont, Fulton county, this 
state, in January, 1854. The mother of our subject was born in Green county, Pennsylvania; 
married James Manley, after her first husband's death, and is living in Macomb. Mr. Manley 
was a member of the legislature in 1871-2, and is one of the early settlers in this county. Mr. 
Prentiss attended common schools during the winter season until fifteen years of age, farming 
the rest of the year in Fulton and McDonough counties. He attended the seminary at Cherry 
Grove, near Abingdon, a term or two ; went to the normal school, near Bloomington, intending 
to take a full course in the model department, but Broke down in health in two months, and was 
obliged to leave. Not long afterward he entered Knox College, Galesburgh, taking Latin, and 
following the scientific curriculum, proposing to go through college, but his health gave way in 
two years, and in the spring of 1869 he went to Mankato, Blue Earth county, Minnesota, with dubi- 
ous prospects of ever regaining his health. He bought wild land in Cottonwood county, and 
opened a farm, teaching school during the winters. While in Minnesota he was superintendent 
of schools in Cottonwood county for three years. He also commenced the study of law, being 
his own preceptor. 

Mr. Prentiss continued to farm until late in the autumn of 1875 ; taught school the following 



1 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 295 

winter, and the next spring, his health being restored, he returned to McDonough county. He 
read law with Hon. J. S. Bailey, of Macomb, and was admitted to the bar in June, icSyS. He is of 
the firm of Prentiss and Baily, his partner being Jacob L. Baily. They do business in the several 
courts of the state ; have a remunerative practice, and stand as well as any firm in the county. 
Mr. Prentiss is studious and ambitious, and that class of men are sure to grow, unless healtji fails. 
He has made a promising start in professional life, and his friends predict for him an honorable 
future. 

In November, 1878, Mr. Prentiss was elected state's attorney to fill an unexpired term, antl 
was reelected in 1880. His present term will expire with December, 1884. He was mayor of 
the city from May, 1881, to June, 1882. In every official position which he has held, he has shown 
marked promptness and faithfulness, and good executive talents. 

In politics his affiliations are with the democratic party, though we believe he is not regarded 
as very radical. While in Minnesota, and a farmer, he joined the grangers, and was master of a 
lodge of that order. He is a Freemason, 

December 24, 1872, Mr. Prentiss was married to Miss Elizabeth Helen McCaughey, of Fulton 
county, this state, and they have three children, all sons, James Manley, Jackson McCaughey and 
William. Mr. Prentiss is a stockholder in the Macomb Callendar Clock Company, and does all 
he can to encourage local industries calculated to build up the city. 



ROBERT E. LOGAN. 

MORRISON. 

ROBERT EMMET LOGAN, a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser in Whiteside county, is 
a son of Robert and Polly (Rowe) Logan, and was born in Bath, Steuben county. New York, 
February 13, 1828. Both parents were also natives of that state, and his father, a farmer, was 
in the second war with England. The son was educated at the Bath Academy, and the Elmira 
high school; learned the cabinet-maker's trade, and worked at it in New York until 1855, when he 
went to Davenport, Iowa, where he was the foreman of a furniture factory. 

Two or three years afterwod Mr. Logan moved into this state; taught school between one and 
two years at Portland, Whiteside county, and then opened a cabinet shop in the same place. In 
i860 he was appointed deputy sheriff of Whiteside county, under Robert G. Clendenin, and in 
1862 was elected sheriff, which office he held two years. When Hon. Richard J. Oglesby was in 
the gubernatorial chair, Mr. Logan was appointed (1865) penitentiary commissioner; was reap- 
pointed at the end of two years, and was then (1858) elected to the same position by the people, 
the office having become elective. 

In 1864 Mr. Logan bought a farm of 240 acres, at Union Grove, three and a half miles west of 
Morrison; and he is now engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock-raising, being quite an enter- 
prising stock feeder, and doing a thrifty business. He was vice-president of the Whiteside County 
Central Agricultural Society from 1875 to 1877, and has been its president during the last five 
years. He is a man of unusual executive ability, and makes an excellent presiding officer. Mr. 
Logan is a republican of the most pronounced kind, and is a man of much influence in the party. 
For a score of years he has attended all the county, district and state conventions, and is often 
chairman of the county, and sometimes of the district conventions. He was a delegate to the 
national convention held in Chicago in 1880, and by instructions of his district, voted steady for 
Hon. E. B. Washburne for the presidential nominee. He was also a presidential elector that year 
on the Garfield and Arthur ticket. 

He gave the ox, the fattest one in his whole large herd, that was roasted at the barbecue, held 
at Morrison that year, ex-Governor Oglesby being the orator on that occasion. -Samuel Johnson 
or some other Englishman argues that he who drives fat oxen should himself be fat, and if Mr. 
Logan is not fat, he has a portly build, and noble bearing, and walks like one of the kings ot the 
soil. 



296 UNITED STATES BTOGRAPIHCAI. DTCTIONARY. 

He is popular among his townsmen and in the county, and has been supervisor of his town 
for seven consecutive years, and chairman of the board at least two or three years. He is a 
Royal Arch Mason. Vox years, when residing in Morrison, he was quite active in temperance, 
and prominent in the Order of Good Templars, being grand worthy commander three years, and 
grand worthy marshal two years. 

He married February 23, 1864, Malvina, daughter of Hon. James McCoy, of Fulton City, 
Whiteside county, and they have four children, three sons and one daughter, most of them 
attending school. 

HON. AUGUSTUS G. HAMMOND. 

IVYOMING. 

AUGUSTUS GIDEON HAMMOND, son of Gideon and Nancy (Chandler) Hammond, and 
. one of the leading merchants in Wyoming, is a native of Essex county. New York, dating 
his birth at Westport, January 27, 1834. The progenitor of the Hammond family in this country 
was from Wales, and settled in Connecticut, his descendants scattering over most of the northern 
states. Gideon Hammond was a farmer and lumber dealer, a volunteer at the battle of Platts- 
burgh, and a member of the New York legislature from fifteen to twenty years. 

Augustus received an academic education at Westport, New York, W^aukesha, Wisconsin, and 
Farmington, Illinois, coming west in 1848, and settling in W'yoming in 1850. After finishing 
his education, he taught school five or six winters, and farmed the rest of the year. Subsequently 
he devoted himself exclusively to agricultural pursuits until 1865, when he opened a store in 
Wyoming, and has since confined himself to merchandising. For a while he traded alone; was 
then in company with C. S. Payne, and later with Sylvester F. Otman. Since 1878 he has been 
of the firm of Hammond and Walters, his partner being John W. Walters. They are doing prob- 
ably the heaviest business of anj' merchants in town, and no mercantile house in the county has 
a more honorable standing. 

Mr. Hammond was elected justice of the peace, and treasurer of the school board in 1862, and 
still holds the latter office. In the autumn of 1874 he was elected to the lower house of the gen- 
eral assembly, and served one term, being on the committees on education, insurance and drain- 
age. His politics are republican, and he is an earnest worker in the interests of the party. In 
the Masonic order he has taken the third degree. 

The wife of Mr. Hammond was Cecelia B, Wynkoop, from Chemung county, New York, they 
being married in October, 1853. They have three children: Harry A., cashier of Scott and Wrig- 
ley's Bank, Wyoming ; Will W., a lawyer, in partnership with Judge Henry B. Hopkins, of Peoria, 
and Mary Louisa, who is at home. 

The subject of this sketch is one of the older class of merchants in Wyoming, and has always 
borne a high character for honesty and fair dealing. His record is without a blemish. 



HON. GEORGE KIRK. 

WAUK'EGAN. 

ONE of the most public spirited and thoroughgoing business men of the city of Waukegan is 
George Kirk, who represents the counties of Lake and McHenry in the state senate. He is 
a son of the late Samuel Kirk, a woolen manufacturer, and was born in Cairo, Greene county, New 
York, February 9, 1824. His grandfather came from England, and both father and grandfather died 
in the Empire State. The mother of George, before her marriage, was Elizabeth Crabtree. The 
family moved from Greene to Dutchess county when our subject was quite young, and he was edu- 
cated in a common school near where Vassar College now stands; worked with his father during 
part of his teens; learned the trade of a machinist in Poughkeepsier came to the West as far as 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



297 



Chicago in 1S43, and helped to build the machinery which dredged out Chicago harbor. For 
four months during his first summer in Chicago he was the only machinist at work in that city, 
the few other shops of the kind l)eing closed lox repairs or for some other reason, the times being 
extremely dull. 

Mr. Kirk continued to work at his trade in Chicago till the summer of 1847, when he settled 
in Waukegan, started a foundry and machine shop, and for several years was engaged in making 
reapers, mowers and threshing machines, the pioneer manufacturer of agricultural machines in 
the place. Since 1855 he has been engaged in the manufacture of lumber, laths and shingles, 
being at first alone, then of the firm of Kirk and Adams, and now of th'e firm of George K. 
Adams and Company. They are doing a thrifty business. 

For twenty-two years, while furnishing lumber supplies, Mr. Kirk was also in the pork packing 
business, and at the same time doing a great deal of building, he having put up some of the best 
stores and other buildings in the city of Waukegan. He is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of 
enterprise, and never seems to be happier than when most busy in aiding to build up and beautify 
the pleasant city in which he lives. 

Mr. Kirk is very highly esteemed as a citizen, and has had various offices thrust upon him, such 
as alderman, supervisor, etc., in which he has rendered services much more valuable to the public 
than remunerative to himself, but he seems to be willing to bear his share of such burdens. In 
1S80 he was elected to the state senate to represent the counties already mentioned, and he carries 
his practical and most excellent business habits into legislative as well as his own private business. 
He is chairman of the committees on state buildings and grounds and visiting state charities. 
He represents a strong republican district, and the party has no occasion to be disappointed in 
its selection. 

He is a Blue Lodge Mason, member of Waukegan Lodge, No. 76. He married in 1849 Jane 
Adams, daughter of Daniel Adams, of Waukegan, and sister of George K. Adams, and thej' 
have lost one son and have four children living. 



GRANT GOODRICH. 

CHIC A GO. 

FOR forty-seven years the name of Grant Goodrich has been a familiar and prominent one in 
the city of Chicago. He came May 14, 1834, when the city could boast of but seven frame 
dwelling houses and a population of about two hundred and fifty souls, exclusive of its garrison. 
As a business man, a lawyer, a judge of the. superior court, as a broad-minded philanthropist and 
reformer, as an earnest Christian gentleman, as an energetic, thoroughgoing enterprising western 
man and representative Chicagoan, he has been well known and highly esteemed throughout the 
West for nearly half a century; and now at the age of nearly his allotted threescore years and 
ten, but with eye still bright, form straight as an arrow, mind active and clear as in the best years 
of his manhood, he is living in the quiet enjoyment of a well deserved and honorably earned 
ciimpftence, and looks upon the village of his boyhood, now grown great and famous, with a sort 
(if fatherly interest and affection pleasant to behold. He is still as jealous of her honor, as 
anxious for her welfare, as interested in her progress, as when he was an active participant in her 
alfairs, and will doubtless be engaged in planning some scheme for the moral or material advance- 
ment of her citizens till the latest hour of his life. He may be justly regarded as not only one 
of the oldest, but one of the most prominent and useful of her citizens, and of the record of his 
useful and well spent life neither his children nor his fellow-citizens will ever be ashamed. 

Grant Goodrich was born in Milton, Saratoga county, New York, August 7, 1811. Under 
the administration of Madison, a hasty and ill-advised declaration of war against England had 
been promulgated June 18 preceding. The country was in a ferment of hasty preparation, which 
the sober judgment uf history now decides was as ill-advised and unnecessary as it was precipi- 



2g8 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

tate. The countr)' was new and the people poor, schools were scarce, and parents were unable to 
give their children more than the common rudiments of an education, so that Gideon Goodrich 
was unable to give his family of eight sons and one daughter the advantages his youngest son, 
and the only remaining representative of his father's family now living, has conferred upon his 
own children. But Mr. Goodrich comes of old and energetic New England stock, who for cen- 
turies have been accustomed to self-reliance, whose sons have carved out their own fortunes in 
new fields, and have learned how to compel circumstances to bend to their will and yield the best 
results possible. 

William Goodrich, the earliest representative of the family in America, emigrated from Eng- 
land to this country in 1630, only ten years after the Mayflovirer landed the pilgrim fathers on 
Plymouth Rock. With his brother Thomas he settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1636. 
From thence thej^ removed to Rocky Hill, Connecticut, where some members of the family have 
continued to reside till the present day. Gideon Goodrich was married to Eunice Warner, of 
Wethersfield, New York, and soon afterward removed to Milton, same state, where their chil- 
dren were all born. Having purchased large tracts of land in Ripley, Chautauqua county. New 
York, the famih' moved there in 181 7, when Grant was but six years old. Being a man of great 
energy and spirit, and specially active in promoting education, Mr. Goodrich hired a private 
tutor, and for two years his own and his neighbors' children received instruction under his own 
roof. When ten years old Grant went to live with his sister, at Westfield, where he studied the 
higher English branches and the classics under the tuition of J. C. Center, a lawyer of that place. 

Having already lost three brothers with consumption, and symptoms of the dread disease 
showing themselves in him, it was thought best for him to suspend study and enter upon a more 
active out-door life; so, after two years spent in Westfield, he took a few trips on one of the ves- 
sels of an older brother, who had established himself at Portland Harbor, Lake Erie, as a ship 
owner in the lake trade. His father had in the meantime also removed with his family to Port- 
land Harbor. The pure air of the lake and manual exercise greatly improved his health, so that 
he remained on the lakes for two years, thus effectual!}^ removing all predisposition to consump- 
tion, and, as the event proved, laying the foundatitm for a green old age. The practical knowledge 
thus gained of the business has since been of good service to him in the practice of law. At the 
expiration of his nautical career he returned to Westfield, where he completed his education in 
the academy. Upon leaving this institution, at the age of eighteen he entered the law office of 
Dixon and Smith, where he remained till 1834, when he removed to Chicago. He did not at first 
establish himself in business here, but spent considerable time in traveling through the state. 
Being thoroughly posted in the location and value of farm lands in northern Illinois, he returned 
to Chicago and opened a law office, in connection with which he engaged extensively in real 
estate operations. 

Until 1837 the emigration to this part of the state was very rapid. In 1836 alone public lands 
to the value of $5,000,000 were entered in Illinois. Speculation was rife, and real estate in Chi- 
cago reached prices it never permanently commanded for thirty years thereafter. Governor 
Ford, in his history, makes the humorous statement that the staple article of Illinois export was 
at that time town plats. Town lots in Chicago and hundreds of other cities in Illinois, most of 
which existed only on paper, were purchased at the East unsight and unseen by speculators, just 
as mining property is now purchased in Colorado or Wyoming. 

But the crash came in 1837, and Mr. Goodrich went under with pretty nearly the entire popu- 
lation of the state. He had put his name to accommodation paper for his friends during the sun- 
shine, and the storm engulfed him to the amount of $60,000. Many took advantage of the bank- 
rupt law, but Mr. Goodrich manfully shouldered the burden which took eighteen of the best years 
of his life to discharge. 

In 1842 Illinois was in the dust. Her treasury was empty; her credit destroyed. Her name 
was a world-wide reproach. She was bankrupt — hopelessly. She knew not what to do. She 
was overwhelmed in debt and had nn propertv. Her people were in debt far beyond their means 



I 



UNITED STATES BIOGKA PlllCA I. DICTIONARY. 299 

iif payment. Her statesmen were weak and cowardly. They had involved the state in all her 
truuble, and had. not the courage to take the consequences nor the wisdom to extricate her. It 
only needed a demagogue bold enough to avow the purpose, and the dishonor and shame of open 
repudiation would have completed the dire misfortune.' But the hand of Providence seemed 
especially to have raised up a man whose wisdom, firmness and integrity was equal to the occa- 
sion, and Governor Thomas Ford gathered to his support the bravest and truest men of the state, 
wlio, resolutely turning their backs upon the evil suggestion of repudiation, soon devised the 
means to extricate themselves and the state from the bottomless pit of bankruptcy and despair 
into which the reckless spirit of speculation had plunged them. During all these evil and dis- 
heartening days there was no more active supporter of public honesty than Grant Goodrich. He 
encouraged by his own private example the policy he eloquently advocated in public affairs — 
the payment of every dollar of the public debt, both principal and interest. It is a matter of con- 
gratulation that he has lived to see the year 1883 and the state of Illinois free from debt, with an 
untarnished reputation and a full treasury. 

In the fall of 1835 Mr. Goodrich became associated in the law business with the late Judge 
Giles Spring, and this partnership continued until Mr. Spring was elected judge of the county 
court of Cook county in 185 1. In 1854 he formed a partnership with W. W. Farwell, afterward 
circuit judge of Cook county, and in 1856 Sidney Smith, who has also since been elected judge of 
the superior court, entered the firm, which was thereafter knovim as Goodrich, Farwell and Smith. 
It formed a very strong team, and soon acquired an extensive practice throughout this and the 
adjoining states; but in 1857 Mr. Goodrich's health failed from overwork of a naturally slender 
constitution, and upon the advice of his physician he went to Europe, and remained until the 
spring of 1859. Upon his return he was elected one of the judges of the superior court, and held 
the position for over four years, when he again resumed his old place in the firm of Goodrich, 
Farwell and Smith. In 1874 he finally retired from general practice, confining his attention only 
to the most important cases. 

In educational and religious affairs Mr. Goodrich has been for many years an earnest and 
effective worker. In connection with Doctor J. Evans, Orrington Lunt, J. K. Bottsford, William 
Wheeler and Philo Judson, he is the founder and patron of the Northwestern University, at 
Evanston, which, since its foundation in 1853, has been in a most flourishing condition, and 
hardly excelled by any educational institution in the West. 

He has, since 1832, been a most zealous Methodist, and to his wisdom, more than any other's, 
is the First Methodist Episcopal Church of this city indebted for its possession of the valuable 
and productive property at the corner of Clark and Washington streets, known as the Methodist 
church block. In an early day this church owned a lot one hundred and thirty-three feet on 
Clark and eighty on Washington, upon which they erected a suitable house of worship, and 
when, in 1858, the inevitable question of removal further up town came before the congregation, 
he opposed it with great energy and success, and advocated the erection of a business block upon 
the site of the church, using two of the upper stories for religious worship. His plan finally pre- 
vailed, and was carried out, and although the original structure was destroyed by the great fire of 
1871, it was rebuilt at a cost of $125,000, and still remains the only house of worship in the heart 
of the city. For many years the income from rentals in the block was $32,000 per year, all of 
which, by the terms of the original charter, has been devoted to the aid of weak sister churches 
and the purchase of lots and erection of churches in Chicago, with the exception of the small sum 
of $2,000 annually, which was set apart for the support of its own ministry. 

In politics Mr. Goodrich was originally a whig, but became one of the earliest champions of 
the free-soil party, and with it was afterward absorbed into the great anti-slavery republican 
party. He was a member of the union defense committee during the war, and an earnest advo- 
cate of the war measures of the administration of Mr. Lincoln. As an evidence of his genuine 
anti-slavery sentiments, it may be mentioned that he was one of the directors of the Freedman's Aid 
Society. He has always been an earnest temperance man, but never an advocate of prohibition, 



300 



UNITED STATES BIOCRA PHICAL DICTIONARY. 



believing it practically impossible to accomplish and impolitic to attempt. And when, in 1854, 
the legislature passed a prohibitory law, and submitted it to the people for ratification, although 
it was voted down by the state at large, yet so effective had the temperance work been in Chicago 
that, to the astonishment of the people generally, the city gave it a good, rousing majority. 

Mr. Goodrich was married in 1836 to Juliet Atwater. of Westfield, New York, by whom he 
has had five children, four sons and one daughter. His children are all living with the exception 
of one very promising young man, Charles H. Goodrich, who, after completing his education at 
Stuttgart, Germany, studied law in the office of his father, entered into partnership with his 
brother, Walter G. Goodrich, and after a short practice of only six months was taken down with 
typhoid fever, and to the overwhelming grief of his parents, relatives and friends, died at the age 
of twenty-six. His daughter, May Florence Maguire, after being happily married and settled in 
Saint Louis, has returned a widow to the paternal mansion. Of his remaining sons one is a 
manufacturer in Boston, Massachusetts; one engaged in the practice of law in this city, and one 
in the real estate business. 

The great fire devoured $60,000 of Mr. Goodrich's fortune at an age when men generally look 
for repose from their labors. With remarkable energy he, however, began at once to repair its 
damages, and succeeded in doing so beyond his most sanguine hopes, but only at the expense of 
his health, for in 1876 it once more gave way under the unusual strain, and for several years his 
only effort to do business has been as an amusement, or rather as a necessary relief to his still 
active mind. 

DANIEL KIMBALL PEARSONS. 

CHIC A GO. 

A FEW years ago the financial condition of Chicago was deplorable. Extravagance had so 
outrun income that an indebtedness largely in excess of the constitutional limit had been 
incurred. To meet the deficiency thus created, the city had issued certificates of indebtedness, 
the legality of which was disputed in the courts. Meanwhile, large numbers of these certificates 
had been taken by eastern bankers and others, and the holders had become alarmed at the situa- 
tion. Hard times were stalking gloomily through the land, and capital was averse to almost 
every new proffer of investment, and solicitous for its securities everywhere. Chicago was 
soon to need more money, and had particular necessity for the maintenance of its good financial 
name. 

At this juncture there appeared among the bankers of New York an earnest, straightforward 
sort of man, just in from the West. He was known, personally or by reputation, to some of them, 
and was not long in making himself understood by the others. He had come, officially, as a 
member of his city's common council, and privately, as a capitalist and man of honor like them- 
selves, to assure them that Chicago was going to pay its debts. He pledged his individual word, 
and that of his city, that no matter who might be in power, no matter how courts might decide, 
no matter how long financial depression might brood over the nation, Chicago was sure to meet 
its certificates of indebtedness, principal and interest, promptly on time, dollar for dollar. The 
eastern financiers believed the man, and believed in the city he represented. Their fears were 
allayed, and he returned home. His word to them was so w-ell kept, and his predictions so well 
verified, that some time later, when Chicago needed a little ready money, the same man moved 
around among local capitalists, and easily raised half a million dollars. This he did, despite the 
fact that the courts, in the interim, had decided the much discussed certificates to be practically 
waste paper — illegal promises to pay, which the city might repudiate if it pleased, but which the 
city never did. 

The man who made these two memorable journeys was Daniel Kimball Pearsons, and so pro- 
nounced was their effect upon the financial standing of Chicago, that when Mr. Pearsons retired 
from the council, two years later, a committee of citizens waited upon him, and in a series of 




E C C n p e r Jr i Cd, 




^ CUl^<:^ C<>^1^ 



UN IT En STATES BIOGRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. 



303 



handsomely engrossed resolutions testified their appreciation and that of the city for his effective 
work in this and other important public matters. As the resolutions said, Mr. Pearsons held his 
office "with the approval and plaudits of his entire constituents, regardless of party affiliation." 

The subject of this sketch was born in Bradford, Vermont, April 14, 1820, of sterling old Green 
Mountain stock. His maternal descent is of the Israel Putnam family, his mother's maiden name 
being Hannah Putnam, daughter of John Putnam. The latter was a revolutionary soldier, the 
entire Putnam family seeming to have participated in that war. Mr. Pearsons' father, John 
Pearsons, was a farmer, who moved to Vermont nearly a hundred years ago. Mr. Pearsons' 
mother, at the present writing, is still living, in full mental vigor and fair health, an energetic 
New England lady, eighty-si.x years old. She has been the mother of nine children, five of whom 
are now alive. It is remembered, with satisfaction to herself and pride to her descendants, that 
she once spun and wove the clothing for her entire family, and could teach the ever healthful 
need of work by practical example. 

At the age of sixteen, Mr. Pearsons began keeping school. It is a curious fact that almost 
everybody of after note who has lived in New England has, at stime time in early life, been a 
school teacher. Examine the record of any prominent man from down east, and you are sure to 
find that he was once a village pedagogue. After five winters as monarch of the ferule and spell- 
ing book, Mr. Pearsons entered Dartmouth College. He remained in this college two years, 
pursuing a course of medical study afterward at Woodstock. After graduating, and living for a 
time in his native state, he removed to Chicopee, Massachusetts, a thriving manufacturing town 
near Springfield. Here he soon made for himself a fairly large and successful practice, which he 
relinquished in the year 1857, with genuine sorrow alike to his friends and himself. But, though 
destiny was marking out a new and vastly broader field of action for him, he was now indelibly 
fixed in the minds and upon the tongues of his acquaintances as " Doctor," and by that term is 
familiarly known to-day to his family, as well as to his old-time friends, among whom the writer 
of this sketch is glad to be classed. 

In 1857 the grandly growing West had so attracted Mr. Pearsons' attention that he disposed 
of his practice in Chicopee, and went to farming in Ogle county, Illinois. A farm life always 
had its charms for him, and has continued to fascinate him more or less to this day. To own 
half a dozen or more well stocked, thrifty farms, has been a staple recreation with him much of the 
time for years, and even in this present year of grace his address is as likely to be "at the farm," 
near Elgin, as at the hotel in Chicago. But the original Ogle county country life was rather too 
contracted for Mr. Pearsons, and he soon settled in this^ city, going into the real estate business. 
First taking the agency for a large amount of farm property, he afterward assumed charge of the 
Sturgis and other outside estates. It was not long before he had sold out these lands, with satis- 
faction and profit both to himself and his principals, and was handling larger tracts for even more 
prominent parties. He sold land for the Illinois Central railroad, Michael Sullivan, the farmer 
king, and others, his sales in Illinois alone amounting to over one million acres. These large 
sales gave him a wide acquaintance with the West and its farmers, and in 1S60 he began loaning 
money, chiefly as agent, upon farm lands. This soon grew into a very extensive business, and 
for twelve years he loaned an average of more than $1,000,000 annually. This large sum, divided 
among hundreds of western farmers, was of undoubted, if not incalculable, benefit in the improve- 
ment of the great country tributary to Chicago. The loans were placed so as to benefit alike the 
borrower and the lender, and while Mr. Pearsons is to-day admired and respected by those to 
whom the money was lent, he is no less secure in the esteem of the lenders, whose interests he at 
all times watched and conserved. Indeed, his care and judgment in the matter of securities was 
something remarkable. The writer chances to know of an illustration in point. Among the 
parties for whom Mr. Pearsons acted was a large eastern insurance company. When the panic 
of 1873, and the weary years succeeding it, came, the legislature of the state in which this com- 
pany was organized was compelled to make a strict examination into the condition of all the 
state's insurance securities. Of course, in the terrible grinding down of values which had 
31 



304 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

occurred, much depreciation of security had taken place, and in most instances something to 
criticise was discovered. But with the loans made by Mr. Pearsons all was found secure, and of 
ample value to insure the payment of the indebtedness, and of the immense quantity of securities 
examined, those placed by him were specially praised as being desirable and satisfactory. 

In 1877 Mr. Pearsons retired from the loaning business, so far as acting for other capitalists 
was concerned, his own affairs having assumed such extensive proportions as to require his whole 
attention. He was now the possessor of very large and valuable timber tracts in Michigan, the 
owner of several farms in Illinois and elsewhere, a director of the Chicago Chamber of Com- 
merce, Chicago City Railway Company and other leading institutions, and of course a prominent 
stockholder in them all. He had twice been elected alderman from the first ward, by far the 
most important political district of the city. His election had both times been compassed by 
a union of the best elements of all parties, and was wholly nonpartisan. His services in the 
council as chairman of the finance committee have already been referred to, and were of a charac- 
ter and value not easily overestimated. About the time of his voluntary retirement from local 
political life, Mr. Pearsons also began to withdraw from active participation in the more arduous 
of his business enterprises, relinquishing several of his corporation directorships, although retain- 
ing and even increasing his monetary interest in them. But he was desirous of gradually work- 
ing his affairs into such a condition that he might henceforth have the easy comfort of a life not 
too severely hampered by business. To this end he began investing in choice Chicago residence 
property, chiefly in the northern division of the city. Where this newly purchased property was 
not already improved, he immediately erected fine residences, and in a short time was the owner 
of some fifty elegant houses and flats, which he still retains. 

Having thus seen his western possessions grow from the solitary farm in Ogle county until 
they now amount to a certainly very agreeable aggregate sum, so well invested that the returns 
constitute one of the most comfortable incomes in Chicago, Mr. Pearsons is devoting the larger 
share of his time to travel and recreation, interspersed with quiet but systematic acts of benevo- 
lence. He is already considerable of a traveler, having visited Europe twice, Cuba, and all of 
the American states except California; and is likely to hereafter see something more of other 
lands. His charity is of the unostentatious order, but if his right hand does not always know 
what the left is doing, it is not because the latter is idle. Most of the charitable institutions of 
the city count him among their steady contributors, while the founding of libraries in country 
towns, the assisting of worthy young men and women to obtain educations, and the dispensing 
of large sums in private acts of benevolence, are good deeds, known perhaps to more of his friends 
than he is aware of. 

Mr. Pearsons was married many years ago, to Miss Marietta Chapin, of the western Massa- 
chusetts Chapin family, — a family, perhaps the most extensive and distinguished of any in that 
part of the state, and one, indeed, that is known and respected in most of the leading business 
and social circles throughout all New England. 

In concluding, this brief epitome of a characteristic American business man's characteristic 
life, it may not be amiss to say that, although not a regular communicant of any church, he has 
always been a great believer in the worth .of religious influences, and a stanch supporter of church 
societies. The First Presbyterian of this city has for many years past found him among its 
attendants, while other churches are not unfamiliar with his presence and contributions. 

Mr. Pearsons is unconventional in manner, his life-long personal independence manifesting 
itself in an absence of all affectation. He calls things always by their right names, and to him a 
spade is never anything else but a spade. Thoroughly domestic in his tastes, the society of wife 
and a few of the friends whom he really likes suits him better than more diversified and mixed 
social enjoyments. He has never been a club or secret society man. 

Though a firm believer in the illimitable future of Chicago and the West, and a permanent 
citizen here for the remainder of his days, Mr. Pearsons still remembers with love and admiration 
his native New England state. He was among the founders of the V'ermont Society in Illinois, 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 305 

and one of its first presidents. Perhaps his methods and record are as typical of Chicago suc- 
cess as could well be indicated. Men of sturdy New England antecedents and breeding, trans- 
planted to the West, have probably done more than any other one class of people to advance in 
its marvelous progress this part of the world. The eagerness to do real hard work; the integrity 
to know and fearlessly pursue the right; the judgment to foresee the magnificent possibilities of 
the country, and take advantage of them in advance; the prudence to economize and earn wealth 
before spending it; — these are the qualities exhibited in the western race for success by men like 
Mr. Pearsons, and are the qualities that have helped make the growth of Chicago and its con- 
tiguous country the marvel of modern civilization. 



w 



WILLIAM S. PEARCE. 

IV A UKEGAN 
ILLIAM SAMUEL PEARCE, the oldest apothecary in Waukegan, if not the oldest in 
Lake county, and a very substantial citizen, is a native of Essex, England, his birth bear- 
ing the date of January 26, 1824. His parents were Rev. James B. Pearce, a most worthy man, 
dying when William was fourteen years old, and Mary (Westrup) Pearce, who died in 1848. 
Our subject received his education under his father, who for many years was the principal of a 
classical school at Maidenhead, Berks; learned the apothecary's business in the old country, and 
before leaving the old world, traveled through every county of England, principally on foot, and 
also through France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy, mostly in the same primitive 
style of transportation. Like Bayard Taylor, when a young man Mr. Pearce wanted to see some- 
thing of Europe and its people, and thought, we presume, he could do it to the best advantage 
afoot. His travels in all were about four thousand miles. ■ 

In 1S47 Mr. Pearce came to this country, and after traveling and prospecting for six months, 
located on a farm three miles from Warren ville, Du Page county, Illinois, where he remained 
about two years, and then, in the spring of 1849, returned to England, reaching there just after 
his mother's death, and having the sad comfort of visiting her newly made grave. Both parents 
sleep in the cemetery at Maidenhead. 

In the autumn of 1849 Mr. Pearce returned to this country, and for a short year was in the 
drug business in Chicago, in company with Doctor Hagemann, at the end of which time he went 
to the farm in Du Page county. About twelve months later he concluded to abandon farming, 
and attend to business with which he was more familiar, and which was more congenial to his 
tastes; so he returned once more to Chicago, and resumed the trade of a druggist, adding that of 
medical practice, he having become quite well read in the profession. 

In the spring of 1855, Mr. Pearce settled in Waukegan, and he has been an apothecary here 
since that date, being one of the best known merchants of his class in this part of Illinois. He 
has held very few, if any, civil offices, and has lived a quiet, yet very industrious life. Minding 
his own business, and putting mind into his business, he has made it a success. In doing so, no 
merchant in the place has made a cleaner record, he always having a scrupulous regard to fair 
dealing in all his transactions. Gains ill gotten would afford men like Mr. Pearce no comfort 
or satisfaction. He has never aimed to do an extensive business, and his accumulations are not 
equal to those of some of his neighboring tradesmen, but they are all the result of strictly honor- 
able traffic through a long series of years. 

Twice since coming to this city, Mr. Pearce has visited the uld country, and the graves of his 
parents, whose virtues he sacredly cherishes. He has relatives still living in Middlesex and 
Berkshire. 

Mr. Pearce is a Knight Templar, and has held varif)us offices in the Masonic order. He mar- 
ried in Kane county, Illinois, in 1853, Miss Mary Grace Copp, a native of Bristol, England, and 
of twelve children, the result (if this union, nine are vet living, the others dying in infancy. The 



305 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPIIICA I. DICTIONARY. 

eldest son, William W., is a druggist with his father, and most of the others are securing their 
education. 

Mr. Pearce first saw Waukegan (then Little Fort) from the deck of a steamer, which halted here 
long enough for him to climb the high bank. He was impressed with the beauty and healthful- 
ness of the site, and since settling here has not been disappointed in regard to his first impression, 
having never been confined to his bed a single day in Waukegan. With the exception of one day 
in Chicago, when he had a touch of the cholera (1854), he has not been laid up for forty years. 
His habits are, and always have been excellent. 



JULIUS M. HUMMEL. 

SANDWICH. 

JULIUS MONTGOMERY HUMMEL, one of the most thoroughly self-reliant and successful 
business men in De Kalb county, ^is a son of Peter F. and Bathsheba A. (Eastabrooks) Hum- 
mel, and was born in the township of Somonauk, five miles from the city of Sandwich, January 
II, 1841. Both parents were born in the eastern states, the Hummels being of German pedi- 
gree. Forty years ago this part of Illinois was sparsely settled; school-houses were "like angels' 
visits, few and far between," there being no house of the kind within three miles of the farm on 
which Julius first heard the bob-o-links sing, and the result was that he never went to school three 
months in his life. He early succeeded, however, in conquering the rudimentary branches, and if 
he ever had that disease so chronic among boys, not to mention grown up people, called laziness, 
he soon conquered that too. 

His father, a mechanic in early life, came to this state with moderate means, settled on a claim, 
and, having a large family of children, had a hard struggle to give them a comfortable support. 
He went to California in 1849, and died in the city of Mexico while on his way home in 1851. 
Julius, one of the younger children, and one of the four out of ten who lived to grow up, was 
sent from home before his father's death, when in fact not more than eight years old, and for 
three years he worked hard, simply for his bread and butter. He did farm work, and as soon as he 
received wages sent his earnings to his mother, with whom lived a younger brother and a sister. 
His first wages were fifty cents a day, he working side by side with full-grown men and doing as 
good a day's work as the best of them. When fourteen and fifteen years old, at the proper 
season, he used to cut hay on his mother's land and haul it to town, selling it for three dollars 
per ton. His wagon would hold only half a ton, and the poor old horse, already spoken for by 
the crows, could haul only that amount. It took him two days to cut, cure and market the half 
ton, but the $1.50 made him happy, for it looked as large as $150 now. When sixteen years of 
age Julius coaxed his uncle, James L. Eastabrooks, to purchase him a fiddle, vulgarly called violin, 
and then he was happy as a king, for he saw in the near future another source of income. At 
seventeen he commenced playing in public gratuitously, and at eighteen, after working all day, 
walked five miles, his brother, James L. Hummel, accompanying him, fiddled all night, received 
seventy-five cents, and returned in ample season for another day's work, losing no time, and netting 
six York shillings, taking scrip for his pay, and glad to get that. Subsequently he found his own 
conveyance, rode fifteen miles, bore his own expenses, and received $2.50 for his night's work. A 
little later (i860) he received $5 a night. About the time that civil war broke out he formed what 
was known as Hummel's band, which organization continued up to the centennial year. 

In 1862 James L. Hummel went into the army, leaving Julius to play alone, and he now 
charged $10 a night, and not long afterward $15, greenbacks being plenty and cheap. After the 
war closed he received as high as $50 a night, and his nocturnal labors, since he was seventeen 
years old, yielded him more than $7,000. And the best of all is that he never spent a dime of 
that money for liquor or tobacco. In a single week in 1867 he made $75 in the nights, and did 
not lose an hour's work during the davtime. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 309 

At twentv-one years of age our subject took his departure from single life, choosing Miss 
Martha J. Coleman, commencing this alliance by borrowing money in order to make a start, work- 
ing a farm on shares. In 1867 he bought a farm of 100 acres five miles from Sandwich, paying 
$300 down, and running in debt for the balance. He improved it two years, and then sold it at 
a large advance. Prior to this time, in 1866, he hired out to Baker and Dennis, of Somonauk, 
who were engaged in selling agricultural implements, working for them until he had disposed of 
the farm, which he improved mainly by pro.xy. In 1869 he started in business for himself alone, 
keeping at first agricull;ural implements mainly, but adding to the variety and extent for his stock 
from year to year, and showing a wonderful growth. He did about $8,000 a year at the start, 
and is now doing more than $80,000, all built up in the last fifteen years. He carries a $to,ooo 
stock of carriages alone; sells three hundred sewing machines a year; has a handsome sale of 
pianos, organs and other musical instruments. 

In 18S1 he put up a three-story brick building 30X112 feet, used for offices, salesrooms, stor- 
age, etc., with air modern improvements, including elevator and every possible convenience. His 
carriage repository is equal to anything of the kind in Chicago. His old warehouse, which is 
30X80 feet and two stories high, is packed with farm tools, implements and machinery, and still 
he is cramped for room. 

This rapid growth of business and splendid success of Mr. Hummel are the results of a plucky 
spirit, an indomitable will, and prudent and shrewd management, coupled with a good constitu- 
tion and a willingness to work. He is one of the best specimens of a business man in this sec- 
tion of the country. He gives employment to fourteen or fifteen men as salesmen, canvassers, 
etc., and no man takes more pleasure in handsomely compensating for labor faithfully per- 
formed than Mr. Hummel. He is a square dealer with everybody, and is well calculated to 
make and retain friends and customers. 

His great business capacities and fine executive abilities were discovered years ago by his fel- 
low-citizens, and he was elected mayor of Sandwich, and served four consecutive years (1877- 
1881), when he declined another reelection. He takes especial pride in aiding to advance local 
interests of every kind. He was for some years secretary of the Sandwich fair, and a powerful 
factor in building it up to its present prosperous condition, it being at first a losing institution, 
and now paying a thousand dollars a year. He is also president of the Oak Ridge Cemeterv, and 
has shown his public spirit by causing a chapel to be erected and a house to be built for the 
superintendent, who gives his whole time to improving the grounds and keeping everything in 
trim. He has been treasurer of the De Kalb county agricultural board for some years. 

Mr. Hummel is a Knight Templar, an Odd-Fellow and a member of the Knights of Labor, 
liut accepts no office in any of these orders. The wife whom he chose in 1862 died in 1878, two 
children having previously died, and three are still living. January i, 1880, he married Miss 
Lillian F. Gregory, of Michigan, and they have two children. 



T 



"HON. SYLVESTER F. OTMAN. 

VV YOMING. 

HE subject of this biographical notice is of German descent on both sides of the family. 
His paternal great-grandfather, who spelt his name Ottmann, came to this countr}' some 
time prior to the American revolution, and settled on the Hudson River. His son Nicholas, 
grandfather of Sylvester, joined the continental army wlien sixteen years old, and was taken cap- 
tive by General Brant on the Wyoming expedition, antl held a prisoner in Canada until near the 
close of the war. 

Sylvester Francis Otman vi^as born in Madison county. New York, November 5, 1828. To the 
ordinary drill of a district school he added six months' attendance at the Sanquoit Academy, and 
taught school two winters in his native state. In 1849 he came to Peoria, and there also taught 
two terms. 



310 UNITED STATES B/OCR A rirrCAr DICTIONARY. 

In 1850 he settled in Wyoming, and for three seasons worked at the carpenter's trade, which 
he had learned before coming to the West. From 1855 to 1S61, a period of eight years, he was 
surveyor of the county of Stark. In August, 1862, he went into the army as captain of company 
E, 1 1 2th Illinois infantry, and served three years, being in all the engagements of the regiment 
without receiving a wound. During the last six months he was on General Henderson's staff. 

On leaving the army Captain Otman went on his farm near Wyoming, and cultivated it till 
1869, when he went into mercantile business with Albert King. Five years later he formed a 
partnership in the same trade with Hon. A. G. Hammond, and continued with him in the mer- 
cantile business until June, 1878. In 1881 he went into the lumber trade, and has since been one 
of the leading traffickers in that line in the place. Mr. Otman is a fair-dealing business man, and 
success has attended his several ventures. 

*He has held various local offices, such as member of the town board, justice of the peace and 
supervisor, and has served six years as a member of the legislature, being first elected in 1866, 
and again in 1878, and reelected in 1880. He attended three regular and three extra sessions, and 
carried his good business habits and plain common sense into legislative as well as private business. 
During the last term he was chairman of the committee on commerce, and did some hard and 
very important work. He was the author of several bills, mostly of a local character. 

Captain Otman was originally a democrat, with free-soil proclivities, and left that party on 
the formation of the republican. He is a Royal Arch Mason, and has held various offices in this 
order. 

He was tirsl married in 1855 to Miss limma Denchfield, of Wyoming, she dying in 1864, and 
the second lime in 1867 to Mrs. Sarah (Smith) Denchfield, having had by the latter two children, 
only one of ihem now living — Arthur Mclvin, aged fifteen vears. 



ASHER BLOUNT. 

MA COMB. 

ASHER BLOUNT, lumber dealer, maj'or of the city of Macomb, and one of the leading busi- 
i\ ness men of the place, is a native of Jefferson county. New York, a son of Ambrose and 
Betsy (Wood) Blount, and was born in the township of Ellisburgh, May 27, 1819. His grand- 
father, Asher Blount, aided by his musket in gaining the independence of the colonies. Ambrose 
Blount was a minute man in 1812-14, but never called into the service. He' was- a native of Con- 
necticut, a farmer, a magistrate for several years, and held other offices, dying at Pamelia, Jeffer- 
son county in 1863. His wife had died nearly thirty years earlier (1834). They were members of 
the Baptist Church, and he was at one period a deacon of the same. Betsy Wood was a native 
of Middletown, Rutland county, Vermont, and a sister of Hon, Reuben Wood, many years ago 
governor of Ohio. 

The educational advantages of our subject were limited until he had reached his majority, 
when he attended a select school, and taught from three to six months in a year for eight or ten 
seasons. He was engaged in farming, blacksmithing and carriage-inaking in Jefferson county 
until 1866, holding meanwhile in succession the offices of township inspector of schools, township 
superintendent of the same, and township clerk. Early in the spring of the year just mentioned 
Mr. Blount came to this state and settled at Macomb, whither his younger brother, Joseph W., 
had preceded him, coming to Ouincy in 1844 and to Macomb a few years afterward. The busi- 
ness of both is lumber, and, with the exception of the period from 1875 to 1882, they have been 
together and are doing well. There are no traders of any kind in Macomb who are more prompt, 
straightforward and reliable. 

Asher Blount held the office of town supervisor one term, and was mayor in 1877 and again in 
1882, holding that position at the time this sketch is written. He is president of the Macomb 
Building and Loan Association, and a man of a good dral of public spirit and enterprise. 



1 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 31I 

Mayor Blount has affiliated with the republican party since it was formed. He is a strong but 
not a bitter partisan, strong because he believes in the general policy of his party. In religious 
belief he is a Universalist, and a man the purity of whose life no one questions who knows him. 

Mayor Blount was first married in April, 1848, to Miss Roxana Miles, of Jefferson county. She 
died in June, i860, leaving three children: Mary E., wife of J. W. Hosman, of Roodhouse, Greene 
county; F"rank J., general busines^j man, Macomb, and Fred P., who is with Blount Brothers. In 
1868 our subject was married to Miss Cynthia S. Barnery, who was also of Jefferson county, New 
York, and by her he has two children: Harry and Myra, aged respectively twelve and ten years. 

Mayor Blount has a choice family library, which he is enlarging from year to year, taking 
good care that no member of the household shall suffer for the want of healthy mental pabulum. 



ELBRIDGE G. AVER. 

HARVARD. 

ELBRIDGE GERRY AYER, the founder of the village of Harvard, or Harvard Junction, and 
one of the best known men in McHenry county, is a native of Haverhill, Essex county, 
Massachusetts, and a direct descendant of John Ayer, who settled in that town, among its pio- 
neers, in 1646. For two centuries the Ayers have been among the prominent families in that and 
other counties of the old Bay State, and descendants of John Ayer are now found in nearly half 
the states of the Union, several of them being in Chicago. The father of Elbridge was Samuel 
Ayer, in his day a flannel manufacturer in Andover, near Haverhill, and one of the first men in 
this country to make that line of goods, and his grandfather was Daniel Ayer, whose father and 
one of his (Daniel's) brothers took part in gaining the independence of the colonies. The mother 
of our subject was Polly Chase, a descendant of Aquilla Chase, who was also an early settler in 
New England. She was the mother of eight children, four sons and four daughters, Elbridge 
being the sixth child and youngest son, and born in Haverhill June 25, 1813. Now^ and then he 
goes back to the old homestead, eats pears from the trees which were planted when he was in his 
short clothes, — and short perhaps even of them, — and lives over again the happy days of his 
childhood. 

He finished his education at the famous old Bradford Academy, when at its head stood Pro- 
fessor Greenleaf, the mathematician, and author of a few text books quite popular forty and fifty 
years ago; learned the wool stapling business at Dedham, Massachusetts, and at twenty years of 
age went to Albany, whither his father had preceded him, and became associated with him in the 
grocery and provision business. 

About that period (1834) Mr. Ayer married Mary D. Titcomb, a native of Salem, New Hamp- 
shire, and two years afterward then emigrated to the West, to commence fortune seeking, at first 
in what is now the Badger State. They landed at Pike River, afterward called Southport, and 
now known as the city of Kenosha, Mr. Ayer taking a quantity of merchandise with him, and 
where he was in trade nearly eleven years. There his oldest child, the wife of Gilbert R. Smith, 
of Harvard, was born, the first white child born in that place. 

In 1847 Mr. Ayer removed to Walworth, Wisconsin, where he continued the mercantile period 
of his life for ten years, serving also most of the time as postmaster. In the latter part of that 
period the Wisconsin division of the North-Western railway was projected, and he tried to get the 
road through his place, but failing, he came to what is now Harvard. In January, 1856, he pur- 
chased four hundred acres of land, and in the spring following laid out the town. Here he has 
resided from that date, being at first engaged in the mercantile trade and in taking care of his 
real estate and encouraging settlements in the place. In 1858 he took charge of the eating house 
and hotel, purchased it at the end of one year, enlarged it at that time and subsequently, and had 
charge of it in all for eighteen years, keeping one of the best hotels and eating houses in this part 
of the state. 



312 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

In 1876 Mr. Ayer rented these premises to Marcus M. Town, the husband of his fourth daugh- 
ter, Harriet L. He has three other daughters living in town: Ann, the second, married to A. J. 
Burbank, who is in the railway office; Julia A., married to H. B, Minier, and the one already men- 
tioned. He has five daughters, the other being Eva F., the youngest, and wife of Arthur E. Law, 
of Saint Paul, Minnesota. He has also two sons, Edward E., who is dealing in ties, telegraph 
poles and posts in Chicago, and Henry C, who is in his brother's employ. Edward was in Cali- 
fornia when the civil war was in progress, and was the first man who enlisted in that state, and 
the youngest man in the regiment — the ist California cavalry. He went in as a private and 
came out lieutenant. 

Mr. Ayer was originally a whig, and since the demise of that party has acted heartily with 
the republicans. As a hotel keeper during the civil war he had many opportunities to show his 
patriotism and generosity and the goodness of his heart. 

He was the first Freemason made at Kenosha, Wisconsin, Lodge No. 7; is a Royal Arch Mason, 
and has held several offices in the order. He has also held a few civil offices in Harvard, but has 
never been a seeker after such honors, contenting himself with simply bearing his share of public 
duties as a citizen. 

The founder of the town, he has always been held in very high esteem for his public spirit, 
his genial disposition and his neighborly kindness. An old neighbor thus writes to us in regard 
to him: 

"Having known him intimately for thirty years, I think he is best known for his benevolence 
and love of justice and right. During the war he was a most ardent supporter of the government 
in all its measures. Frequently, in those troublesome times, he would furnish victuals for a whole 
company of soldiers passing through Harvard and Cairo. He then ran the eating house at Har- 
vard, insomuch that his name and fame were household words with all western soldiers at the 
front and at home. He preeminently fills the ideal of Scripture where it says, 'I was hungry 
and ye gave me meat,' etc." 

HON. THOMAS HOYNE, LL.D. 

CHICA GO. 

THOMAS HOYNE, one of the foremost lawyers in Chicago, is a son of Patrick and Elleanor 
M. Hoyne, who were obliged to leave Ireland about the year 1815, on account of troubles 
in which the father became involved with the British government. They sought an asylum in the 
city of New York, where our subject was born about February 11, 1817. He was the eldest of 
seven children, and at a suitable age was sent to Saint Peter's Catholic school in that city, where 
he remained until the death of his parents, that of his father occurring in 1829, and that of his 
mother in 1830. He was left poor as well as an orphan and unfriended. In the year 1829 he 
became an apprentice to a manufacturer of fancy goods, traveling cases and pocket-books, work- 
ing in that capacity for four or five years in the city of New York. 

Mr. Hoyne seems to have early had a strong desire for knowledge, and at that period, while 
still a mere youth working under indentures, he joined what was known as the Literary Associa- 
tion, the membership of which included several persons who afterward distinguished themselves 
in the literary or political world, notably Hon. Horace Greeley and his associate in the publishing 
business, Mr. McElrath, Judges Manierre and Daly, Hon. William B. Maclay and the Maclay 
family and others. W. K. Maclay was member of congress for several years, and his father 
founded the Baptist Church on Mulberry street as early as 1800. It was with men of this class 
that he came in contact, and early began to feel the brightening influence of their keen intellects. 
In that society Mr. Hoyne made his debut as a debater, and acquired the happy art of speaking in 
public. It was no doubt the turning point in life, the first stepping-stone to the stage on which 
he has acted a brilliant as well as conspicuous part. 

While an apprentice young Hoyne also attended two night schools, in one of which he made 




■■''%: 




UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



315 



a specialty of English grammar and elocution, in the other, of the classics, acquiring a fair knowl- 
edge of Greek as well as Latin. For such economy of time and such industry he has since reaped 
a rich reward. 

At the end of his apprenticeship, in 1835, Mr. Hoyne accepted a clerkship in a large jobbing 
house for the salary it would afford him to liquidate and pay off the expense of the schools he 
was attending. In 1836 he commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. John BrinkerholT, 
and late in the summer of 1837 came to Chicago to join his old and esteemed friend. Judge Man- 
ierre, who had preceded him hither two years before, and was serving the public in the office of 
clerk of the circuit court. His old associate in the New York literary club was not slow in mak- 
ing a place for Mr. Hoyne, whose compensation for clerical services was ten dollars a week. Mr. 
Hoyne now found time to devote to study. He took up Latin again; commenced the study of 
the French language, and for two years attended the meetings of a literary society, in the exer- 
cises of which he was an active participant. In the latter part of 1838 he taught a public school, 
one of the first organized in Chicago, four months. Soon afterward he resumed his legal studies 
in the office of Hon. J. Y. Scammon, who became his friend and patron, and was admitted to prac- 
tice late in the autumn of 1839. Since that date, with the exception of a little more than two 
years spent in Galena, Illinois (autumn of 1842 to December, 1844), Mr. Hoyne has resided in 
Chicago, and has practiced his profession, making a brilliant record at the Cook county bar, as 
well as appearing in many cases in the supreme court of Illinois, and the United States supreme 
court at Washington. He has great power before a jury. 

In 1840 Mr. Hoyne was elected city clerk on the democratic ticket, and during most of the 
time for the last forty years he has taken a deep interest in political matters, sometimes aiding to 
shape the policy of his party, or furnishing material for congressional consideration. It was Mr. 
Hoyne who, in 1841, wrote the memorial which was presented to congress, asking for increased 
appropriations for the improvement of the Chicago harbor. In 1870 he was nominated by accla- 
mation for congress in the Chicago district, but declined to run, when Hon. John Wentworth was 
nominated in his place and beaten by Hon. C. B. Farwell. 

Mr. Hoyne held the office of probate justice of the peace in 1847, 1848 and 1849, under the 
old constitution, the office which, under the new constitution which went into effect in the autumn 
of 1848, took the name of county judge, at which time his court was suspended. 

Mr. Hoyne was an earnest advocate of the Mexican war (1846-47), but on the passage of the 
Wilmot proviso, prohibiting the extension of slavery in any territory acquired from Mexico, at 
the close of the war, he became what was then known as a free-soiler, and supported Van Buren 
and Adams on the Buffalo platform, in the presidential campaign of 1848, and being a presiden- 
tial elector that year, stumped the northern half of Illinois. He had previously, at a great mass- 
meeting held in Chicago, as chairman of the committee chosen for the purpose, written an able 
address to the people on the great issues of the day, and that address had a very wide circulation. 
"It was,"* says one writer, "a bold, manly and vigorous protest against the further encnjach- 
ments of slavery, and was designed to affect the opinion of the democratic masses of the state." 
Mr. Hoyne continued his opposition to the extension of slavery, yet did not break entirely away 
from the democratic party, and in ICS53 received from President Pierce the appointment of United 
States district attorney for Illinois, which appointment greatly increased his business. He sided 
with Judge Douglas on the Kansas and Nebraska bills, and the bill to repeal the Missouri com- 
promise (1854), and took an active part in the field of debate on the democratic side in the presi- 
dential campaign of 1856. Two years later he advocated the admission of Kansas under the Le- 
compton constitution, in this step taking sides with the administration and against Judge Douglas. 
In 1859 Mr. Hoyne, without his knowledge or consent, was appointed United States marshal for 
the northern district of Illinois, taking the place of a defaulter (Charles A. Pine), which office Mr. 
Hoyne would have declined at once, had not Judge Drummond, for the purpose of restoring order 

See '■ The Biotjraphical Encyclopedia of Illinois:" Philadelphia, 1875. We are indebted to the same source f<jr other 
data in this sketch. 
32 



3l6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

and discipline in that office, made a special request upon him to accept the place for the short 
period of the unexpired term of his predecessor. In i860 he superintended the census for the 
northern district, and was very highly complimented by the superintendent of the census bureau 
for his faithful services. 

In literary as well as political matters Mr. Hoyne has acted a conspicuous and eminently 
praiseworthy part. In 1850 he was elected president of the "Chicago Young Men's Association," 
and subsequently had the rare honor of being reelected. When the University of Chicago was 
founded in 1857, Mr. Hoyne took a deep interest in the enterprise; was elected a member of its 
board of trustees, and continues to act in that capacity; was a leader and quite active in found- 
ing the law department of the university, paying $5,000 into the fund for that purpose, and in 
September, 1859, in recognition of his valuable services and generosity in this matter, the trustees 
established a chair in the faculty known as The Hoyne Professorship of International and Con- 
stitutional Law. To Mr. Hoyne also belongs the credit of securing the great Lalande prize tele- 
scope for the university, and he was elected the first secretary of the Chicago Astronomical Soci- 
ety, which position, we believe, he still holds. He is a life member of the Mechanics' Institute, 
the Academy of Sciences and the Chicago Historical Society, and has always taken a great inter- 
est in building up such institutions. His greatest work in this connection has been in aiding to 
found, and in fostering the Chicago Free Public Library, of which he wrote a long and valuable 
historical sketch in 1877, and which was published in a pamphlet of nearly a hundred pages. 
That pamphlet lies before us, and contains a detailed account of the appeal of Thomas Hughes 
and his associates in England, made immediately after the great fire of October 9, 1871, to found 
a new library in Chicago; the public spirit which that appeal stirred up in the hearts of the en- 
terprising men of this city; the frequent public meetings held here in the interest of that cause; 
the public address of Mr. Hoyne, Mayor Medill and others; the correspondence which Mr. Hoyne 
carried on with the promoters of this enterprise in the old world, etc. Mr. Hoyne's connection 
with that grand work of founding a free public library in Chicago reflects the very highest credit 
upon his energy, enterprise and truly philanthropic spirit. He was not only one of the origina- 
tors of this eminently useful institution, and presided over the first meeting called to organize 
it, but was chosen president of its first board of directors, and resigned in 1876. He was 
also one of the originators of the Chicago Bar Association, and was its vice-president in 1874, 
and one of the committee on legal education in 1875. He has recently delivered an address 
before the association entitled The Lawyer as a Pioneer, in which he gives sketches of the early 
Illinois and Chicago bar (1837-1840). It is to be published in book form by Fergus and Company. 

Mr. Hoyne is a man of a good deal of literary taste as well as legal ability, and his intellectual 
efforts outside the bar and the political arena have attracted a great deal of attention. An address 
which he delivered before the graduating law class of the University of Chicago in 1869 was 
pitched on a high key of eloquence and a truly lofty moral tone, and its stirring appeal to the 
young men before him, to uphold the honor and dignity of their profession, could not fail of hav- 
ing a salutary influence on all who heard him. His Fourth of July oration, delivered two years 
later at La Salle, Illinois, on the New Departure, was pronounced a masterly effort, and its publi- 
cation and wide circulation raised Mr. Hoyne in the estimation of many as an orator. As a for- 
ensic speaker he certainly has but few peers at the bar of Cook county, which has from ten to 
twelve hundred members. 

As already intimated, our subject took an early and deep interest in politics, and the welfare 
of the country, and that interest seems not to have abated. During the civil war his patriotism 
rose to white heat, and no man in Chicago was more earnest in trying to save the Union. He 
was a very active member of the Union Defense Committee, and wrote the well known appeal to 
the people of this state. He was on the committee that visited Lincoln to urge a campaign down 
the Mississippi River in 1862. During that long and trying period of civil strife every emanation 
from his pen or tongue had the unmistakable and thrilling ring of a true and devoted lover of his 
countr)'. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 317 

After the war Mr. Hoyne sided with President Johnson against congress, and was a delegate 
to the conservative convention held at Philadelphia in August, 1866. He also supported Horace 
Greeley for the presidency in 1872, and was an elector that year in the first district. Two years 
later he acted with the opposition, so called, and aided in drawing up the call of the democratic 
state committee, issued in this city, under the eye of Mr. Hoyne, and embodying a specie plank, 
free commerce, civil rights, and other live issues, and which was received with great aiat by the 
leading journals of his party. 

July 9, 1875, he delivered an address before the Jeffersonian Club of Chicago, of which he was 
then president, and on that occasion took the ground that there is sufficient vital moral force and 
patriotism in the people to save their free institutions. In that address which he had evidently 
prepared with great care, he denounced in the strongest terms the tendency to corruption among 
the politicians of the day, and clearly announced his own political tenets, as embodied in the 
club in whose interests he was speaking. 

Mr. Hoyne has always been regarded as one of the bitterest enemies of corruptionists, and has 
been a leader in trying to rout them. For this purpose he was brought out as a candidate for 
mayor in the spring of 1876, and was triumphantly elected. An account of this election was pub- 
lished in •' The Alliance," of this city, in April, 1S81, in a sketch of Mr. Hoyne, under tlie heading, 
"The Men Who Have Built Chicago," and we reproduce it in a condensed form: 

"There was a time when this great city, with all its unexampled growth and prosperity, was 
in danger of financial ruin and moral bankruptcy. In 1876 Chicago was awakened to the fact 
that she had long been ruled by an unscrupulous ring of thieving politicians, which received its 
support from a class of the community not unlike that which kept Tweed in power in New York 
city for so long a time, and saddled that city with a financial burden, and gave its government a 
notoriety that has passed into a proverb. We say that Chicago was awakened to her danger, 
awakened only just in time to avert ruin, awakened mainly by the efforts of the man whose name 
stands at the head of this sketch. 

H. D. Colvin was mayor of the city at the time. He had inherited from preceding adminis- 
trations a bequest of debt and bad management, and was hedged about by precedents which he 
had not the wisdom or energy to set aside, precedents involving large running expenses, extrava- 
gant appropriations, and a reckless, financial policy. His administration began the system of 
meeting the illegal debt of the city by an equally illegal issue of scrip, but was unequal to the 
broad statesmanship of immediate retrenchment of municipal expenses and refunding the debt so 
that it might comfortably be carried. Extravagance and incompetence and rascality threatened 
tiie city. Taxation had become too heavy to be borne. The name of Chicago, prosperous and 
lusty as the city was, was fast becoming a by-word for misrule. It was a crisis in her history. 
Had the reigning state of affairs continued there is no manner of doubt but that some other city 
would have become the metropolis of the West. Capital and enterprise do not gravitate to any 
city overburdened with taxation, cursed by misrule and threatened with financial troubles. There 
is always a man for every emergency, and in Chicago's hour of need Thomas Hoyne came to the 
front. Through his efforts the Municipal Reform Club was organized, and in a very short time 
it succeeded in arousing the people to a sense of the dangers which threatened them. An Ameri- 
can community, and especially a Chicago community, engrossed with their private business 
affairs, are slowly aroused to a sense of public danger, but when they are aroused no people in the 
world act so quickly or so effectively. The Reform Club called a mass meeting of the citizens in 
the Exposition building. Nearly 40,000 men, of every political faith, gathered at that meeting, 
which resolved to take energetic means to abate the growing evil of municipal misrule. Mr. 
Hoyne was, at the meeting, nominated for mayor on a reform platform, and in the election that 
followed, was nearly unanimously elected to the^office, he receiving a majority of over 33,000, the 
largest ever given a municipal chief magistrate in Chicago. There were but eight hundred votes 
cast against him. Mayor Colvin contested the legality of the election and appealed to the courts. 
The circuit court, which really had no jurisdiction in the case, decided by a vote of three to two 



7l8 UNITED STATES BIOGA'A PI/ICAL DICTIONARY. 

that the election was illegal. Mr. Hoyne could, with every prospect of success, have appealed to 
the supreme court, but as his object was to cleanse the city of corruption, and not to secure honor 
or place for himself, and as the Colvin administration agreed to resign if another election were 
permitted without appeal, Mr. Hoyne, for the sake of the public good, assented, and, refusing to 
allow the use of his name, Monroe Heath was elected mayor, and Mr.' Hoyne retired to private 
life, after having been de facto mayor for six v^eeks. But the line of policy marked out by his 
inaugural address has been followed not only by his successor, but by the doughty Harrison, and 
Chicago's prosperity and place in the nation is doul)tless due to the unselfish and wise action of 
Mr. Hoyne." 

The wife of Mr. Hoyne was Leonora M. Temple, daughter of the late John T. Temple, M.D., 
one of the pioneers in settling Chicago, their marriage being dated September 17, 1840, and she 
being the mother of seven children. The eldest son, Temple S., occupies a chair in Hahnemann 
Medical College, Chicago; the second son, Thomas M., is the junior member of the firm of Hoyne, 
Horton and Hoyne, and a lawyer of much promise; the third son, James, is cashier of the Ger- 
mania Savings Bank, and the fourth son is employed with the firm of Culver, Page and Hoyne, 
of Chicago. Mrs. Hoyne is also the granddaughter of the late Doctor Staughton, the most emi- 
nent Baptist divine of this century. He founded Columbia College, at Washington, District of 
Columbia, and in 1822 delivered the address at Castle Garden, New York, upon the first visit of 
Lafayette to America, after he had aided Washington in accomplishing the success of the revolu- 
tion. , 



FRANCIS 11. KALES. 

CHICAGO. 

FRANCIS H. KALES was born in Broome county, New York, March 23, 1833. His grand- 
father came from the North of Ireland about the year 1809, when his father was three years 
of age. The family soon after settled in Chenango county, New York, near the place of his birth. 
The father of Mr. Kales was a member of the New York legislature, and held several offices of 
trust in Chenango county. Francis was fitted for college at Oxford Academy, in the state of 
New York, and in 1851 entered the sophomore class of 1854 at Yale. Ill health obliged him to 
give up his college course, and in 1852 he entered the law office of Daniel S. Dickinson, renowned 
as a lawyer and orator. He completed his law studies with Mr. Dickinson at Binghamton, and 
was admitted to the New York bar in May, 1855. In the following June he came to Chicago and 
entered the office of Higgins, Beckwith and Strother. He very quickly secured a general prac- 
tice in the different branches of the law. He was associated for a time with Norman Williams, 
and in 1866 became a member of the firm of Beckwith, Ayer and Kales. In 1873 Judge Beckwith 
retired from the firm to accept the position of general solicitor of the Chicago and Alton Rail- 
road Company, and Mr. Kales continued the partnership with Mr. Ayer until that gentleman 
withdrew to become solicitor of the Illinois Central Railway Company. Mr. TCales then con- 
tinued his practice alone until 1879, when he formed a business connection with Perry H. Smith, Jr. 
In 1863 he married the daughter of Doctor N. S. Davis, the head of the Chicago Medical College, 
and since 1865 has resided on the North Side. Mr. Kales' practice has been very general in its 
scope, embracing cases involving property, banking and corporation affairs. He has a thorough 
knowledge of the law, and has been successfully identified with many of the largest property liti- 
gations in Chicago during the last twenty years. He is distinguished for his abilit)' to analyze 
a case, for untiring devotion to his client's cause and for a quickness of perception that is unusual. 
He has preeminently a judicial mind. As a speaker he is convincing, ready and not easily sur- 
prised, and is noted for clearness of statement and facility of logical and concise expression. He 
has a high sense of professional honor, and never knowingly misstates a fact or proposition of law, 
and, as a consequence, courts place great reliance upon his arguments. 




Zt^t^lyc^c^ 



(&^{,tA^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 32 I 

Mr. Kales is recognized as one of the ablest lawyers at the Chicago bar, ranking high by rea- 
son of his brilliant legal talents and his unswerving integrity. As a man he has the unbounded 
respect of the community, and his social qualities are highly appreciated. 

Mr. Kales is a member of the State and Chicago Bar Associations. He was appointed Lin- 
coln Park commissioner by the governor, but has never sought or held a political office. 



THOMAS S. CHARD. 

CHICAGO. 

THOMAS SEPTIMUS CHARD is the youngest and seventh son of William and Mary Chard. 
His parents carae to America from England in 1832, making their home first in Cleveland, 
and then in Buffalo, New York, where their seventh son was born, August 15, 1844. William 
Chard is still remembered as an open-hearted, hospitable gentleman, a lover of jests and children, 
active in all civic and religious duties. He died in the year 1854, shortly after his election, by a 
large majority, to the office of city comptroller. Mary Chard, once Mary Goodman, was a lady 
of unusual attainments. She had been carefully educated, andjher journal, wherein she sketched 
her impressions of continental Europe, while, as a young lady, accompanying her brother-in-law 
and her sister, Sir James and Lady Williams, still shows the accurate and intelligent observation 
which distinguished her through life. She was especially marked by a fervid piety, and a gentle 
dignity of character, which won the respect of all who knew her. Her family was of Puritan 
origin. One of her ancestors distinguished himself in Cromwell's wars. Another lay in prison 
for preaching the gospel, at the same time, and near the same place, with John Bunyan. The 
eloquent and learned Doctor Staughton, once chaplain of congress, came also of this family. 
Mrs. Chard died in 1854, illustrating in her death, as well as her life, the religion she professed. 
Thomas, the youngest of the family, thus bereft of his parents at the early age of ten, developed 
a taste literary and poetic, strong enough to lead him from the usual out-door life of a boy to the 
companionship of books, and for the next five years he was a constant and studious reader. 
The year 1855 he spent in Canton, Ohio, where he attended the high school ; then two years in 
Buffalo at school ; then nearl\- two years in Clarence, New York, where he attended the classical 
academy. 

Failing health forbade a collegiate course, and returning to Buffalo he found employment 
in the banking and transportation business until the spring of 1864, when, (m invitation of 
F. A. Howe, junior, he came to Chicago to enter the office of that gentleman. Then followed 
miscellaneous employments until 1867, when he entered the service of the Lumberman's Insur- 
ance Company, of which his uncle, Thomas Goodman, was president. This was the beginning 
of his career as a fire underwriter. In 1870 Mr. Chard accepted the appointment of- special agent 
for the western states of the Fireman's Fund and I'nion Insurance Companies, two strong Cali- 
fornia corporations, and at once began the work of planting agencies for them throughout this 
field. 

Mr. Chard was in Louisville the Saturday night before the great fire in Chicago, and learning 
of the first fire, which preceded the memorable one, hastened to the city only to learn that it was 
already half destroyed. A hasty calculation showed him that his companies must have lost some- 
thing more than a million dollars, but, knowing his companies, he had no hesitation in assuring 
the people that every dollar would be paid. Subsequent events justified this confident state- 
ment. 

In T872 the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company established an independent western depart- 
ment in Chicago, and placed Mr. Chard in charge as manager.' The business was rapidly and 
successfully developed by the young manager, then only in his twenty-seventh year, and in 1S75 
he was invited to San Francisco, where he was received with great hospitality. He returned to 
Chicago, after visiting the Yosemite and other natural wonders of the state. In 1876 Mr. Chard's 



322 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPniCAL DICTIONARY. 

first wife died. She was a daughter of Cromwell Chase, of Galena, Illinois. That year the Fire- 
man's Fund Insurance Companj' closed its eastern department, and consolidated all of its eastern 
interests in the hands of Mr. Chard at Chicago. October 4, 1877, Mr. Chard married Adeline 
Peabody Whitney, at Waltham, Massachusetts, daughter of an old and respected New England 
family. 

In 1880 he. again visited California, and in September of that year, became manager for the 
Union Insurance Company of San Francisco, of their interests east of the Rocky Mountains. In 
1882, accompanied by Mrs. Chard, he visited his English relatives, and made the tour of Ger- 
many, Switzerland and France. 

Mr. Chard is of a fine, nervous sanguine temperament, with a studious, analytic and poetic 
tendency of mind. In 1869 he presented his friends with a small volume of his poems, and in 
1874 duplicated it by another, entitled, "Across the Sea," both of which met with a very flatter- 
ing reception at the hands of the public. Absorbing business cares have since then prevented 
further ventures. In religious matters Mr. Chard is a Presbyterian, though indifferent to the nice 
distinctions of creeds. He is a warm personal friend of Professor Sw'ing, and joined him in the 
organization of the Independent Church at McVicker's Theater, taking the office of deacon. 
Since the removal to Central Music Hall, however, he has returned to the Fourth Presbyterian 
Church, and resumed his standing there. In politics he is a republican. 

There is no more popular or successful underwriter in the West than Thomas S. Chard. He 
is through and through an insurance man, and finds both his interest and pleasure in his busi- 
ness. He has occupied important positions in the national councils of underwriters, and takes a 
deep interest in whatever tends to elevate and dignify his chosen profession. 



JOHN B. CUMMINGS. 

BUSHNELL. 

JOHN BOWMAN CUMMINGS, the pioneer banker in Bushnell, is a son of James Cummings, 
a merchant, farmer, etc., and Rachel (Hall) Cummings, and was born in Cecil county, Mary- 
land, January 17, 1824. Both parents were also natives of that state. John Cummings, the 
grandfather of our subject, was from Scotland. The grandson received a good English education 
in Maryland and Ohio, moving to the latter state in 1837, soon after losing his father, and remain- 
ing there three years. While there he was initiated into the art of selling goods. 

In 1840 he went to Centerville, Butler county, Pennsylvania, where he held the situation of 
clerk in a store until 185 1, when he came to Macomb, in this (McDonough) county. The next 
year he moved to Hancock county, and was there and at Pontoosuc engaged in mercantile pur- 
suits until 1854, when he returned to Macomb, and continued the same business. In i86i Mr. 
Cummings was elected clerk of the circuit court, and held that office four years, faithfully dis- 
charging its duties. 

In the spring of 1865, Mr. Cummings settled in Bushnell, twelve miles northeast of Macomb, 
in the same county, and started a private bank, in company with Charles Chandler, who remained 
at Macomb. Mr. Cummings had its entire management, and was the first banker in this place. 
He made a success of the enterprise. In 187 1 the bank was changed to the Farmers' National 
Bank of Bushnell, and Mr. Cummings was elected its cashier, a position which he still holds. He 
is one of the best financiers in this part of the state, and a discreet and prudent manager. 

Mr. Cummings is a stockholder in the Bushnell Fire-clay Tile and Brick Company, and takes 
a good deal of interest in building up local enterprises. When, in 1868, Bushnell received a city 
charter, Mr. Cummings was elected the first mayor, and he has since held that office two or three 
terms, making an excellent executive officer. He has also been an alderman three or four terms, 
and has served more or less on the board of education. 

Mr. Cummings is a republican, and in 1878 was a candidate for nomination for state treasurer. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 323 

an office for which he has peculiar fitness, but he was unsuccessful. Years ago he was quite active 
in politics, and is well known among the party leaders in Illinois. He is a Royal Arch Mason; 
has passed all the chairs in the subordinate lodge and encampments of Odd-Fellowship, and 
represented the encampment in the Grand Lodge of the state. 

Mr. Cunimings was first married in 1848, to Miss Evaline W. Pearson, of Centerville, Pennsyl- 
vania. She died in 1862, leaving six children, five of them yet living: Clarence P., a stock raiser 
in Colorado; Leonidas B., a tile manufacturer in Bushnell; James E., one of the publishers of 
the "Gleaner," Bushnell; Charles C, a stockholder and secretary of the Bushnell Fire-clay Tile 
and Brick Company,- and Eva, wife of C. W. Dickerson, of Chicago. The second and third sons, 
mentioned above, are also married. Mr. Cummings was married the second time in 1864, to Mrs. 
Mary E. (Parkinson) Chambers, a native of Kentucky, and has by her one son, Willie C, who 
is attending school. 

Mr. Cummings is an elder in the Reformed Church, and a man of unquestioned purity of life. 
No city can have too large a per cent of this class of citizens. The youngest brother of our sub- 
ject, Jesse Henry Cummings, is cashier of the First National Bank of Macomb. He was born in 
the same town with John B.; had a good business education; came to this county about 1856; 
has been a member of the city council of Macomb; is a first-class accountant, and has been con- 
nected with the banking business since 1861. He has a wife and three children. 



o 



TIMOTHY ROGERS. 

QUINCY. 

NE of the best known men in Adams county, is Timothy Rogers, many years a prominent 
wagon and plow manufacturer in Quincy, and latterly a farmer and hotel keeper. He was 
born in Tolland county, Connecticut, November 15, 1809, being a son of Lee Lay Rogers, and 
Rhoda (Dinrock) Rogers. His grandfather, Nathaniel Rogers, was a member of the continental 
army, and a descendant of James Rogers, a relative of John Rogers, of martyr fame, and a pio- 
neer at New London. James Rogers was a Baptist minister, and shared in the persecutions of 
that day. Rhoda (Dinrock) Rogers was a native of South Coventry, Connecticut. 

Timothy received his mental drill in the free schools of his native state, learned the wagon - 
maker's trade at Manchester, Connecticut; married Miss Dorothy Billings, of Tolland county, 
September 6, 1832; soon afterward went into business for himself, and in 1838 came to Ouincy, 
and commenced the manufacture of wagons, buggies and plows, being very successful in his busi- 
ness, turning it over to two of his sons several years ago. . In i860 Mr. Rogers commenced keep- 
ing a hotel, the Hess House, which property had fallen into his hands. Afterward it took the 
name of Adams House, which was rented for seven years. When he took it into his own hands 
again he called it the Occidental House, which is a popular farmer's hotel. 

In 1876 Mr. Rogers built his family tomb, an elegant marble structure, eclipsing everything 
of the kind in Woodland Cemetery. It was brought from Burlington, Vermont, in a completed 
state, and it took thirteen cars to bring it to this city. The pieces which form the front of the sep- 
ulcher are from five to six feet in thickness. Nearly all of them on the front elevation are hand- 
somely carved, bearing emblems, devices, etc., with the name T. Rogers cut in relief over the 
entrance, chiseled and bronzed in gold. The lot on which this vault stands is forty by sixty feet, 
ami the vault itself is forty feet wide and forty feet high, being one of the finest structures of the 
kind in the state. In it are one hundred and twelve thousand arched brick. It has places for one 
hundred and twelve caskets, and among the remains deposited there are those of his mother, a 
sister, an infant child, his son, William T, who died in 1880, and one or two grandchildren. 

A few years ago Mr. Rogers had a large quantity of land fall into his hands by loaning 
money, and about the close of the centennial year he commenced improving part of it himself, 
selling the rest. He has a farm of about eleven hundred acres, fourteen miles from Quincy, 



324 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



which he keeps well fenced, well stocked, and under good improvement, spending a portion of 
his time there, and evidently enjoying himself very much. Since 1865, when two of his sons, Will- 
iam T. and Edward A. took charge of the manufactory, he has taken the world very comforta- 
bly, having just care and exercise enough to keep him in good health and prime spirits. The 
son's death in 1880 was a sad event to the old gentleman, for William T. Rogers was a dutiful 
son, a prominent citizen of Quincy, and mayor in 1878. His associate in business, Edward A. 
Rogers, now carrying on the manufactory alone, is a first-class business man, and a member, with 
his wife, of the Baptist church. Thaddeus Rogers, the other son, and only other child living, is 
a bookseller and stationer, proprietor of the "Daily News," and one of the aldermen of the city. 
Our subject once held the same office; and twice was nominated by his friends for mayor, but he 
would not leave a cent at a saloon to help his cause, nor take any mean step to gain votes, and, 
being a republican in a strongly democratic city, he was defeated both times. Mr. Rogers is not 
a man to cater to the brutal instincts of a fellow man for the sake of popularity. 



JOHN VAN ARMAN. 

CHICAGO. 

THE gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch enjoys a deservedly 
high reputation as a criminal lawyer, yet probably nine-tenths of his legal business is in the 
civil courts. He has, however, in the last thirty years been engaged in a large number of impor- 
tant criminal cases, which have attracted much attention, and in which he gained great distinc- 
tion as an advocate. Mr. Van Arman was born at Plattsburgh, Clinton county, New York, March 
3, 1820, his parents being John and Tamar (Dewey) Van Arman. He is of Holland descent on 
his father's side, and French on his mother's. His paternal grandfather, John Van Arman, came 
from the old country before the American revolution; settled in the Mohawk Valley, and lived to 
be a hundred years old. The father of our subject was for nearly fifty years a lumberman on 
Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence and Sorel rivers, and died from the effects of an accident 
at ninety-seven years of age. He was at the battle of Bennington, being in his sixteenth year. 
The maternal grandfather of our subject was a soldier in France and the West Indies, and a son 
of his fought under General Scott at Lundy's Lane. 

John Van Arman was the youngest child in a family of fourteen children, and losing his 
mother when five years old, the family became scattered, and John went to live with a farmer, 
named Luther Stearns. The two did not get along very amicably together, and before John had 
reached his twelfth year, without the consent of anybody but himself, he suddenly dissolved the 
partnership. He continued to work by the month or day at anything which turned up, until fif- 
teen )'ears of age, when, by dint of self-instruction, he had prepared himself to teach a district 
school. The vocation of a teacher he followed during the winter season, until eighteen years of 
age. Meantime, by the aid of a classical teacher, he acquired at Plattsburgh and Chazy Village a 
good knowledge of the Latin and some knowledge of the Greek languages. Mr. Van Arman com- 
menced the study of law at Plattsburgh, under William Swetland, and finished at Troy, under 
George Gould, afterward judge of the court of appeals. He went to New York city, was 
admitted to the bar, and immediately came westward, as far as Michigan, and settled in Mar- 
shall. There he practiced until 1858, when he removed to Chicago. 

Mr. Van Arman was first brought into public notice as a lawyer in 1851, when he was 
employed by the Michigan Central Railroad Company in the great railroad conspiracy case, as it 
was called, when forty men were tried for repeatedly throwing the cars off the track, burning 
depots, etc. James A. Van Dyke and Mr. Van Arman had control of the case for the prosecu- 
tion, with several other lawyers as assistants, and Hon. William H. Seward, and perhaps a dozen 
others for defendants. The trial lasted four months; twelve persons were convicted and sent to 
the penitentiary, and three others, under trial, died before it ended. It was a severe test of physi- 





(2fi 



6(yn.. CCJ/yiq/L Cia/l^ 



VN!TED STATES JUOCKA P///CA / JUCT/ONAJ^ V. 327 

cal ciuluraiue. and Mr. Van Dyke died (inl)- a short lime afterward, and it was belie\-ed by some 
of liis associates in the trial, liiat his death was caused by over exertion on that memorable occa- 
sion. Mr, Van Arman stood up heroically through it all, and his two days' speech made on that 
occasion, may be found in the history of that trial, which made a volume of seven hundred or 
eight hundred pages. 

In 1858 Mr. Van Arman settled in Chicago, and was of the firm of Walker, Van Arman and 
De.xter, until 1S62, when he raised a regiment of infantry, the 127th Illinois, went into the field 
and remained about a year, when, his health having failed, he resigned. He traveled a while for 
his benefit, and in the course of a year and a half or two years, he resumed his practice in this 
city. He is of the firm of Van Arman and Gordon, his partner being A. H. Gordon. 

Since becoming a resident of Chicago, Mr. Van Arman has been engaged in several noted 
criminal trials, but we shall mention only three or four. One of them was that of Jamperts, 
accused of murdering his mistress, and known as the barrel case, because the remains of the 
woman were packed in a barrel. Mr. Van Arman was counsel for the defense and cleared Jam- 
perts on the second trial. Another was the Burch divorce case, in which our subject was attor- 
ney for the plaintiff, and whicli case he ultimately won. Still another was the case of Vanderpool, 
tried for the murder of Field. Mr. Vanderpool had been tried and convicted in Michigan, and 
sentenced to imprisonment for life, but on a second trial the jury could not agree, and on a third 
he was acquitted. At the close of the second trial, it was so plain to Mr. Van Arman what the 
result would be that he took no part in it. 

Our subject has been employed in many other criminal trials, in which he has acquitted him- 
self with great honor, and which have extended his reputation as an attorney and advocate. 
Many of the speeches made by Mr. Van Arman before a jury have been published, and most of 
them are marked by great strength of logic. 

Mr. Van Arman was attorney for four years for the Chicago, Burlington and Ouincy Railroad 
Company, but has never, we believe, held a political office of any kind. In the days when Michi- 
gan was a democratic State, he was repeatedly urged to accept a nomination for congress, but he 
steadfastly refused to comply with the wishes of his then political confreres. He left the demo- 
cratic party on the breaking out of the civil war. 

Mr. Van Arman was joined in wedlock in March, 1841, with Miss Amanda Convis, daughter of 
General Ezra Convis, speaker of the Michigan house of representatives at the time of his death 
in 1837, and they have had three children, only one of them, Helen Z., the wife of James Bradish 
of Colorado, now living. Mrs. Van Arman has a good deal of artistic taste, and amuses herself 
more or less in landscape and other painting. Her works show decided talent in that direction. 



WILLIAM OGLE. 

TOL'LON. 

THE gentleman whose name heads this sketch, is one of the very oldest settlers in what is 
now known as Stark county, and which was formerly a part of Putnam county. He came 
here in the spring of 1836, when there were but few families in the county, and when there were 
a thousand deer, wolves and wild turkeys to one man. Wild land was so abundant and cheap 
that it seemed like wasteful extravagance for any man to gormandize more than a few hundred 
acres, as the taxes might some day become heavy. Mr. Ogle commenced with a quarter section, 
three miles south of where Toulon now stands, to which land he added from time to time, as his 
courage and coffers increased, until, eventually, he had from eight hundred to one thousand 
acres. He farmed until the autumn of 1856, when he moved into town, and has since made his 
home at the county seat. Meantime he seems to be disposed to let the world do its own fretting, 
getting no aid or encouragement from him. 

William Ogle, born in Butler county, Ohio, November 17, 1810, is a son of William Ogle, Sr., 
33 



328 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHICAI. D/CTIO.VAA'V. 

and Mary (Erwin) Ogle, and grandson of Thomas Ogle, a revolutionary patriot, who died 
in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, a little before the close of the last century. Soon after his 
death his son William emigrated from Pennsylvania to Butler county, Ohio, where he reared 
a family of eleven children, our subject being the fourth child and third son. Mar\' Erwin was 
born near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Both parents died in Butler county. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on his father's farm, receiving a fair English education 
in the district schools of his native county. Before leaving Ohio, in August, 1835, he was married 
to Miss Lucretia H. Butler, a native of Rutland county, Vermont, and the next October he 
brought his young bride to Pekin, this state, reaching Stark county, April 17, 1H36. Tliey have 
three children, Emil}' B., formerly the wife of Doctor Culbertson, of Toulon ; John H., a farmer, 
adjoining the homestead on which he was born, and Laura, the wife of Doctor Bacmeister, of 
Toulon. 

Mr. Ogle was the first probate justice of Stark county, and when Toulon was laid out he was 
one of the county commissioners. He held that office when the first court house was built, but 
has never been an office seeker. He is a Master Mason, but of late years has not met witli any 
lodge. He is a well informed man, free and pleasant in conversation, and quite entertaining in 
his reminiscences of early days in Illinois. 



SAMUEL H. PETEFISH. 

VIRGINIA. 

SAMUEL HENRY PETEFISH, a leading banker in Cass county, and one of the early settlers 
in this part of the state, is a native of Rockingham county, Virginia, and was born April 30, 
1824. His grandfather was Christian Petefish, a Hessian soldier, who came to this country to 
serve for King George, but deserted the English army, fought for the independence of the colo- 
nies, and remained in this countr}', settling in Virginia. He raised a family of five children, four 
of them sons. Jacob, the fourth child and youngest son, was the father of our subject. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Price, and they had a famih' of ten children, six sons and four daughters, our sub- 
ject being the third son. Jacob Petefish emigrated from Virginia to Cass, then a part of Morgau 
county, in 1835, and settled on the three-mile strip, six miles from the village of \'irginia, where 
he died in 1849. The widow died in 1854. 

Samuel was eleven years old when he came into this state, and he here finished his education 
in a country school, such as this part of the state afforded forty-five and fifty years ago. His 
knowledge beyond the rudimentary branches was very limited, but with some ambition, and him- 
self for tutor, in the end he acquired a fair knowledge of the mathematics and some inkling of 
English grammar. He has been a farmer all his life, and became a stock dealer for his father 
before he had passed out of his teens. In early life he was diligent at the plow, and has in fact 
been diligent at every kind of business in which he has engaged. Great success has attended 
his industry. He has a farm of 560 acres south of town; another adjoining that one of 160 acres; 
other lands in Cass county, timbered land in Morgan county, and partially improved lands in 
Iowa and Kansas. 

In 1867 Mr. -Petefish moved into the village of Virginia, and August i, 1870, commenced bank- 
ing, he being of the firm of Petefish, Skiles and Company. He is also interested in two other 
banking houses, those of Petefish, Skiles and Mertz, Chandlersville, and Skiles, Rearick and 
Company, Ashland, both in Cass county. These are all good, sound institutions, and doing well. 
The first named bank has had several changes since the original firm was organized, including 
the death of Ignatius Skiles in 1873, and the substitution of Oswell Skiles in his place in 1875. 
The firm is now composed of the following gentlemen: S. H. Petefish, O. Skiles, Edward T. Oli- 
ver, William Campbell and George Conover, all men of .good, stiff financial backbone. As a 
banker Mr. Petefish is well and favorably known all over this part of the country. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA PHICA l. DICTIONARY. 



329 



Mr. Petefish was a school director part of the time while on the farm, and has served a short 
time in the town board of trustees since moving into Virginia, but he has never had any leanings 
toward official honors. 

The wife of Mr. Petefish was Nanc)' M. Hudson, daughter of Peter and Melinda (Hoffman) 
Hudson, their marriage being dated March 18, 1848. They have had eight children, only two of 
them now living: Mary E., who is the wife of E. D. C. Woodward, of Virginia, and Louis, who 
is at home. One son, Henry T., was lost at twelve years of age by the burning of the steamer 
Ocean Spray, near Saint Louis, in 1858. 

It will be seen by this brief sketch that Mr. Petefish is a marked success as a business man. 
From a stock dealer in youth to a banker in later life, to whatever plow he has put his hands, he 
seems to have made it a rule to look straight forward and push on. And for his perseverance he 
has had liberal cnm]iensation in the accumulation of this world's goods. 



COLONEL CHARLES CHANDLER. 

MACOMB. 

CHARLES CHANDLER, lately deceased, and one of the most enterprising and successful 
business men that has ever lived in Macomb, was a son of James and Abigail (Vilas) Chand- 
ler, and was born in Alstead, Cheshire county. New Hampshire, August 28, 1809. His father was 
also a native of New Hampshire, his mother of Massachusetts. Both lived to a good old age, the 
mother dying in 1854, aged seventy-nine years, the father in 1857, aged eighty-six years. James 
Chandler was a farmer, and reared his son to habits of industry, giving him an opportunity to 
develop his muscle in tilling the hard soil of New England, and his mind to some extent in a dis- 
trict school during the winter season. At nineteen, by consent of his parents, he went to Boston, 
and spent two years in learning to sell merchandise; then returned home, and at the end of 
another year started for the West, halting two years in Cincinnati. In the spring of 1834 he made 
his appearance in Macomb, the future field of his enterprise. His older brother, Thompson 
Chandler, reached here a few months earlier, and is still living in Macomb, where he has made a 
highly honorable record as a business man, county judge, member of the supervisors' court, etc. 

Our subject began business here as a clerk in a store of which his brother was part owner, and 
in two years began to sell goods for himself. At the end of three years, seeing, as he rightly 
thought, a good opportunity to speculate in land, he changed his business to real estate, in which 
he was very successful. He bought land at very low figures; it rose gradually, sometimes rapidly, 
on Ills hands, and in a few years he was the owner of extensive tracts, which the advent of rail- 
roads and otiier causes made very valuable. In making his purchases of real estate he showed 
great foresight and judgment, and hence his grand success. 

In 1858 Mr. Chandler became a banker, and continued that business until his death, which 
occurred December 26, 1878. He was a private banker until 1865, when the First National Bank 
of Macomb was organized, and he became its president. He managed it with great care and 
ability, placing it on a solid basis, second to that of no other institution of the kind in this part 
of the state. 

Mr. Chandler aided also in 1865 in establishing a private bank at Hushnell, which was changed 
to the Farmers' National Bank, and he continued one of its largest stockholders and directors 
until his death. 

Mr. Chandler was a republican of whig antecedents, and always took great interest in politics, 
although he did not seek office for himself. He was, however, coroner for two years, a county 
school commissioner four years, a justice of the peace for a long time, alderman two or three 
years, and mayor one term. He was a true lover of his country, and during the civil war gave 
both time and money to help on the cause of the Union. Too old to go into the service himself, 
he did much to encourage others to enlist, and was so active and efficient that Governor Yates 



330 



UNITED STATES THOGRAP/f/CAL DICTIONARY. 



commissioned liim colonel of the state militia, authorizing him to raise a regiment for home 
service. 

For some years before his demise Colonel Chandler was accustomed to spend his winters in a 
warmer climate — Plorida and other gulf states, Central America, Mexico, South America, etc. 
He was a man of varied and extensive knowledge, and an interesting converser. 

He was married December 15, 1836, to Miss Sarah K. Cheatham, of Macomb, and she died in 
1855, leaving three children, four having preceded her to the spirit world. She was an excellent 
wife and mother and an active Christian till her death. The three living children are Martha 
Abigail, married to Henry C. Twyman, merchant, Macomb; Charles Vilasco, president of the 
First National Bank, Macomb, and James Edgar, vice-president of the Farmers' National Bank 
of Bushnell. 

Charles V. Chandler is regarded as the best business man of his age in Macomb. He was born 
January 25, 1843; received an academic education; was adjutant of the 78th Illinois infantry; 
held the office of city treasurer for fourteen years; has held other city offices; was assistant cashier 
of the First National before his father's death; is now its president, and is managing its business 
with marked ability. He married Miss Clara A. Baker, daughter of Judge J. H. Baker, August 
28, 1866, and they have five children. 

A writer in the "History of McDunough County" thus speaks tif Colonel Charles Chandler: 

"In personal appearance he was a model of neatness, with a face smoothly shaven, and wear- 
ing apparel always in good taste. In the family circle he was always kind and indulgent to his 
children and grandchildren, treating them with the tenderness that begot love in their hearts. 
In public he pursued the same course, treating all with kind consideration." 

The older residents of this city, with whom the writer of this sketch has conversed, speak of 
our subject with the tenderness of a brother, they regarding him as a model business man and an 
unusuallv kind neighbor. 

HON. WILLIAM W. WRIGHT. 

TOULON. 

W'lLLIAM WILBERFORCE WRIGHT, son of William Wilberforce Wright, Sr., and 
Anne Matilda (Creighton) Wright, was born in Canton, Fulton county, Illinois, Septem- 
ber 10, 1842. His father was a native of Hanover, New Hampshire, and belonged to a family 
which settled in New England in 1665, and some of whose members participated in the struggle 
for independence. His grandfather, Boyd Wright, was an old abolitionist, as was also his mater- 
nal grandfather, John Creighton. The mother of our subject was Scotch-Irish, coming to this 
country from the county of Cavan, Ireland. William finished his education at the Galva high 
school, farmed with his father near Toulon, till of age; commenced the study of law at Toulon 
with Hon. Miles A. Fuller in 1862; went into the army in the summer of 1864 in 'the r39th Illinois 
infantry, a hundred days regiment, and served nearly six months. His father and his brother 
Curtis enlisted in 1862, and the former was wounded at the battle of Resaca, Georgia, May, 
1864, and died of his wounds the next month at Nashville, Tennessee. 

On his return to Illinois, Mr. Wright finished his legal studies, and was admitted to the bar at 
a term of the supreme court, held at Mount Vernon, November, 1866, and since that date he has 
been in practice at Toulon. An intimate acquaintance of his states that he is a well read lawyer 
and studious in his profession, without show, but solid and reliable. He is faithful to his clients, 
and true to any good cause which he espouses, whether in his profession or outside of it. 

Mr. Wright was elected judge of the county of Stark in 1873, and by repeated reelections has 
held that office for ten consecutive years. The present term, for which he was elected in Novem- 
ber, 1882, will expire in 1886. He is punctual in attending to probate and other business, and 
irre|iroachable in his judicial character. No county official has a purer record. 

Judge Wright was master in chancery for Stark county from 1868 to 1873. His politics are 
republican, and he has a good deal of influence in the county. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



331 



The judge is a member of the Congregational Church, and has held different offices in that 
liddy. For some years he was superintendent of the Sunday-school. In his legal profession, and 
in all the relations of life, he has shown himself to be a man of the strictest integrity, and of the 
noblest instincts. 

Judge Wright was married May 19, i>S75, to Ma^-y H., daugliter of Hun. Joel W. Hopkins, of 
Granville, Putnam county, Illinois, and they have had three children, burying one of them in 
infancy. Tile living are Eleanor Matilda, and William Wilherforce. 



BENJAMIN TURNER. 

TOULON. 

AM()N(i the early men to pitch their tent for life in Stark county, this state, is Benjamin Turn- 
er, a thrifty farmer, still in prime health for a man who has passed his seventy-fifth year. He 
hails from Kent county, Delaware, and was born in Milford, December 11, 1807, the son of Reuben 
and Sarah (Hayes) Turner, both also natives of that state. Benjamin had a fair business educa- 
tion, and in 1834 emigrated from Delaware to Richland county (now Ashland), Ohio, settling in 
the town of Vermilion, which at the suggestion of our subject, made at a public meeting, was 
changed to Savannah, there being another Vermilion in the state. Reuben Turner was a hotel 
keeper in Ohio, and our subject was postmaster of Savannah. 

September, 1839, he was married to Miss Elizabeth McWilliams, and April, 1840, they came 
into this county, and halted at LaFayette. In October, 1841, our subject settled in Toulon, Mr. 
John Miller having preceded him, and was then living in a log house. Mr. Turner built the first 
frame house here, and has been an industrious farmer for forty-two years, success attending his 
labors. He has four farms, all within two miles of Toulon, and aggregating 600 acres, largely 
under fine improvement. Mr. Turner has been postmaster of Toulon at three different periods, in 
all si.xteen years, and was county treasurer from 1849 to 1853. He has always proved a faithful 
official, competent and reliable. He has never voted any but the democratic ticket, and rarely 
fails to get to the polls. Mr. Turner is the oldest Freemason in Toulon, l)ut has never gone 
above the third degree. Many years ago he was also an Odd-Fellow. 

His first wife died in 1856, artd the next year he married Miss Ruth A. Myers, a native of Lu- 
zerne county. Pennsylvania, and a niece of the late Rev. George Peck, of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He has one daughter living by his first wife, Sarah H , who is at home, and one son by 
his present wife, Chester M., a junior in Knox College, Galesburgh. 

Mr. Turner obtained a competency years ago, but he still has an oversight of his farms, taking 
upon him just enough care and exercise to keep healthy. We cannot learn that he was ever 
afraid of work, and if indolence was in the Turner family, he does not seem to have inherited any 
of it. 

CHARLES DUNHAM. 

GENESEO. 

THE subject of this sketch is descended from the sturdy and patriotic military stock of New 
England, his grandfather. Job Dunham, and two or three brothers of Job, using their flint- 
locks on various battlefields of the revolution. The Dunhams are an old Massachusetts family, 
members of it being still prominent there as well as in other states. Jarvis N. Dunham, a leading 
insurance man and banker at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Henry Dunham, an attorney and politician 
in Stockbridge, same state, and R. W. Dunham, president of the Board of Trade, Chicago, are cous- 
ins of (lur subject, who was born at Savoy, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, January 24, 1840. His 
father, for whom he was named, and who was a farmer, stock dealer, and member of the Massa- 
chusetts legislature, was born in Taunton, that state. His mother, whose maiden name was 



332 



UNITED STATES BIOGRATHICA I. DICTIONARY. 



Ardelia Jenks, was a native of Pavvtucket, Rhode Island, her family being prominent manuftict- 
urers in that state. In his fourteenth year Charles came to Illinois with the family, and has been 
a resident of Henry county since that age. He finished his education in Lombard University, 
Galesburgh, where he spent four years, but did not follow out fully the college curriculum, leav- 
ing on account of ill health. While there he«taught school during the winter for four terms, sup- 
porting himself during the whole period that he was pursuing his studies. 

He read law in Geneseo ; was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1862, and since that date 
has been in practice at Geneseo, the leading town in Henry county. A gentleman who has often 
heard Mr. Dunham plead, says that he makes careful preparation ; that he has a clear, clean cut 
intellect ; is a logical and earnest speaker, and has great influence with a jury. He has the lar- 
gest number of cases of any man in the county, and has also a large practice in other counties, 
and in the federal as well as state courts. He has won his way to the front of the bar of Henry 
count)^ by thorough discipline and development of good natural talents, and by hard study. 

Mr. Dunham represented Henry county in the twenty-eighth general assembly, and" was a 
member of the committee for the revision of the statutes in 1874, the other members being Clark 
W. Upton, John W. Rountree, Milton Hay, Charles B. Steele and H. B. Hurd. 

Mr. Dunham has never voted any other than the democratic ticket, and is very firm in his 
views, as well as prominent in the party. He is usually a delegate to the state conventions held 
from time to time: was a delegate to the last two national democratic conventions, held in 1876 
and 1880, and within a few years has twice been the candidate of his party for congress in the 
old sixth district, which is very strongly republican. 

He has great power on the platform, as well as before a jurv of his peers, and is one of the 
ablest political speakers in his congressional district. He is a Master Mason, but is not, we 
believe, very active in the lodge. He is a director of the Farmer's National Bank of Geneseo. 
Our subject was married in March, 1862, to Miss Caroline (). Laring, daughter of John H, Laring, 
and they have one child, a daughter. 



WILLIAM H. FRA.SER, M.I). 

/,.; SALLE. 

WILLIAM HALLIDAV FRASER, physician and surgeon, descendant of an old luvernes- 
shire family, Scotland, was born in Perth, Ontario, March 26, 1839, his parents being 
Archibald and Mary (Halliday) Fraser. His grandfather, James Fraser, came over from Scotland, 
with a colony, in 1815, and settled near Perth, where he opened a farm, and there died. The 
maternal grandfather of our subject was John Halliday, who was sent from Dumfriesshire, Scot- 
land, to Upper Canada, in the same year, as a teacher for the same colony, being under govern- 
ment pav, and was engaged in that honorable calling near Perth for nearly forty years, being one 
of a few teachers in the province under tlie pay of the imperial government. At the end of his 
teaching he retired on half pay, the only teacher, we believe, thus honored. He died at the age 
of ninety-two years, leavii.g twelve children and one hundred grandchildren. He and his family 
were Covenanters, a liberty-loving people, and the mother of our subject, who is still living, 
warmly cherishes the faith of her ancestors. 

Doctor Fraser was educated in the arts at the normal school, Toronto. He taught three years 
at Burwick, Ontario ; took a full medical course of four years at McGill College, Montreal, and 
there received his degree in the spring of 1867. He then went to Edinburgh, Scotland, and was 
graduated at the Royal College of Surgeons, being the first surgeon from the Dominion of 
Canada who attained that distinction. Thus thoroughly equipped for medical and surgical prac- 
tice. Doctor Fraser returned home, and located at first at Liverpool, Nova Scotia, where he was 
in practice for about two years. While there he married Miss Lydia M. Waterman, niece of 
Hon. Freeman Tupper, of Milton, in his day a prominent politician in Oueens county, and mem- 
ber of the Dominion senate. 



VNITF.n STATES BIOCRA PHICA I. lUCTlONA RY. 333 

In 1870 Docto?- Fraser came tn Illinois, and pracliced in Chicago between two and three years, 
being there at the time of the great fire in October 1871. He did a good business for a new- 
comer. He was elected surgeon of the Chicago Caledonian Club, holding that post when he left 
that city. 

In the summer of 1S73 Doctor Fraser settled in La Salle. Whether his reputation as a physi- 
cian and surgeon had preceded him, we cannot say, but his thorough medical training in Canada 
and the old country may have been known here; one thing is certain, confidence in his skill was 
(juickly inspired among the people of La Salle and vicinity, and he soon had a fair practice. 
That practice has continued to increase from year to year, and he has become one of the leading 
nu-dical men in this part of the county. In surgery, which he has made a special study, he has 
no peer in the city of La Salle, and he is now reaping the benefits of the great pains which he 
took to fit himself for his profession. 

Doctor Fraser and his wife are members of the Congregational Church of La Salle, and 
esteemed members of the social circles of the city. They have seven children. 



DANIEL E. FOOTE, M.D. 

BEL VIDERE. 

THE progenitor of that branch of the Foote family in this country from which the subject of 
this sketch descended, was Nathaniel, Foote who married in England, about the year 1615, 
Elizabeth Deming, came to this country about 1633, first settling at Watertown, near Boston, 
and was one of the early settlers in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where he died in 1644, aged fifty- 
one years. He left two sons, Nathaniel and Robert, and four daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, 
Frances, Sarah and Rebecca; and from those two sons many people bearing the name of Foote 
have descended, and are scattered all over the country. A work called " The Foote Family; or, 
the Descendants of Nathaniel Foote," published at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1849, shows that 
representatives of the family have filled every branch of honest industry, every learned profes- 
sion, and many honorable stations in life. 

Hon. Isaac Foote, great-grandfather of our subject, and sixth generation from Nathaniel 
Foote, Jr., was the son of Daniel Foote of Colchester, Connecticut, and at one period resided in 
Stafford, same state, and repeatedly represented that town in the general assembly. He was also 
a justice of the peace, a high office in those days, and a revolutionary soldier. In 1794 he 
removed to Sherburne, now Smyrna, Chenango county, New York, and while there was a mem- 
ber of the house and also of the senate of that state, dying in Smj'rna in 1S42. 

Isaac Foote, Jr., son of Hon. Isaac Foote, and grandfather of Doctor Foote of Belvidere, 
was also a prominent man in Smyrna, holding, at different times, the offices of constable, collec- 
tor, deputy sheriff, high sheriff, etc. He was also deacon of the Congregational Church, and a 
man of great probity and purity of character, dying at Smyrna in 1861. 

Justin Foote, the eldest son of Isaac Foote, Jr., and father of our subject, was born at Smyrna 
in 1803; married Irene Warner, daughter of Deacon Samuel Warner of Sherburne, New York, 
and they had five children, three sons and two daughters. He was instantly killed at the raising 
of a saw-mill in June, 1834, part of the frame falling on him. 

Daniel Elisha Foote was born in Otselic, Chenango county. New York, April 7, 1828, and when 
he was quite young the family moved to Smyrna. After the death of his father he remained with 
his mother one year, and then went to live with his grandfather, remaining with him until he 
commenced the study of medicine, receiving meanwhile an academic education at Smyrna and 
Cortlandville. He studied medicine with Doctor Hyde of Cortlandville, now professor of surgery 
in the Medical College at Syracuse, attended his first course of lectures at Geneva, and is a gradu- 
ate of the Buffalo Medical College, class of '51, the diplomas being presented to the class by Mil- 
lard Fillmore, then president of the United States, and chancellor of the University. 



334 VjXITF.D states fllOGRAPIIICAl. DICTIOXARY. 

Doctor Foote practiced one year with his preceptor at Cortlandville, two years at Newark Val- 
ley, Tioga county, and in May, 1854, settled in Belvidere, which has been his home since that date. 
While practicing in his native state, he was appointed surgeon of the 52d regiment of New York 
state militia, his commission having the signature of Governor Washington Hunt. 

On opening an office in Belvidere, Doctor Foote gradually built up a remunerative practice, and 
has always stood well in the profession. Although making no branch of it a specialty, he has 
had a liberal share of surgery, in which he is excelled by no man in Boone county. He has been 
a member of the State Medical Society since 1856, and is a member of the American Medical 
Association, and in 1876 was a delegate from Illinois to the Internatiimal Medical Congress, 
which met at Philadelphia. 

The doctor has held various local offices, such as school director for a number of years, 
president of the board of trustees before Belvidere had a city charter, and cx-officio supervisor 
of the town, coroner for Boone county for several successive terms, etc. His politics are 
republican. He has been an elder in the Presbyterian church for more than a quarter of a 
century, and was at one period superintendent of the Sunday school for ten consecutive years. 
He seems to have inherited, in no inconsiderable measure, the character of his Puritan an- 
cestors, who were an eminently religious class of people. The doctor lost, in 1846, a sister, 
Harriet Elizabeth Foote, whose short life was a beautiful example of meekness and pious 
resignation. She died in the bloom of womanhood, aged twenty years, sweetly falling asleep 
"like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 
His other sister, Frances Irene, also a devoted Christian, died a few years afterward. His brother 
next younger than himself, Justin Hiel, died in Belvidere in 1856, and the other brother, Samuel 
Isaac, is in a mercantile house in Norwich, Chenango county, New York. 

Doctor Foote married at Newark Valley, New York, July 19, 1853, Miss Martha Elizabeth I'pde- 
graff, and they have three daughters. The oldest, Stella Elizabeth, is a graduate of the Rockford 
Seminary; Harriet L., of the Belvidere high school, and Mary I. is pursuing her studies in the 
local grammar school. The doctor is a warm friend of education, and takes good care that no 
member of his own family suffers from a lack of it. 

Doctor Foote has in his possession the coat of arms of the Foote family, presented to James 
Foote by one of the English kings "for his loyalty and truth in risking his own life to save 
the king's." 

WILLIAM LAW, JR. 

CHICAGO. 

MR. Law is a well known member of the Chicago bar. He is a native of Hancock county, 
Illinois, where he was born January 31, 1841. He is the son of Doctor William Law, 
who is an eminent physician practicing in southern Wisconsin. His parents were North of Ire- 
land people. His family, early in his life, moved from Hancock to Jo Daviess county, afterward 
to La Fayette county, Wisconsin. 

His legal studies began in 1859 at Shullsbury, La Fayette county, Wisconsin, in the office of 
Higbee and Law, the latter member of the firm being an elder brother. After pursuing his 
studies there, and also for a short time at Freeport, he removed to Chicago, and entered the 
office of the late Hon. James H. Knowlton, a former noted lawyer of Wisconsin, and having 
passed the prescribed ordeal of examination of the supreme court of Illinois, was, in 1862, ad- 
mitted by that tribunal to practice. With a touch of the emigrating fever which seized many 
other young men and turned their aspirations in the direction of the new territories, he, in 1864, 
directed his steps to Boise City, the capital of Idaho Territory, and had the fortune to command 
there a good business and a prominent standing at the bar, taking part in many of the leading 
and important litigations of the Idaho courts. He, for a time, acted as LInited States attor- 
ney, and was also for a time clerk of the United States district court. Spite of the promise and 





Cc 




UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 337 

prospects which the territorial legal field afforded, the attractiveness and fitness of Chicago as an 
avenue for the exercise of professional ambition and success led him to retrace his steps, and in 
1866 he returned to Chicago, where he has since actively and ably practiced in all courts, and is 
now established as one of the leading and notable lawyers of its multitudinous bar. His prac- 
tice has been varied and in the several branches of the law. 

In person Mr. Law is rather stout and short, of much robustness and vigor of physique. He 
is, and his appearance is, that of a gentleman. His address is prepossessing. His manners are 
easy, familiar and most agreeable. He is popular with his brethren. He is honorable and honest 
in his practice, and has the respect of the court and the confidence and esteem of his fellows. 
His arguments to the court are dignified, sound and logical, while his oratory to the jury, 
touched with the fervor of his race, is usually strong and telling, and often eloquent. 



ISAAC THOMAS. 

]VyOMING. 

ISAAC THOMAS, a resident of Stark county since 1844, is a native of the Green Mountain 
State, a son of David and Hannah (Dwyer) Thomas, and dates his birth in Berkshire, Frank- 
lin county, January 22, 1809. His father was of Welsh and his mother of Scotch-Irish descent. 
David Thomas was a blacksmith by trade, born in East Haddam, Connecticut. He served in the 
second war with England, and took his family to Kingston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, when 
Isaac was about thirteen years old, the latter finishing his education at the Kingston Academy. 
At seventeen years of age our subject went to work for his uncle, General Samuel Thomas,* who 
was a contractor, and with whom he remained two years. He was subsequently a merchant for 
fifteen years at Mehbopany, then Luzerne, now Wyoming county, dealing also in lumber at the 
same period. While there he held the office of postmaster under President Van Buren. 

In 1844 Mr. Thomas came to Wyoming, bought a small farm, and for a few years was engaged 
in cultivating it. He was also postmaster during the administrations of Polk, Taylor and Fill- 
more. At one period he was employed in raising, and subsequently in collecting, subscriptions 
for the American Central railroad, which road proved a failure, and the bed of which was sold to 
the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Company. About that time he left his farm, built the home 
in which he now lives, and moved into town. Here he gave his attention to the duties of justice 
of the peace, an office to which he had been elected only a year or two after reaching Wyoming, 
and which he held about thirty years. During that period he married something like fifty couples, 
among the brides being a mother and her daughter. For the last eight years he has been police 
magistrate, doing also considerable collecting for parties at the East as well as at the West, and 
to which business he has paid more or less attention for many years. 

Mr. Thomas is a man of the strictest integrity, and attends punctually and faithfully to any 
duties or trust confided to him. He has been a member of the Methodist church since a young 
man, and a class leader and steward for a long period. No man who knows him doubts the sin- 
cerity of his profession or the purity (if his life. 

Mr. Thomas acted with the democratic party until the fall of Sumter, in the spring of 1861, 
since which time he has been a firm republican. He has been a Freemason for a long time, but 
has taken only three degrees. 

Mr. Thomas was married December 19, 183,3, t" ^liss Lydia A. Beers, of Mehoopany, and they 

* General Samuel Thomas was a native of Connecticut, and a prominent contractor on canals, etc., in Pennsyl- 
vania, where he held the rank of general of the state militia. He was a captain in the second war with the mother 
country, and was at the battle of Fort Erie, near Buffalo. He came from the Wyoming Valley to Spoon River in 
1834, laid out the village, and changed the name to Wyoming. He was a prominent citizen of Stark county, a mem- 
ber of the legislature, and quite enterprising. He died in July, 1879, aged ninety-three years. He was greatly 
respected in life and sincerely and deeply mourned in death. 
34 



338 UNITED STATES lilOORAPlllCA L DICTIONARY. 

lost one daughter, in early infancy, and have nine children living: Jerome B. was a surgeon 
in the 54th Illinois infantry, and is treasurer of the Soldiers' Home, Dayton, Ohio; Charles C, 
also a Union soldier, is at Carbondale, Illinois; Mary \V. is the wife of Doctor Pierce, of Wyo- 
ming; Lewis W., a soldier for three years in the civil war, is also in Wyoming; Emma O. is book- 
keeper for Appleton and Company, Chicago; William D. is in Missouri; Fannie W. is the wife of 
Rev. William Woolley, of Levviston, Illinois; Allen E. is in Dayton, Ohio, and Kate A. is a school 
and music teacher at home. 

Mr. Thomas was very active during the civil war in raising sanitary stores and sending them 
to the hospitals at the .South, and in many ways showed that he was an ardent patriot. 



JETHRO MASTIN, M.D. 

SHANNON. 

JETHRO MASTIN, one of the early settlers in the village of Shannon, and a prominent citizen 
of tiie place, is a native of Harrison count}', Ohio, dating his birth May 20, 1825. His father, 
James Mastin, a farmer, was born in the state of Delaware, and his mother, whose maiden name 
was Anna Dewalt, was born in Pennsylvania. He was educated in the public schools of his 
native state, and at the West Bedford Academy, Ohio, where he spent one term. He taught 
school off and on, for ten years, doing also some farm work at that period. He studied medicine 
with Doctor E. N. Knight, of Chili, Ohio; came to Stephenson county, Illinois, in 1857, and was 
in practice three miles from where the village of Shannon now stands, until 1862, when he settled 
in Shannon, then in its infancy, and continued the practice of his profession for several years. 
During the last nine or ten years he has been engaged in the lumber and coal trade, and is a suc- 
cessful business man. Doctor Mastin was the first collector of the township, holding that office 
five years; was the first justice of the peace in Shannon, and is still acting; is also one of the 
supervisors of the count)', and has been for the last ten or eleven years, being also chairman of 
that board half of the time. He held also, years ago, the office of village clerk, village trustee, 
school trustee, etc. He has, from the start, thoroughly identified himself with every interest of the 
place, and done his share in building it up. No man in .Shannon has more fully the confidence 
and esteem of the citizens, or has served them more faithfully in every office of trust which he 
has held. 

Doctor Mastin married in 1853, Miss Catherine Daugherty, a native of Belmont county, Ohio, 
and they have three children: George C, a school teacher and superintendent of schools for Car- 
roll county; James W., a railroad conductor, and Maggie, who is finishing her education. 



J 



JAMES E. CHANDLER. 

BUSHNELI.. 

AMES EDGAR CHANDLER, banker, and one of the leading business men in Bushnell, Mc- 
Donough county, was born in Macomb, the capital town of this county, March 20, 1850. His 
parentage and ancestry may be found in a sketch of his father. Colonel Charles Chandler, on 
other pages of this work. His younger years were given to intellectual pursuits. He prepared 
for college at Lake Forest, near Chicago; entered Yale in 186S, and left in the sophomore year, on 
account of ill health. In the autumn of 1869 he became a clerk in the private banking house of 
Chandler and Cummings, at Bushnell, which institution was reorganized, in 1871, into the Farm- 
ers' National Bank of the same place. In this bank Mr. Chandler was first teller, then assistant 
cashier, and since the close of 1878 has held the position of vice-president, taking the place of his 
father on the latter's death. It is a well managed and safe institution, and has the fullest confi- 
dence of the public. 



I 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



339 



Mr. Chandler has been city treasurer of Bushnell for six or seven years, and was a member of 
the city council four years. He is sole proprietor of the Bushnell Fair Grounds, and president of 
the Agricultural and Mechanical Association of Bushnell, one of the most prosperous organiza- 
tions of the kind in this part of the state. He is also trustee of the Western Normal College, 
an institution recently started at Bushnell, with promise of a bright future. Mr. Chandler is full 
of energy and public spirit, ready to lend a helping hand in any enterprise likely to build up the 
town. He is an unswerving republican, and an indefatigable worker in the interests of his party, 
being usually a delegate to district and state conventions. During the last four or five years he 
has been the member for McDonough county of the congressional committee of his, now the 
eleventh, district, tie has been through Odd-Fellowshi]) to the highest posts, and also to the top 
of the local order of the Knights of Pythias. 

Mr. Chandler was married November 7, 1872, to Miss Ella C. Knowland, of Bushnell, and 
they have one son, Charles, seven years old. The family usually attend the Presbyterian Church. 



JAMES \V. DUNCAN. 

O'/TA WA. 

JAMES WALTER DUNCAN, son of Nicholas Duncan, was born in La Salle, January 18, 1849. 
His father was in early life a builder and contractor, and later a justice of the peace, and the 
holder of other offices at the time of his death, he being a prominent citizen of this city. Both 
parents are dead. James received a good English education; read law at La Salle with E. F. 
Bull; was admitted to the bar in April, 1871, and practiced at La Salle until 1882, when he 
removed to Ottawa. He is of the firm of Duncan and O'Connor, his partner being a resident of 
La Salle, and they having an office in both cities. Their business is very large and growing. 
Mr. Duncan is one of the best trial lawyers in La Salle county, which is the second county in 
population in the state, and its bar includes a good deal of legal talent. 

While a resident of La Salle, Mr. Duncan held various offices, such as school treasurer of Peru 
and La Salle (which are in one congressional district), city clerk, city attorney, and mayor for. 
three terms. In politics Mr. Duncan is a democrat, and has been heretofore somewhat active in 
his party; more so than he is at present. He is very attentive to the duties of his profession, in 
which he is making a brilliant record. He was married, according to the " Past and Present of 
La Salle County," November 25, 1872, to Miss Bridget Cody, and they have two children. 



D 



DAVID F. DEADERICH. 

QUINCY. 

AVID FRANKLIN DEADERICH, commission merchant and grain dealer, and mayor of 
the city of Quincy, was born in Jefferson county, Tennessee, June 16, 1840. his parents being 
Hon. James W. Deaderich, judge of the supreme court and chief chancellor of Tennessee, and 
Adeline McDowell. His father was born in Tennessee, and his mother in Kentucky. She is a 
daughter of the late Doctor McDowell, of Lexington, Kentucky, an eminent physician, to whose 
memory a monument was erected three or four years ago by the medical fraternity of the state. 
Judge Deaderich and wife celebrated their golden wedding in November, 1882, when seven chil- 
dren and a large number of connections were present, seven of them being over eighty years of 
age. The Deaderich family are of German extraction, the name being originally written Died- 
rich. The subject of this sketch has seven brothers, the oldest of whom was a graduate of West 
Point, and the other six are graduates of colleges in Tennessee and Kentucky. David early had 
a taste for agricultural pursuits, to which he turned his attention at sixteen years of age, after 
having received a fair business education. He was thus engaged in east Tennessee until 1862. 



340 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA FIIICA I. DICTIONARY. 



when he went into the confederate army as first lieutenant of company F, 34th Virginia cavalry, 
and commanded the company after a short time, the captain having lost his voice. He was 
wounded at Limestone Gap, Tennessee, and was twice taken prisoner, being released once in 
exchange and once on parole, serving until the confederate army surrendered. 

June 16, 1865, the -day he was twenty-five years old, he left east Tennessee for Illinois, settling 
in Ouincy. He farmed one year five miles from the city, then went into the milling business 
here, and was thus engaged until 1877, when he commenced the commission and grain business. 
He was alderman of the third ward in 1876-7, and is now, December, 1882, serving his first year 
as chief magistrate of the city. He is a thorough-going business man, and makes an excellent 
mayor. His politics are democratic. 

Mayor Deaderich is a member and trustee of the First Presbyterian Church, a liberal sup- 
porter of the gospel, and a man of unblemished character. August 2, i860, he was married to 
Miss Nannie Haynes, of Washington county, east Tennessee. Tliey have buried one son, and 
have seven children living. Anna M., the oldest daughter, is a graduate of Franklin School, 
Quincy, and most of the others are attending the same school. 



WILLIAM A. PATTERSON. 

CARTHAGE. 

WILLIAM ALEXANDER PATTERSON, merchant, hotel-keeper and farmer, and one of 
the old settlers in Hancock county, is a grandson of Matthew Patterson, a British officer. 
He came to America while connected with the engineer corps, during the French and Indian war; 
retired on half pay, and settled in Putnam county. New York, where he was still living when the 
colonies struck for independence. His son, Alexander K. Patterson, father of William, a farmer 
in early life, and later a cattle drover in northern New York, Canada and Ohio, married Elizabeth 
Palmer, whose fatherwas a minute man in the war of 1775-82, his home being in East Brantford, 
Connecticut. William A. was the second child in a family of three children. He was born in 
Putnam county. New York, January 24, 181 1; received an education limited to the rudimentary 
branches, and has taken care of himself since he was twelve years old. At that age he became 
a clerk in a retail store in New York cit\', and two years later became connected with a menag- 
erie, the proprietors of which all lived in Putnam county, and he traveled for four years. He 
then went to Baltimore, Maryland, and filled a clerkship in a stage office for several years, spend- 
ing meantime the summer of 1832 in Cincinnati. 

Mr, Patterson at length caught the western fever, and March 2, 1836, left Somerstown, New 
York, on horseback, and in that waj' traveled all the way to the Mississippi River. Crossing over 
to Fort Madison, Lee county, Iowa, he remained there a very short time, and then recrossed the 
river into Illinois. That was when Iowa was a part of Michigan Territory, two years before it 
became Iowa Territory, and ten before it became a state. 

Mr. Patterson bought a quarter section of land in Prairie township in April of that year, and 
immediately commenced improving it. In 1839 he built a log house sixteen feet square, and set 
up housekeeping alone in a somewhat primitive and rustic style. After awhile he had a family 
with him. In 1842 he did a wiser thing — marrying Mrs. Georgiana (Botts) Allen, and found hap- 
piness in cabin life until 1847. His health failing, in that year Mr. Patterson moved into Car- 
thage, and gradually regained his health. 

We learn from the "History of Hancock County" that he was the democratic candidate for 
sheriff in 1848, and was defeated by less than one hundred votes. Two years afterward he was a 
successful candidate for the same office, and held it two years. He then bought, enlarged and 
named the Patterson House, and in the autumn of 1853 was elected county treasurer, holding that 
office six years. 

He continued in the hotel until 1857, when he snhl (lut, and was a merchant until 1872. He 



UNITED STAIES lUOGKA FII ICAI. DICTION AK V. 



341 



then became proprietor of the Patterson House once, more; managed it till 1879, when he again left 
it, having two years before opened a store 40X70 feet, and which is well stocked with groceries 
and queensware, and in which line of business, as in others, he is making a success. He again 
took the hotel in November, 1882, and is carefully managing both branches of business. The 
Patterson House is well known, well kept, and doing well. 

Mr. Patterson made several purchases of land at different periods in this county, and has 
always been engaged directly or by proxy in cultivating the soil. He has a farm of 270 acres near 
town, and other tracts of land in this vicinity, in all probably between 350 and 400 acres. He has 
always been an active man, willing to earn his own living by a generous amount of perspiration, 
and taking pleasure in seeing others do the same. 

Besides the county offices already named and held by our subject at an early day, he has also 
held several town offices, such as constable, school director and town trustee. He was also at 
one period captain of a militia company, and was called out once or twice during the Mormon 
troubles, but was not, we believe, in any engagement. Since the civil war commenced (in 1861) 
he has voted the republican ticket. 

The fruits of the marriage which we have mentioned were four children, two of whom died 
quite young, and George, a promising youth, in his eleventh year. Helen M., the only child liv- 
ing, is the widow of Henr)- W. Draper, late a lawyer in Carthage. She has three children. 

Mr. Patterson is one of the venerable landmarks of Hancock county, having been a resident 
liere for forty-seven years. He is well posted in the history of the county, well informed on some 
other subjects, and quite agreeable in conversation. He is a friend to the young, a well-wisher to 
everybody, a man of good principles, and highly respected by all the lovers of sobriety and good 
order. 

WILLIAM T. BEADLES, M.D. 

BUSH NELL. 

WILLIAM THOMAS BEADLES, a prtmiinent arm)- surgeon, and one of the leading physi- 
cians and surgeons in Bushnell since the winding up of the rebellion, is a native of this 
state, and a son of Joel and Thely (McGee) Beadles. His father was reared in Danville, Ken- 
tuck}% and his mother was born in Mercer county, that state. They were industrious members of 
the agricultural class. The father died in Fulton county in 1843, and the widowed mother in 
1852. William first saw the light near Lewiston, Fulton county, January 23, 1836, and when about 
twelve years of age began to learn the tinsmith trade, at which he worked more or less for five or 
six years, attending school during the winters. 

Our subject spent two years at the University of Michigan, part of the time in the literary 
department and part in the laboratory and medical department; attended lectures at the Missouri 
Medical College, Saint Louis, and there received the degree of doctor of medicine in February, 
1S60. He practiced two years at Lewiston, and early in the spring of 1862 went into the army as 
assistant surgeon of the 4tli regiment Illinois cavalry. That part of it witli which he was con- 
nected was General Grant's escort until he went east. At that time the major of the regiment, 
E. D. Osband, organized the 3d regiment United States colored cavalry, and Doctor Beadles 
was appointed surgeon. Part of the time, during the year 1865, he was surgeon-in-chief of 
cavalry division district west Tennessee, and subsequently surgeon-in-chief of the district of 
west Tennessee, and was not mustered out until the spring of 1866, being just four years in the 
service. He saw some decidedly rough times, but we venture to say he that does not regret any 
efforts put forth or an)' hardships endured in trying to mitigate the sufferings of the sick and 
wounded soldiers, who were aiding to save the Union. 

On leaving the army Doctor Beadles settled in Bushnell, where he soon built up a liberal prac- 
tice, the four years' schooling at the South having been of great help to him. Although in gen- 
eral practice he aims to make a partial specialty of surgery, in which he has had much experience. 



342 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

and which he has latterly made a special study. He is surgeon for this section of the Wabash 
raih-oad, and for fifteen or sixteen years has been United States surgeon for pensions. His 
standing in the profession is first-class. 

Doctor Beadles was mayor of the city of Bushnell one year and cx-officic president of the 
board of education, all the civil office, we believe, that he has accepted. He is a republican of the 
stiffest class; believes that the perpetuation in power of that party is for the best interests of the 
nation, and he does not hesitate to lend a helping hand during an important canvass. 

He is a Master Mason, and years ago was accustomed to attend some of the meetings of the 
lodge. He now prefers to be at home, entertaining his family and studying fresh medical works. 
He keeps well posted. 

The doctor was married August 26, 1865, to Miss Telitha Leeper, of Kentucky, and they have 
two children, Charles Henry and Luanna, who are attending school. Doctor Beadles usually 
attends the Baptist Church, where all the family attend, his wife being a member. 



GEORGE W. SCOTT. 

WYOMING. 

GEORGE W. SCOTT is a son of Ephraim Scott, Jr., and Lydia (Sherman) Scott, and a 
grandson of Captain Ephraim Scott, who commanded a company in the war of 1812-14, 
at Buffalo, New York, when that village was burned. He was born at Fredonia, Chautauqua 
county. New York, July 21, 1832. He is of Scotch descent on his father's side, and of English on 
his mother's. Both parents were born at Ware, Hampshire county, Massachusetts. His mother 
was a daughter of Reuben Sherman, a revolutionary soldier, and a cousin of Roger Sherman, one 
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The subject of this sketch has in his posses- 
sion two commissions, signed by "Caleb Strong, Esq.," governor of Massachusetts, appointing 
Ephraim Scott ensign of a company of militia in 1802, and captain in 1806. George's father died 
when the son was six years old. 

In his early teens he went to Massachusetts ; finished his education at Millbury Academy ; 
learned the trade of a machinist, and worked at it several years. In 1853 he came to this state, 
reaching Peoria, March 18, and 'having a few hundred dollars, the fruits of his own industry, he 
invested it in land in Peoria county, and for seven or eight years was engaged in farming. 

In January, 1863, having sold his farm in Peoria county, Mr. Scott came to Wyoming, and for 
seven years was engaged in mercantile pursuits, in which he was very successful. At the end of 
that period, on account of ill health, he retired, temporarily, from active business. Having 
regained his health, in January, 1870, he opened, at Wyoming, the banking house of Scott and 
Wrigley, which had a good business from the start, and the growth of which is simply wonderful. 
The bank has always been carefully managed ; is solid and popular, and has become one of the 
leading financial institutions of the Northwest. 

Mr. Scott is regarded by parties who know him most intimately, as one of the most energetic, 
stirring business men in Stark county. He has always shown great liberality in all enterprises 
calculated to build up the place ; is an efficient member of the Central Agricidtural Society, 
whose beautiful grounds are at Wyoming ; is a thoroughly tried and true man, and by his strict 
integrity, and good business tact and talents, has accumulated quite a fortune. 

Mr. Scott is a steadfast and ardent republican ; a Knight Templar, and has taken the thirty- 
second degree in the Scottish Rite. He is also an Odd-Fellow. 

Our subject was married in Stark county, December 23, 1858, to Miss Mary C. Cox, a native 
of Ohio, and they have lost one son and one daughter, and have three daughters living. Mr. 
Scott shows his thoughtfulness and liberality in educating his children. Jennie L., his oldest 
living child, is a graduate at Princeton, and the Boston School of Oratory; Caddie M. is now in 
Boston, pursuing her studies in music, and the youngest daughter, Hattie G., is a student in the 
home schools. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 343 

Nor is Mr. Scott's interest in education confined to his own family. For the last nine or ten 
years, he has been an active member of the board of education, and he has devoted no inconsid- 
erable amount of time in aiding to elevate the standard of the Wyoming pidilic schools. His 
public spirit crops out in many directions, and in many ways he has shown himself to be a thor- 
ough-going, generous-hearted man, one of that class who are a blessing to any place. 



w 



WILSON FLEMING, M.D. 

PORT BYRON. 
ILSON FLEMING, for more than a quarter of a century a physician and surgeon in Rock 
Island county, was born in Bakerstown, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, June 29, 1828. 
His father, George Fleming, a carriage-maker in early life, and afterward a farmer, was born in 
Ireland in 1800, and on his way to this country with his family, in the early part of the second 
war with England (1812), they were chased by a British cruiser. The mother of Wilson was Mary 
McFarland, who was of Scotch-Irish parentage, and born in Pennsylvania. 

Doctor Fleming finished his education at Washington College, Pennsylvania; studied medi- 
cine at Freeport, in that state, with Doctor David Alter; attended lectures at Ann Arbor, Michi- 
gan, and Cleveland, Ohio; received his medical degree at the latter place in February, 1854, and 
practiced at Bakerstown until April 1856, when he went to Le Claire, Iowa, opposite Port Byron. 
In September of the next year he settled at his present home. Here he soon built up a good 
business, and for more than twenty years he has had a highly creditable standing among the 
medical fraternity of Rock Island county. The writer of this sketch has known Doctor Flem- 
ing since 1863, and has no hesitation in saying that he is a skillful physician and surgeon, and 
has made a success in his profession. Since 1864 he has had a drug store also, the largest in town. 

The doctor has held one or two local offices, and did some valuable work years ago as a school 
director, but he has been too busy in his profession to think of doing much work in the village 
corporation. 

He is a republican of whig antecedents; is greatly interested in the success of his party, and 
rarely fails to discharge his duty at the polls. He was master of Philo Lodge, No. 436, of Free- 
masons, at Port Byron, for a dozen years almost in succession; is a member of Barrett Chapter 
of Royal Arch Masons, and a Knight Templar in Everts Commandery, Rock Island. 

Doctor Fleming was first married January 31, 1861, to Miss Myra Gordon, of Erie, Whiteside 
county, Illinois, and she died May i, 1863, leaving one son, Wilson Gordon, now a clerk at Port 
Byron; and the second time February 28, 1865, to Miss Eliza J. Simpson, daughter of Thomas 
Simpson, an early settler near Port Byron, and by her he has also a son, Charles Sheridan, who is 
securing his education. 

JOSEPH V. HARRIS, M.D. 

CANTON. 

JOSEPH VINTON HARRIS, one of the leading physicians and surgeons in Fulton county, is 
a son of Colbert and Catharine Elizabeth (Crupper) Harris, and was born in Beallsville, Ohio, 
October 22, 1839. His father, who was a physician and farmer, was a native of Frederick, Mary- 
land, born in 1798, and his mother was of Rectortown, Virginia, born in 1808. Both parents died 
in Ohio, the father in 1853, the mother in 1869. 

Joseph received an academic education at Fairview, Ohio ; began his medical studies at the 
same place, with Doctor J. T. McPherson, with whom he remained three years, attending lec- 
tures at the Ohio Medical College, being engaged in his medical studies when the civil war 
began. November 7, 1861, he enlisted in the 65th Ohio infantry; was appointed hospital stew- 
ard, and attached to the medical staff, and performed the duties of assistant surgeon. He 



344 UNITED STATES BFOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

remained in active field service with his regiment in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama 
and Mississippi, until April, 1864, when he was assigned to duty as assistant surgeon in general 
hospital at Gallipolis, Ohio, remaining there until September, when he was assigned to duty in 
the Granger general hospital in Huntsville, district of north Alabama. There he remained 
until the close of the war, being mustered out in May, 1865. In the following winter he opened 
an office at Canton, and began to practice medicine. He was connected with P. W. Plattenburg 
in the drug trade from 1867 to 1870, from which time he has devoted himself closely to his pro- 
fession. 

In 1870 Doctor Harris went to Chicago, attended a course of lectures at Rush Medical Col- 
lege, and received the degree of doctor of medicine in February, 1871. From 1870 to 1875 he 
held the post of Ignited States examining surgeon for pensions, under appointment of President 
Grant. 

Doctor Harris is a close student ; keeps well read up in his profession, and has a first-class 
reputation, both for skill and success. He has reported a few cases of general interest to the fra- 
ternity in the medical periodicals of the day; has a membership in the Illinois State Medical 
Society, and is a growing man in his profession. 

The doctor is a republican in politics, a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Mason of 
the Scottish Rite in the Masonic order, and master of Morning Star Lodge, No. 734, also 
an Odd-Fellow. October 19, 1865, he was married to Miss Ellen S. Plattenburg, of Canton, and 
they have two children, Ellen E. and Joseph P. Doctor Harris is thoroughly devoted to his 
profession ; makes liberal use of a well selected library, and is constantly growing in the con- 
fidence of the people. 

IRA BROWN. 

CHICAGO. 

No one at all familiar with real estate operations in this city, especially during the last eigh- 
teen years, can hear the name of Ira Brown without having the subject of city and suburban 
property, more particularly the latter, brought conspicuously to mind. The business of "The 
Biographical Dictionary" is to record the progress of successful men, and Ira Brown comes under 
that head. 

, Success in life always receives a merited homage. The general from his victories ; the states- 
man wearing the laurels of triumphant diplomacy; the orator, whose burning words have 
charmed, and whose logic has convinced ; the artist, whose brush has touched the canvas_with 
life and beauty ; the merchant, who has risen to princely affluence ; whoever, indeed, has stepped 
above the level, is sure of the world's regard, and to a degree that it becomes scarcely distin- 
guishable from worship. Nifr is such feeling prompted by the brilliancy of the achievement. 
Men do not worship the results of life ; it is the life itself that becomes the idol. It is not the 
granite shaft on Bunker Hill that awes us with reverence, but it is the shadow of the intellect and 
patriotism, which made that monument possible, that prompts us to tread lightly and to speak 
softly at its liase. Whenever mighty results are apparent, mighty intellect is discernible in the 
background, and it is upon it that the eye centers. Success is methodical. There is no such 
thing as chance victories in life, and, knowing this, how'ever prone the mind may be to indulge in 
fancies to the contrary, it desires to know something of the man who has baffled the difficulties 
which surround almost every one, caring little for the achievements themselves. The obelisk is 
beautiful, but who built it? soliloquized the beholder. The statue is life-like and eloquent, but 
whose hand held the chisel, and whose .mind directed its movements? The city or village may 
be a Rome in architectural splendor, and a bower in natural beauty, but the mind turns fmrn the 
magnificence to learn something of the founder and designer. 

Ira Brown must be placed in the list of Chicago's most successful men, and in view of that 
fact, the ustial interest attaches to his life that there does to the lives of others, who have been 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 347 

successful, and for the reasons already stated. When we consider that Mr. Brown successfully 
rode out the financial storm of 1873, and although suffering severe losses in the shrinkage of real 
estate values, yet saved a handsome fortune therefrom, and that, too, when others similarly situ- 
ated were utterly unable to extricate themselves, and were compelled to seek refuge in the bank- 
ruptcy courts, his preeminent abilities as a business man stand out in the business community in 
bold relief, his entire life, since his arrival in Chicago, has pointed in this direction. His enter- 
prise has been restless, and really brilliant. His judgment has been unerring, and his foresight 
has been distinguished for capability of penetrating the future with remarkable certainty. 

In 1853, when a boy of only nineteen years of age, he came to Chicago and began life for him- 
self, becoming first a clerk in one of the hotels, and then proprietor of the house. Disposing of 
this business, he entered upon a mercantile life, which some years later he abandoned for the 
purpose of giving his entire attention to his large real estate interests, of which he had gradually 
become possessed. 

His belief in the ultimate greatness of the city induced him, while engaged in the mercantile 
business, to invest his spare capital in suburban property, and subsequent history has proven the 
wisdom of such a course. Nothing, indeed, could more clearly show the characteristic ability, 
and keen perception of the man, than this deliberate escape from land speculation in the city, to 
the quiet and beautiful suburbs; and it is through the determined will and untiring brain of Ira 
Brown that twelve or fifteen of our best and most thriving suburbs are inhabited by thousands of 
Chicago business men, who sit under their own vine and fig tree, and around their firesides, out 
of the noise and bustle of the city, in homes purchased of Ira Brown, many of them on the 
monthly installment plan, a system first introduced by him. At this writing the value of all this 
property is easily discernible by even the most inexperienced, and it is not difficult to estimate its 
constant and rapid increase of value, while Chicago remains the great and growing metropolis it 
now is. But years ago, when m.uch of it was first purchased by Mr. Brown, its value was almost 
nothing, as compared to its present worth, and only two classes of men would have purchased it 
at the price paid per acre, the extremely reckless, or the extraordinarily sagacious. Mr. Brown 
was of the latter. Reasoning that there would yet be a demand for suburban homes by two 
classes of people, the rich, who would retreat before the growth and inconveniences of a commer- 
cial city, and those whose means would not permit them to secure homes upon the high-priced 
lands of a metropolis, he fearlessly invested his money, and having sown the seed, sat down to 
patiently wait for the harvest. Under the most ordinary circumstances the harvest would have 
been by this time a bountiful one, and a monument to the sagacity of the mind that conceived it 
possible. But fortunately for Mr. Brown, the great fire of 1871 was an extraordinary circum- 
stance, which, together with the fire ordinance which resulted, advanced the value of his acre 
property about one thousand per cent. Had he been other than a fair and honorable man, dis- 
daining to take an unjust advantage of his fellow citizens' adversity, he might have asked, and 
received, a much greater advance. But at that time, and since, while enjoying a legitimate profit 
upon his investment, towns and individuals have been universally benefited through his well 
established rule of business to "live and let live." 

Mr. Brown has no family but his wife, and generally for rest and restoration spends three or 
four months out of each year in traveling. Selecting the winter season, while real estate is far 
under the snow in this northern clime, he is to be found under the palm trees of Cuba, or tented 
somewhere on the flowery banks of the Saint John's River, in Florida, or on the Pacific coast in 
California, and from these lands of perpetual summer Mr. Brown returns in the springtime with 
renewed health and vigor, to receive the hearty congratulations of his hosts of friends. 

Mr. Brown's purchases have been very judicious, and he now owns perhaps more real estate in 
suburban land than any other dealer in Chicago. He handles nothing but his own property, and his 
extensive business monopolizes his whole time. Unlike the majority of men, however, with such 
large personal enterprises in progress, he never neglects to attend to duties of a public nature, where 
their discharge clearly devolves upon him. His willingness in this direction was illustrated by 
35 



248 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. 

his devotion to the erection of the Ada Street Methodist Church, Chicago. As president of the 
board of trustees, and chairman of the building committee, his labors in behalf of the church 
were indefatigable, nor did they cease until the site of the church was located, and he had fur- 
nished the means for the erection of the present edifice. This church is very largely indebted to 
Mr. Brown for its present prosperity. Indeed, the Methodist denomination in this section owes 
very much to his public spirit and practical Christianity, for he was a prime mover in locating 
the grounds and inaugurating the celebrated camp meetings at Desplaines. But when some of 
the Methodists of Chicago, headed by Hatfield, Gurney and Parkhurst got jealous of their supe- 
rior in the ministry, Rev. H. W. Thomas, D.D., and offered their services as attorneys and witnesses, 
being ready to do anything that would put him out of the church, then Ira Brown was one of the 
first to spring to the rescue of the great preacher, and to be one of twenty to hire Hooley's thea- 
ter, and pay the salary of this great and go.od man, and to form the People's Church, which is to- 
day the largest congregation in Chicago, many hundred going away ever)- Sunday unable to get 
even standing room. 

Although thus prominently identified with the development of Chicago, and ranked among 
the most substantial citizens, Mr. Brown is yet a young man. He was born at Perrysburgh, Ohio, 
January 25, 1835, and was educated at Defiance in that state, near which place his father, who 
also bears the same name, now resides, being the owner of a fine stock farm. The mother of our 
subject was Harriet Loughborough, who was born and married in Rochester, New York, and 
comes from a family which is well and favorably known in that state. William S. Loughborough, 
a brother, is a prominent lawyer in Rochester, and Barton Loughborough, another brother, has 
occupied the responsible position of warden of the state prison at Auburn, for many years. 

Both branches of the family are distinguished for longevity. The paternal grandmother of 
our subject lived to the age of one hundred and ten years, and his maternal grandmother died 
when ninety-three years old. His father has already reached the ripe age of eighty years. Mr. 
Brown was married January 12, 1862, at Chicago, to Delphia K. Brown, who was a Louisianian, 
and the daughter of a prominent secessionist. Miss Brown's family was temporarily stopping 
here at that time, and the union which was thus effected between the North and the South has 
never been a cause of regret to the contracting parties or their friends. Mrs. Brown is an accom- 
plished and typical southern lady, who has always been a sympathetic wife of a busy'and success- 
ful husband, whose enterprise has made his name as familiar in Chicago as household words. 



WILLIAM P. PRESSLY. 

MONMOUTH. 

WILLIAM PATTERSON PRESSLY, one of that class of men who live for others as well 
as for self, was born in the Abbeyville district. South Carolina, March 17, 181 1. His par- 
ents, David and Jane (Patterson) Pressly, were born in Ireland, and came to this country in youth, 
in the same vessel. William lost his father when the son was not more than four or five years old, 
he being the youngest child in a family of seven children. The widow kept house only a few 
years, and William, who had some property left him, became a wanderer, but not a tramp nor a 
spendthrift. In his teens he found his way to Oxford, Ohio, and spent some time in the college, 
though he did not take a full classical course. The writer of this sketch has before him an album, 
or more properly called a Vade Meciini, with the name of William P. Pressly on the first page, and 
the date. Room 7, Franklin Hall, 1830. It has about two hundred and si.xty pages, and is literally 
filled with choice scraps of poetry and prose, culled from standard writers of many ages, with here 
and there a sentence without any author's name or quotation marks, and evidently Mr. Pressly's 
own sentiment. Here are two of his mottoes : 

" Live so as to be missed. Live by God's grace assisting, so that the world will have been 
made better, and not the worse, by your having had a being in it." 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 349 

This latter has evidently been the motto of Mr. Pressly through life, as will be seen before we 
finish this sketch. When about twenty or twenty-one, he purchased land in Preble county, Ohio, 
and was a successful farmer about twenty years, when his health failed, and he changed to mer- 
chandising, being successful in both callings, He was from the start industrious and economi- 
cal, taking care of the little things, saving without being miserly, and wasting nothing. 

In 1859 Mr. Pressly came to Monmouth, and farmed one year, as there seemed to be nothing 
else for him to do, and idleness is not in his constitution. The next year he resumed mercantile 
life, and is still a trader, thrifty as ever, because as industrious and prudent as ever. 

Something like twenty years ago he became very much interested in the success of Monmouth 
College, and turned over to that institution a tract of land of more than 700 acres, located in Iowa. 

In 1870 he put up a brick library block, and presented it to the county of Warren. Part of 
the money made here had come from the patronage of farmers and other citizens of the county, 
hence he wished to have the inhabitants of the county share in the benefits derived from a public 
library. 

During the last ten or twelve years, he has given $20,000 to the Egyptian mission of the 
United Presbyterian church, to aid in the education of the young converts to Christianity in that 
country. One of Mr. Pressly's mottoes in the little manuscript volume to which we have referred 
is " Live for others," and certainly his example tallies with his precept. 

Our subject was reared in the United Presbyterian church, and was a member of it for a long 
time. Some years ago he transferred his connection to the Presbyterian church, of which he is 
an elder. He is also a trustee of Monmouth College. 

Mr. Pressly was first married in 1833 to Miss Mary Gilmore, of Preble county, Ohio, and she 
died childless in 1836. Two years later (1838) he was married to Miss Martha Miller, a Virginian, 
by whom he has had four children, none of them now living. One, Virginia, died in infancy; 
another, Sarah, when nearly a woman grown; Henry K., a soldier, was killed at Vicksburg in 
1863, and Mary Jane, a graduate of Monmouth College, and a teacher there, an accomplished 
scholar, died at the age of twenty-two. 

Mr. Pressly, while living, is grandly "proving by the ends of being to have been," and it will 
be a long time before the world will be likely to have a surplus of his class of people. 



H 



HIRAM I). FLOWER, M.D. 

FULTON CITY. 

IRAM DON FI^OWER, physician and surgeon, son of Zephon Flower, in his day a phy- 
sician and druggist, and Margaret (Glazier) Flower, was born in Warsaw, Wyoming (then 
Genesee) county. New York, February 28, 1827. He is of English descent on his father's side, 
and Scotch on liis mother's. 

Hiram worked on a farm, and attended public schools during the winter terms, until seven- 
teen years of age, and finished his literary education at the Westfield Academy, Chautauqua 
county. New York, where he spent four years at his books. He studied medicine with his father, 
and Doctors Garlick and Ackley, Cleveland, Ohio, and finished his medical education at Wil- 
loughby College, which institution was afterward moved to Columbus, Ohio, he receiving the 
degree of doctor of medicine in 1849. 

Doctor Flower commenced practice at Sandusky City, remaining there two years, then 
removed to Chicago, and was'there till March, 1855. Since that date he has been in practice at 
Geneva and Fulton, Illinois, in the latter place for the last sixteen years. He was in regular 
practice until he left Chicago, since which time he has given his whole attention to surgery, and 
to old diseases, such as club-foot, crooked eyes, cataract, malignant tumors, etc. 

The writer of this sketch has known Doctor Flower for many years, and is conversant with 
his eminent success in different parts of Illinois, Iowa and other states, his field of surgical oper- 



350 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

ations extending over a wide area of country. The cures which he has effected are not only 
remarkable, but absolutely astonishing, if not astounding. Having made the class of diseases 
just mentioned his exclusive study for more than a quarter of a century, he would, naturally, 
become an expert in them, but some of his cures indicate a remarkable degree of proficiency in 
the healing art. 

Doctor Flower married, April 3, 1850, Miss Mary R. Perry, daughter of Amos Perry, M.D., of 
Cleveland, Ohio, and they have lost two daughters, and have two sons and one daughter living. 
Frances M., the eldest daughter, was the wife of Augustus Phelps, of Fulton City, and died in 
child-bed ; Harriet E. was the wife of William Wicks, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and died from the 
same cause ; Don Rhodolpho, the older son, is a physician at Galesburgh, Illinois ; Mary H. is 
married to Monroe Smith, stenographer in a book store, Chicago, and Ward Z. is a farmer at 
Fulton City. 

THORNTON H. FLEMING, M.D. 

CANTON. 

THORNTON HENRY FLEMING, one of the oldest medical practitioners in Canton, Ful- 
ton county, is a son of Rev. Thornton Fleming, a Methodist minister, and Sarah Cohagan, 
both natives of Virginia, his birth taking place at Richmond, Virginia, September 9, 181 1. He 
was educated at Madison College, Uniontown, Pennsylvania, being graduated in 1831 ; studied 
medicine with Doctor John B. Phythian, of that place, and Doctor Thomas H. Fowler, of Belle- 
ville, Pennsylvania; practiced five years in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, then attended lectures 
at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, and finished in 1839. 

Doctor Fleming came to this county in 1852, and after practicing seven years in Liverpool, 
settled in Canton (1859). He is now in his twenty-fourth year, and has made a good record for 
skill and success. He has held only one or two offices of any kind, and attended very closely to 
his business. His rides are still extensive. He is of the firm of Fleming and Sutton. 

Doctor Fleming was an anti-slavery whig, and since 1855 has voted the republican ticket. 
Politics, however, never interfered with his professional duties, to which he has devoted his life. 
Doctor Fleming was joined in marriage in June, 1846, with Miss Mary Ann Nutt, of Fayette 
county, Pennsylvania, and she died, February 12, 1882, leaving one son, Leroy M., a farmer in 
Canton township. 

PERRY H. SMITH. 

CHICAGO. 

PERRY H. SMITH, one of the most notable members of the legal fraternity in the city of 
Chicago, was born at Augusta, Oneida county. New York, March 18, 1828, his father being 
Timothy Smith, many years a prominent business man at Watertown, Jefferson county. At thir- 
teen years of age Perry was prepared to enter college, — did, in fact, matriculate, — but owing to 
his age had to wait another year, and at eighteen was graduated, his standing being second in 
his class. He entered forthwith the law office of N. S. Benton, of Little Falls, New York, and 
was admitted to practice March 18, 1849, it being his birthday and the date of his majority. 

In the autumn of the same j-ear Mr. Smith started for the West, it being regarded by him as 
the most inviting field in which to find an opening for a young man of his profession, Appleton, 
Wisconsin, being the point of destination. Wisconsin, as a state, \\^s one year old, and without 
railroads, and, indeed, in the northern part without many roads of any kind. In reaching Apple- 
ton Mr. Smith had a walk of nearly a hundred miles, much of the way through an almost 
unbroken forest, that part having recently been opened to settlement by a treaty with the Indians. 
Appleton had been laid out on one of the rapids of Fox River, and was just getting a start. 
Hon. Amos Lawrence had just endowed the university which took his name, and which has since 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 35 I 

grown into a first-class institution of learning, and the fact that such a school had been founded 
may have been one of the inducements which led Mr. Smith, who is a man of decided culture, to 
locate there. Thirty-two years ago Lawrence University was one of the most northern lights of 
the country, but the crowding, ubiquitous Yankee and the robust Scandinavian have made open- 
ings in the forests and planted towns hundreds of miles nearer the Arctic seas, and Appleton has 
become a city of 7,000 inhabitants. 

Soon after Mr. Smith settled in the Badger State, Appleton became the seat of justice of a new 
county, and he was appointed the first judge, being only twenty-three years of age, and pre- 
sided with marked ability over a court, not only of probate jurisdiction, but likewise of general 
and common law. Very soon after reaching that post of honor we find him in the lower house 
of the state legislature, and a year or two later in the upper house, representing his constituency 
in the latter body for a period of five years, and becoming a prominent member ori the demo- 
cratic side. 

Mr. Smith was chairman (1S55) of the legislative committee which investigated the charges 
of fraud and corruption made against the governor of the state, and wrote the able report of the 
committee, which, it is said, "was absolutely decisive of the points at issue, and sealed the politi- 
cal fate of the persons chiefly implicated." 

Says a writer in the "Alliance" of November 28, 1881: 

"The legislature was convened in special session in 1856 to pass finally on the land grants made 
to the state by the national government to aid in the construction of railroads, and Mr. Smith 
was placed on the special committee to which the subject was submitted. The grant was given 
to a new company organized by the legislature, with authority to build a railroad from Fond du 
Lac to the state line. The company was soon after consolidated with the Chicago, Saint Paul 
and Fond du Lac Company, then struggling to build a road from Chicago to Fond du Lac, and 
in the following year, 1857, when but twenty-nine years of age, Mr. Smith was chosen vice-presi- 
dent of the company, and when it was reorganized with the Chicago and North-Western railroad 
was chosen to the same office in that great road, and made acting president until he left the road 
in 1869." 

At the time of Mr. Smith's first election as managing director of the Chicago and North-West- 
ern Railway Company, he had perfected his plans for his election to the United States senate by 
the Wisconsin legislature, and only upon most urgent and potent arguments from Hon. W. B. 
Ogden, Samuel J. Tilden and others was he induced to relinquish his political ambition for the 
better furthering of the great railway interests then committed to his charge. 

Great success attended Mr. Smith in his Various enterprises in Wisconsin, and having accumu- 
lated a fortune he removed to Chicago in 1856, and has since been a resident of this city, devot- 
ing his time to his own private business, which has assumed vast proportions. His ventures in 
railroad, mining and other interests in the Great West have been very fortunate, and Midas-like 
everything he touches seems to turn to gold. Luckily, he is liberal in his disposition, as well as 
refined in his tastes, and no pent-up Utica or Chicago limits his generosity. Years ago he gave 
a large sum with which to build a hall for the library of his alma mater. His immense picture 
galleries and private library, second to nothing of the kind, we believe, in Chicago, are greatly 
admired by all visitors. The destitute and needy have a warm place in his heart, and his kindly, 
neighborly feelings are among the many good features of his character. 

After the great fire his first business venture was the building of the North Shore railroad of 
Canada, from Quebec to Montreal, which he managed with such signal ability and success in the 
face of most gigantic obstacles that Sir Hugh Allen was attracted to the enterprise, and paid Mi. 
Smith a million dollars for tlie privilege of carrying the work to final completion. In later years 
the Chicago division of the Wabash Railway Company and the Wabash grain elevator of Chi- 
cago, with a capacity of 1,650,000 bushels of grain storage, attest in a measure the mental activ- 
ity and business success of the subject of our sketch. 

Mr. Smith has been a life-long democrat, and is a great admirer of Samuel J. Tilden, whom 



352 Uh-ITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

he helped to bring out for presidential candidate in 1876, and who was his first choice in 1880, 
but failed of the nomination, much to the regret of our subject, whose wisdom and foresight are 
seen in his politics as well as in his business ventures. 

Mr. Smith married in 1851 Miss Emma A. Smith, daughter of Rev. Reeder Smith, of Apple- 
ton, Wisconsin, and thev have four children, three sons and one daughter. A sketch of Perry H. 
Smith, Jr., a young man of much promise, may be found in another part of this volume. 



THOMAS P. PIERCE. 

K En- A NEE. 

THE parentage, birth-place, etc., of Thomas Powell Pierce, may be found in a sketch of his 
brother, John H. Pierce, immediately following this. He dates his birth October 3, 1838. 
He received his mental drill in a district school near the city of Aurora, and in his early years was 
engaged in farming in Kane county. He learned the trade of a tinsmith in Aurora, worked at it in 
that city till 1859, when he came to Kewanee, and worked here awhile as a journeyman, and in 
1863 started a tin-shop of his own. Not long afterward he added hardware. He was alone for 
two seasons, and for one short year was of the firm of Tracy and Pierce. In 1867 he took 
into partnership his younger brother, John H. Pierce, and the firm of Pierce and Brother 
continued for fourteen or fifteen years. He is now of the firm of Pierce and Brown, his 
partner being O. J. Brown. Their store is twenty-four by one hundred feet, and they occupy two 
stories, usually carrying from $20,000 to $25,000 worth of stock, and doing about $40,000 a year. 

Mr. Pierce is the oldest hardware merchant in Kewanee, and in stability of character no deal- 
er in merchandize in the village stands higher. He has made a success in his business, and done 
it by honest dealing, prudent management and careful oversight. In 1880 he helped organize 
the Union National Bank of Kewanee, a well managed institution, and was chosen its president, 
a post which he still holds. He is also a stockholder in the Haxtun Steam Heater Company, 
and is quite public spirited. 

Mr. Pierce has served sundry times as a trustee of the village, in all six or seven years, and 
was supervisor of the township of Kewanee two years. His political affiliations are with the 
republican party, for the welfare of which he sometimes labors with zeal, he being a man of con- 
siderable influence. He is a Knight Templar among the Freemasons. 

The wife of Mr. Pierce was Charlotte M, Talcott, daughter of J. A. Talcott, an early settler in 
Plenry county. They were married in 1864, and have lost one child, and have one son, William, 
living. He is being educated in the local schools. 



JOHN H. PIERCE. 

KEWANEE. 

JOHN HENRY PIERCE, secretary of the Haxtun Steam Heater Company, Kewanee, is a 
native of this state, being born at Aurora, Kane county, January 11, 1843. His father, Thomas 
Pierce, a farmer, was from Denby, Wales, and his mother, whose maiden name was Ruth Powell, 
was a native of Utica, New York. Our subject received an ordinary English education, and 
from eighteen to twenty-five years of age was in California, engaged in freighting, mining, etc., 
meeting with good success, and returning in 1867. He settled in Kewanee, and engaged in the 
hardware business, in company with his older brother, Thomas P. Pierce, under the firm name of 
Pierce and Brother. 

He retained his interest in the store until two or three years ago. Meantime, in 1872, he 
became a member of the Anderson, now Haxtun, Steam Heater Company, of which he is secre- 
tary, and to the building up of which he is now devoting his time and his energies, as well as 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ^^^ 

most of his capital. It was started on a very moderate scale, and has been enlarged from year to 
year until its buildings, mostly solid brick, cover two acres of ground. The company gives 
employment to two hundred skilled workmen, and is doing about $400,000 per annum. 

The Haxtun steam heater is no doubt one of the best articles of the kind manufactured 
in this country. Steam is no doubt the most safe, healthy and economical method of heating 
buildings, and we have before us hundreds of testimonials of parties who place the Haxtun heater 
second to no other in the market. It has become so popular that it is almost impossible for the 
Kewanee company to fill its orders with the promptness desired.* 

Mr. Pierce is one of the most stirring and thorough going business men in Kewanee, and is 
president of the board of village trustees. He is also a director of the First National Bank, of 
Kewanee. • 

Mr. Pierce is an unswerving republican, and at times is very active in promoting the interests 
.of the party, attending county and state conventions, etc. He was married September 6, 1869, to 
Miss Sarah D, Ingals, of Sublette, Lee county, and they have three children: Charles I., Frank E., 
and Lillv R. 



AUGUSTUS ADAMS, 

SANDWICH. 

AMONG the successful inventors and manufacturers of Illinois must be classed the subject of 
l\. this notice, Augustus Adams, who was born in Genoa, New York, May 10, 1806. His father 
was Samuel Adams, a merchant, and his mother Eleanor Heth. During his boyhood he attended 
the common school, but after his father's death, which occurred when he was eleven years old, he 
was thrown almost wholly upon his own resources. He spent his summers on a farm, devoting 
his spare time to study, and afterward spent four winters in teaching. 

Having accumulated a small capital, he started a foundry and machine shop, in 1829, at Pine 
Valley, Chemung county. New York. Here he continued the business till the autumn of 1837. 
In 1838 he came west, and spent the next winter at Elgin, returning to New York state in the 
spring of 1839. In 1840 he removed with his family to Elgin, and in the spring of 1841, with 
James T. Gifford as partner, he established the first foundry and machine shop west of Chicago, 
and continued in the business there till 1857. He manufactured, in 1850, the first harvester on 
which the grain was bound and carried together. He now closed his business at Elgin, and 
established himself at Sandwich in the manufacture of what is known as Adams' Corn .Sheller. 

In addition to his regular work he has occupied many prominent positions of public trust. In 
1S47 he was one of the delegates to the constitutional convention; served as a member of the 
state legislature in 1850, and in 1854 was elected to the senate. He was appointed by Governor 
Palmer as one of the commissioners to locate the Northern State Insane Asylum. At present 
(1882) he is president of the Marseilles Manufacturing Company, and was also the first president 
of the Sandwich Manufacturing Company. 

His political opinions are republican. He is a worthy member and trustee of the Congrega- 
tional Church, and by his upright life exemplifies the virtues of the Christian character. 

Mr. Adams was married October 21, 1833, to Miss Lydia A. Phelps. She died December 14, 
1867. He was again married January 13, 1869, to Mrs. Lucina M. (Powell) Mosher. Mr. Adams 
had nine children by his first wife, eight sons and one daughter, losing the eldest son. Darius, 

* Mr. William E. Haxtun, the inventor of the steam heater which takes his name, is a native of Dutchess county, 
New York, born January 20, 1S32. His father, Ehiathan Haxtun, was a farmer, and to that occupation the son was 
reared, he receiving an academic education at Amenia Seminary, Dutchess county, and at New Haven, Connecticut. 
He was a farmer in his native county until 1S70, when he came to Kewanee. Giving considerable study to the subject 
of steam heaters, after some e.xperimenting he invented one which has become very popular in a short time. In 1S74 
he became president of the Haxtun Steam Heater Company, and his inventive talent and industry are being well 
rewarded. He has a wife and five children. 



354 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

several years ago, and the daughter, Amy, in infancy. Joseph P., Henry A. and Walter G. Adams 
are manufacturing the Adams and French harvester at Sandwich, and John Q., Harvey R., Oliver 
R. and Charles H. Adams are manufacturing agricultural implements at Marseilles, Illinois. They 
are a family of sons of whom any parent may well be proud. Augustus Adams retired from 
active business, or nearly so, a few years ago, and is living a quiet life, holding at the same time 
an honorable social position. 

JAMES E. McPHERRAN. 

STERLING. 

JAMES EMMETT McPHERRAN, lawyer, son of John and Elizabeth (Stewart) McPherran, was 
born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, November 21, 1834. His father, who was a farmer 
and contractor, was born in Pennsylvania and was a son of Andrew McPherran who served seven- 
years in the Continental army, and most of the time under Colonel Morgan in the rifle corps. 
This old patriot married Martha Adams of York county, Pennsylvania, a woman of Scottish 
descent. The McPherran family came over from the Highlands of Scotland about 1745. It is 
proper to observe in this connection, as illustrative of the indifference in which men of that day 
held the orthography of names, that the brothers of Andrew McPherran spelt their name 
McFerran. 

The mother of James was a Pennsylvanian; her father, Robert Stewart, and her mother, Eliza- 
beth Emmett, both of Antrim, Ireland, the former a Scotch colonist, the latter a Celt "to the 
manor born," emigrated to this country shortly after the peace of 1782 and settled in Cumber- 
land county, Penns^dvania. 

Our subject was fitted for admission to Harvard College, but the religious bearings of that 
famous institution were such as to excite parental solicitude, and accordingly he was matricu- 
lated at Jefferson College, Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1857. After 
graduation he taught in Mississippi, and also in Illinois, and in the fall of 1861 was graduated 
from the Law Department of Chicago University. He began the practice of law in Sterling, 
Whiteside county, Illinois, in 1863, where he still remains, doing business in all the courts, state 
and federal. He represented the eleventh district of the state of Illinois in the legislature of 
1873-74, and contributed largely toward settling our present railway legislation. He has held 
various municipal offices in the city of Sterling, and has long been intimately identified with 
the educational interests of the city. He has for years been president of the Sterling Public 
Library, an institution which, though in its infanc)', already contains over 5,000 volumes of well 
selected books. 

The legal profession consider Mr. McPherran a good lawyer. The public regard him as 
a man of superior educational attainments. He is Presbyterian by descent and education, 
although not a member of the church. The wife of Mr. McPherran is Sarah A. Withrow, daugh- 
ter of Wm. E. Withrow of Macomb, Illinois. They were joined in marriage April 20, 1865, and 
have four children, one daughter and three sons, all attending school. 



J 



HON. J. RILSSELL JONES. 

CIIICA GO. 

OSEPH RUSSELL JONES, formerly minister to Brussels, was born at Conneaut, Ashtabula 
county, Ohio, February 17, 1823, his parents being Joel and Maria (Dart) Jones. His father 
was born at Hebron, Connecticut, May 14, 1792, married Miss Dart in 1815, and our subject was 
the youngest of four children. He is the grandson of Captain Samuel Jones, an officer in the 
French and Indian war, and the war of independence, and who held two commissions under 
George II. The family possesses a letter written by Captain Jones at Fort Edward, and dated 
August 18, 1758. His ancestor, Colonel John Jones, sat at Westminster, as one of the judges of 




"^^^'.^^ - --Jpi>'<^»^^ 



HCCuDOBr Jr. iCo, 




UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 357 

Charles I, in 1648. That ancestor married a sister of Oliver Cromwell, and was put to death 
October i7»i66o, on the restoration, Charles II being on the throne. His son, Hon. William 
Jones, the progenitor of the family in this country, came to America with his father-in-law, Hon. 
Theophilus Eaton, the first governor of the New Haven colony. 

The mother of our subject was a daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Hurd) Dart, who had a family 
of fourteen children, their home being at Middle Haddam, Connecticut, where the entire family, 
with one exception, met in 1854, to celebrate the sixty-second anniversary of the venerable 
couple's marriage. 

Joel Jones died when Joseph R. was a little more than a year old, leaving the widow with a 
young family, in very moderate circu-mstances. At thirteen years of age he was placed in a store 
at Conneaut, and his mother moved to Rockton, Winnebago county, Illinois. Two years later the 
son pushed westward, taking passage on the schooner J. G. King, and landing in Chicago, August 
19, 1838. Impatient to reach Winnebago county, and arriving too late at the port for the weekly 
stage, he was invited by Colonel Broadhead and Judge Fleming to accompany them to Rock- 
ford, which was twelve miles from Rockton. Remaining with the family two years, and assisting 
all he could, in 1840 he went to Galena, with a cash capital of one solitary dollar. Mr. Jones sup- 
ported himself for a few months by acting as clerk in a small store; then entered into the employ 
of Benjamin H. Campbell, a prominent merchant in that lively town, receiving at first a salary of 
$300 a year. His activity and aptness to learn the business, soon secured for Mr. Jones an advance 
of salary, and a little later a partnership with Mr. Campbell. Those were prosperous times in 
Galena, then the great business center west of Chicago, and these parties remained together imtil 
1856, when the firm was dissolved. 

Ten years prior to this date (1846) Mr. Jones was appointed secretary and treasurer of the 
Galena and Minnesota Packet Company, and he held that important post for a period of fifteen 
years, discharging its duties with great promptness and efficiency. For a term or two, during 
that period, prior to the dissolution of the whig party, he held the office of alderman, and aided in 
the prosecution of various important improvements in the city. 

In i860 our subject was elected to the twenty-second general assembly to represent the coun- 
ties of Jo Daviess and Carroll, and in that legislative body he showed himself to be a thorough 
worker and an influential business man. That was his first step in public life, and brought him 
into prominence in the republican party. In March of the next year he was, by President Lincoln, 
appointed United States marshal for the northern district of Illinois, and in [the autumn follow- 
ing moved to Chicago. So faithfully did Mr. Jones serve in that office that he was reappointed 
by President Lincoln in 1865, only a few weeks before the assassination. From a sketch of Mr. 
Jones in a work entitled the "Leading Men of Chicago," we learn that he was one of the trusted 
friends of President Lincoln, who reposed in him the fullest confidence, and summoned him to 
Washington for consultation on matters of great public importance during the war. 

In 1863 Mr. Jones and a few other enterprising men purchased from the Chicago City Rail- 
way Company the city railway lines in the west division, and he was selected for president of the 
new company, and held that position until appointed by President Grant in 1869 as minister to 
Belgium. From a work published in New York in 1S76, entitled "Our Representatives Abroad," 
we take the following: 

"Mr. Jones, upon his appointment as minister to Belgium, in 1869, proceeded quietly to his 
post, accompanied by his family, took possession of the legation July 21, and assumed at once, unos- 
tentatiously but industriously, the mastery of the situation. One of his first duties was to make 
an elaborate report upon the cereal productions of Belgium, by direction of the state department, 
and the manner in which he did this left nothing to be required. Shortly afterward he was called 
upon to interpose his good offices in behalf of an American citizen who had been condemned to 
imprisonment. He did so quietly, and without display, and succeeded speedily in effecting his 
countryman's release. When the difficulty arose with Great Britain in reference to the construc- 
tion of the treaty of W^ashington, no minister was more active than he in disseminating correct 
• 36 



■558 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

information, and in giving public opinion a turn favorable to our interests. On the final extin- 
guishment of the Scheldt dues he served the government with marked capability and intelligence. 
He has also materially assisted, in bringing about an understanding between Belgium and the 
United States, which will enable them to agree upon the terms of an extradition treaty, and has 
more recently furnished for the use of the senate committee on transportation an admirable 
report upon Belgian railways and canals. It is no exaggeration to say that Mr. Jones and his 
family have won the respect and affection of everybody who has felt the influence of their home 
at Brussels, or come within the reach of their kindly offices." 

On his return from Belgium in 1875, he was appointed collector of the port of Chicago, by 
General Grant, and took his old position at the head of the railway company, and the success of 
this company is no doubt due in a large measure to his excellent management and fine executive 
talents. Mr. Jones was also one of the originators of the Northwestern Horse Nail Company of 
Chicago, and, up to the time he went abroad in 1869, was its president. 

He married in 1848 Elizabeth Ann Scott, daughter of Judge Andrew Scott, of Arkansas, and 
he is the father of six children, three sons and three daughters. 

In business life, says the writer from ^yhom we have already quoted, " Mr. Jones has ever been 
distinguished for liberality and strict integrity, and socially, for the largest hospitality, and devo- 
tion to the interests of his friends, by whom he is esteemed and valued with a warmth which 
falls to the lot of very few." 



JAMES H. ETHERIDGE, M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

JAMES HENRY ETHERIDGE, a prominent physician of Chicago, and a member of the 
faculty of Rush Medical College, is a native of the Empire State, being born at Saint Johns- 
ville, Montgomery county, March 20, 1844. His father, Doctor Francis Etheridge, was born in 
the town of Herkimer, same state, and was a son of a revolutionary soldier, and a descendant, in 
the fourth generation, from English parents. The mother of our subject was Fanny Easton, a 
native of Connecticut, and the sixth generation from England. 

Doctor Francis B. Etheridge was a practicing physician and surgeon forty-seven years. He 
moved to Hastings, Minnesota, in i860, and was a surgeon of a Minnesota regiment during the 
civil war, dying at Hastings in 187 1. 

Our subject received most of his education in his native state, and had some experience in 
teaching a winter school. He was prepared in mathematics and Latin to enter the junior year in 
Harvard College, but the breaking out of the war, and the absence of his father in his country's 
service, disarranged the son's plans, and he concluded to go no farther in his classical studies, but 
turn his attention to medicine. He read four years with his father, attended three full winter 
courses at Rush Medical College, this city, and was graduated in March, 1869. In preparing for 
practice he had taken a careful and exhaustive course, and on receiving his medical degree stepped 
almost immediately into a fair business in the thriving village of Evanston, near Chicago, where 
he remained between one and two years. At the end of that period he made the tour of Europe, 
walking the hospitals of some of the largest cities, spending several months in London alone. 

On returning Doctor Etheridge settled in Chicago, July 31, 187 1, and was this day elected to 
the chair of therapeutics, materia medica and medical jurisprudence in Rush Medical College. 
That chair he still fills. 

Doctor Etheridge has met with unusual success as a practitioner. His urbanity of manner, 
pleasant readiness of speech and remarkable self-control could not fail to bring about such a 
result. In the branches he enjoys he is a close, methodical and appreciative student; hence 
masters them and works out most satisfactory results. He is eminently a statistician, and confi- 
dent of his means by which the end is reached. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 359 

As a lecturer he is earnest and self-reliant, possesses confidence in his points, is positive in 
assertions, has a good delivery, is of good presence, and is liked. He has patience to explain 
and reiterate, and mainly tries to present the salient points of the subjects lectured upon. 

A gentleman well acquainted with Doctor Etheridge thus writes in regard to him; 

" Doctor Etheridge is a physician of the highest professional standing. In keen perception, 
in rapidity and accuracy of diagnosis, and in extensive knowledge of the power and application 
of drugs, he has few equals, and certainly no superiors in the city. His agreeable manners and 
ready wit, added to fine professional attainments, make him one of the most popular of our phy- 
sicians. As a lecturer he combines a fine flow of choice language, with emphatic, forcible teach- 
ing, so that the student is equall)' interested by the force and instructed by the substance of the 
lectures. He is universally esteemed by the classes, and the high value they place on his lectures 
is shown by the fact that, although his hour is the first in the morning, vacant seats are rarely to 
be found." 

Professor Etheridge is one of the gynecologists to the Central Free Dispensary; is one of the 
staff of the Woman's Hospital of the State of Illinois, and was formerly on the staff of Saint 
Joseph's Hospital. He contributes more or less to the medical journals of the day, and is a mem- 
ber of the city, state and national medical societies. 

Our subject was married June 22, 1870, to Harriet Elizabeth, daughter of Heman G. Powers, 
of Evanston, and they have two children, both daughters. 



JACOB S. MrFERREN. 

irOOPESTON. 

THE sul)ject of this biography is a native of Level, Warren county, Ohio, and was born 
October i, 1845; the son of William and Eliza McFerren, the former of whom was a native 
of South Carolina, and the latter of Ohio. Prior to his fourteenth year Jacob attended the com- 
mon school, and received a fair education, and afterward was emplo3'ed in his father's store, 
where he received a most excellent business training, having the entire charge of the store, his 
father being largely interested in other matters. For the purpose, however, of better qualifying 
himself for business life, he, in 1862, pursued a course of study at Bartlett's Commercial College, 
at Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Returning to his father's business, after closing his studies, he was soon afterward thrown out 
of employment by his father's failure, and in 1865 removed to Paxton, Illinois. Here he accepted 
a clertcship with J. W. Scott, and at the expiration of one year, in partnership with A. L. Clark, 
bought out his employer, and began business on his own account. Under the careful manage- 
ment of the firm, the business proved eminently successful, and was continued about seven years. 
In 1872 Mr. McFerren sold his interest in the business, and casting about for a place in which to 
locate and make for himself a permanent home, hit upon Hoopeston, as destined to become a 
place of note. Removing thither, he, in August, 1872, associated himself with T. W. Chamberlin, 
and began a banking business, and also commenced dealing in real estate. In 1874, his partner's 
liealth failing, Mr. McF"erren purchased his interest in the business, and until the fall of 1882 con- 
ducted the bank in his own name, carrying it safely through the financial disasters which, during 
those years, swept over the country. In September, 1882, he organized, under the banking act, 
the First National Bank of Hoopeston, he himself being president and business manager of the 
same. Aside from his banking business, Mr. McFerren has been largely engaged in real estate 
operations, investing his surplus capital in farm lands. He also owns saw-mills in both Sullivan 
and Dubois counties, Indiana, where he carries on large lumber manufacturing interests. As a 
business man, he enjoys the fullest confidence of his fellow-citizens, having by his promptness 
and uprightness in all business relations, his enterprise and public spiritedness, shown himself 
worthy of their highest esteem. 



35o UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

With firm faith in the future of his adopted city, he has steadily worked for its welfare, con- 
tributing freely to the estabhshment of manufactories, and investing in public and private build- 
ings, demanded by the growing needs of business, among which may be mentioned the substan- 
tial brick bank building which he erected in 1876, and the brick opera house which he built in 
1882, both of which are ornaments to the city. By reason of his large land interests, he is the 
leading spirit in the Agricultural Society of Hoopeston, the success of which is mainly due to his 
enterprise and financial aid. 

A man of intelligence and fine executive ability, Mr. McFerren is well calculated to be a 
leader, and as showing the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow-citizens, it need only be 
said that in 1877 they elected him mayor of the city, and again in 1881 honored him with a re- 
election to the same office. As mayor of Hoopeston, his administration has been marked with 
signal success, he having driven from the city the liquor traffic, with many of its accompanying 
evils. Always a stanch republican, he has taken a decided stand in favor of honest government. 
While in the local affairs of his town and county he has always taken an active interest, he has 
uniformly declined political preferment, having neither time nor inclination to enter the political 
field. 

Mr. McFerren, during all his life, has been a close observer of men and events, and from his 
extensive travels, both throughout the United States and in Europe, has gained a ready fund of 
valuable and practical information and general knowledge, such as few men at his age possess. 
Though comparatively a young man, his business career has been eminently prosperous and suc- 
cessful; and now, in the full vigor and strength of his manhood, turning from his clear re'cord, 
and strong in his adherence to upright, manly principle, he may look forward to still greater 
achievements and successes. In his religious views he is generous, independent and liberal, hold- 
ing to the opinions of no church or sect. At the same time, he believes in religion as a moral 
force, and is a liberal supporter of church organizations in his city. 

Mr. McFerren was married April 4, 1871, to Miss Susie P. Clark, who died July 28 following. 
She was a daughter of R. Clark, of Paxton, Illinois, and a lady of rare attainments and most 
estimable qualities. 

HON. BENJAMIN C. TALLIAFERRO. 

ALEDO. 

BENJAMIN COLEMAN TALLIAFERRO, attorney-at-law, and late state senator, hails from 
King William county, Virginia, where he was born October 9, 1821. He is of Italian stock, 
his great-great-grandfather settling in Virginia some time during the first quarter of the eigh- 
teenth century. Charles Talliaferro, grandfather of Benjamin, was an express bearer for General 
Washington, and carried the news of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown (1782) to the capi- 
tal of the country. The bearer of that important dispatch, then a young man, subsequently mar- 
ried a sister of Governor Brooks. The parents of Benjamin were Robert Talliaferro, a farmer, 
also born in King William county, and Cecelia A. (Ellett) Talliaferro, a native of Goochland 
county, Virginia. In 1836 Robert Talliaferro moved with his family into this state, and settled 
in that part of Warren county which is now in Henderson. 

Our subject finished his education with one year's attendance at an academy; was reared on a 
farm till he had reached his majority; then read law with Hon. C. M. Harris, of Oquawka, and 
was licensed to practice in October, 1847, at which time he settled in Keithsburgh, Mercer county. 
There he did a good business in the^state and federal courts, and remained for nearly a quarter 
of a century. While there he was master in chancery for the circuit court for nine years, and 
held also various municipal offices. He never encourages a person to go to law who has not evi- 
dentl}' a clear case, and is very faithful and persevering when he once takes up a case. 

Our subject was elected to the state senate in 1876, and for four years ably represented Knox 
and Mercer counties in that body. He was chairman of the committee on agriculture and drain- 



UNITED STATES BIOGKATH/CAL DICTIONARY. 26l 

age, and was on half a dozen other committees, the judiciary and township organizations being 
among them. He is the autlior of tlie farm drainage bill, and engineered it through the senate 
He brought in the bill for the establishment of the Illinois Western Institution for the Deaf and 
Dumb, which failed to pass for want of time. He also favorably reported the bill to prohibit the 
giving of passes by railroad companies. It was Mr. Talliaferro who introduced the great home 
protection temperance petition, with 175,000 names signed to it, and made the introductory speech 
in the senate. He was the author of several other bills, some of which are now the laws of the 
state. He was a very industrious man in the committee room. 

Mr. Talliaferro is a stanch republican, and a man of great influence in the party. He is a 
Royal Arch Mason, and has held most of the prominent offices in the order. Mr. Talliaferro mar- 
ried, in 1S52, Miss Mary A. Pepper, from Utica, New York, and they have four children, three 
sons and one daughter. Mrs. Talliaferro and the daughter, Cora B., are members of the Baptist 
church. Francis E., the eldest son, is secretary of the state board of health, Springfield; Ralph 
E. is a clerk at Monmouth, and Robert B. is with his father in the land abstract business. 

Our subject has owned a farm for more than thirty years; has made some branches of agri- 
culture a stud)-, and has done all he could to encourage this great and primal branch of industry. 



ROSWELL PARK, A.M., M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

THE subject of this biographical sketch, who occupies a chair in Rush Medical College, is one 
of the most promising young surgeons in Chicago, and has risen very rapidly since he com- 
menced practice. He is a son of Rev. Roswell Park, D.D., and Mary B. (Baldwin) Park, and 
was born in Pomfret, Connecticut, May 4, 1852. His father was born in New York, and his 
mother in Massachusetts. The family on both sides are a race of engineers, and have been prom- 
inently engaged in various public works at the East. The father of our subject, a grandson of a rev- 
olutionary patriot, was a graduate of West Point, standing at the head of his class, and going into 
the engineer corps. He was prominently connected with several of the government works in our 
eastern harbors, notably the Delaware breakwater, one of the great breakwaters of the world. 
Subsequently he went into the ministry, and was the founder and first president of Racine Col- 
lege, Wisconsin. Descending from such a line, our subject inherited their scientific tastes, and as 
a boy was more proficient in his scientific studies than many college graduates. By the death of 
his father in 1869 he lost his best instructor in these branches. He immediately went to Racine 
College, and was graduated in letters in 1872, at the age of twenty, going over the whole four 
years of college course, in less than three years, so thorough had been his previous trainino-, and 
taking his master's degree three years later. 

Taking up his medical studies he was graduated with honors at the Chicago Medical College 
in 1876. He then devoted two and a half years to hospital work, acting as resident physician in 
the two largest hospitals in the West, positions gained by competitive examination with numer- 
ous competitors. Shortly after resigning from the county hospital, and taking up private prac- 
tice he was made demonstrator of anatomy in the Woman's Medical College. Holding this posi- 
tion for a year, he then accepted a similar one at his a/i/ia mater, the Chicago Medical College, 
in 1879. This position he filled until the spring of 1882, lecturing much of the time in the 
winter and spring courses on descriptive anatomy. Resigning from this position as taking too 
much of his time, he was offered the position of lecturer on surgery in Rush Medical College 
which position he has since filled. 

He has been for five years assistant surgeon to the State Eye and Ear Infirmary ; is now sur- 
geon to the new Michael Reese Hospital of fhicago, and holds various other positions in public 
and private institutions, besides acting as surgeon to one or two railroads and other corporations. 
He devotes himself to general and special surgery, and is said to have had the largest clinical 



362 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

experience of any man of his age in the state. During i<S82 he spent several montlis abroad study- 
ing foreign surgery, under most exceptional advantages. He has devoted considerable attention 
to electricity, and has recently been president of the Chicago Electrical Society, the most success- 
ful and largest society of its kind in the United States. 

He has been a constant contributor to medical literature, many of the articles being purely 
original; has made numerous contributions of value to practical anatomy, and published some of 
his work, and is the western associate editor of the "Annals of Anatomy and Surgery," published 
in Brooklyn, New York, the only journal of its kind in English, and to which he frequently 
contributes. He has one of the best collections of instruments and one of the best surgical libra- 
ries in the West. He is a member of several medical and scientific societies, among them the 
American Medical Association. 

Doctor Park married in 1880, Martha P., daughter of Julius R. Durkee, of Brooklyn, New York. 
As a writer Doctor Park is clear, concise, and sometimes ornate, and as a speaker he is perfectly 
self-possessed, graceful and fluent, and being a man of ripe scholarship and fine presence, he 
never fails to interest, not to say captivate, his class or his audience of any kind. A medical gen- 
tleman connected with one of the Chicago hospitals thus writes in regard to our subject: 

I have had repeated occasion to appreciate his skill and ability both as a surgeon and opera- 
tor since he has been appointed as consulting surgeon to the Michael Reese Hospital. As such he 
has very frequently given us his valuable advice in severe cases, and has performed a good number 
of important opei'ations in such an admirable manner and with such excellent results, that I regard 
him as one of the most promising men in American surgery. 



o 



HON. JAMES HOLGATE. 

;;' YOMiNG. 

NE of the very earliest settlers in what is now Stark county, Illinois, is James Holgate, who 
came here in 1S33 when there were not more than two families where the village of Wyo- 
ming now stands. The place was then called Spoon River, and received its present name from 
General Samuel Thomas, who came here the next year. 

James Holgate first saw the light at the foot of Chestnut Hill (now in Philadelphia) July 
26, 1804, he being the son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Sheets) Holgate. His grandfather, William 
Holgate, was from England, and was the proprietor of a fulling mill which his son Jacob con- 
verted into a paper mill, and finally into a cotton' factory. Elizabeth Sheets belonged to a Penn- 
sylvania German family. Botli parties died in Philadelphia. 

Mr. Holgate received an ordinary business education in Philadelphia ; at sixteen years of age 
went to Kingston, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, and after partially learning the miller's trade, 
turned his attention to the manufacture of woolen cloth at Kingston, adding merchandise in 1829. 
While thus engaged, in April, 1827, he was married to Miss Sylvina Trucks, of Troy village, Kings- 
ton township. Mr. Holgate continued to run the woolen factory and to sell goods until 1833, 
when he disposed of his interests in Pennsylvania, came to this state and bought a claim of eighty 
acres in Penn township, three miles north of Wyoming. Subsequently he added three other 
eighties, and remained on the farm until 1875, when he moved into the village. 

While engaged in farming Mr. Holgate held the office of county judge for eight years, and 
was assessor of Penn township both before going on the bench and during part of .that period, 
in all, sixteen years. He was also justice of the peace for several, and quite active, years ago, in 
county agricultural matters. He was a member of the legislature one term during the civil war, 
being sent there by his democratic constituents. He voted for General Jackson for president in 
1828, and has always adhered to the democracy. 

Judge Holgate is the father of twelve children, ten of whom are still living. Jacob, the eldest 
son, and Erastus, the second son and fourth child, are in Oregon ; Maria is the wife of John 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 363 

Snare of Penn township; Elizabeth is the wife of William P. Busvvell, of Neponset, Illinois ; 
Charles is in Washington Territory; Mary Ann is the wife of Calvin Hart, of Nebraska; Harriet 
is the wife of E. Gharrett, of Montana Territory; James is a physician at Castleton, Illinois; 
William is president of the First National Bank, Wyoming, and Reuben is at Osceola, Illinois. 
James and William were in the civil war, and the latter was taken prisoner, and after being 
released was wounded. Mrs. Holgate died in November, 1872. 

Since settling in the village of Wyoming our subject has lived a very independent life, having 
acquired a competency years ago. He is a stockholder and director of the bank of which his son 
William is president. Very few people are now living in Stark county who were here when he 
entered it; and seemingly he bids fair to outlive them all. He has never been sick a day since 
his infancy, and although pressing closely on fourscore years, he is in fair health and is usually as 
clieery and chatty as bob-o-link on a summer morning. 



NORMAN L. FREEMAN. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

NORMAN LESLIE FREEMAN, reporter of the supreme court of Illinois, was born in Cale- 
donia, Livingston county, New York, May 9, 1823, his parents being Truman and Hannah 
(Dow) Freeman, both natives of New Hampshire. Before they left New England, they resided 
for several years at Concord, the capital of that state. Mrs. Freeman was remotely related to 
Lorenzo Dow, an eccentric Methodist preacher, well known in New England fifty years ago. 
Truman Freeman died in 1824, and after that sad calamity the widow, with her young children, 
moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she resided a long time, dying near Ypsilanti in 1872. 

When quite young our subject spent three years in the store of David Cooper, at Detroit, 
Michigan, going thence to Cleveland, Ohio, where he served a few months as clerk, and then be- 
came connected with an academy near that city. He finished his studies at the Ohio University, 
Athens, where among his schoolmates were Hon. Samuel S. Cox, now a congressman from New 
York city; Hon. Milton Latham, ex-governor of California, and Senator Waite of Chicago. At 
the head of that school at that time was William H. McGuffey, LL.D., author of a series of text 
books for schools, and a man of great attainments and worth. 

On completing his studies at Athens Mr. Freeman went to Kentucky, where in Fayette and 
Woodford counties he was engaged in teaching, having among his pupils Frederic H. Winston 
of Chicago, and Hon. J. C. S. Blackburn, now a member of congress from Kentucky. While 
engaged in teaching our subject also studied law; and in order to complete his legal education, 
went to Waterford, New York, in December, 1845, entered the office of Kirtland and Seymour:, 
and in the spring of 1846 returned to Kentucky, was admitted to the bar at Lexington, where he 
had commenced as a teacher, and began practice at Morganfield, Union county, that state. 

In 1 85 1 Mr. Freeman removed to Shawneetown, this state, where, with the exception of a 
short time in Missouri, he remained until 1864, when he settled in Springfield, he having been 
appointed to his present post of reporter for the supreme court the year before. In 1855 he pub- 
lished, in two volumes, "A Digest of the Illinois Reports," first fifteen volumes, and is now on the 
one hundred and sixth volume,* seventy-one of them having been issued by himself. If any other 
American law reporter has published a greater number we do not know his name. Mr. Freeman's 
" Digest" was prepared with a great deal of care, and is very valuable. It did much to establish 
iiis reputation both as a lawyer and author. 

*On the completion of the one hundredth volume (April iS, 1882) the Bar of Sangamon county gave Mr. Freeman 
a dinner, as a testimonial of their appreciation of his work, and it was a very enjoyable occasion. Governor Cullom 
presided and made the opening speech, to which Mr. Freeman responded in a very neat and modest manner. Then 
followed speeches by ex-Governor Palmer, Hon. J. Young Scammon, Hon. James H. Matheny, Hon. James C. Conk- 
ling, and others, all bearing testimony to the high merits of Mr. Freeman's literary labors. 



364 UNITED STATES BFOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

In politics Mr. Freeman was originally a whig, and on the disbanding of that part}', joined 
the democratic, with which he still votes. He is a very quiet man, but does his own thinking, 
and, we surmise, a good deal of it. He is cultivated in manners, as well as in mind, and is an 
instructive and very genial converser. His air and address indicate the scholar, the "book- 
worm." His library, though not large, is choice in selection, and some of its volumes are quite 
rare. More than once the writer of this sketch has stolen in among his books to admire some of 
the more antique tomes, and the elegant jackets of the more modern volumes. One of the most 
venerable works which Mr. Freeman owns is called "Greek Antiquities," published at Oxford, Eng- 
land, in 1597. He has also a quarto edition of the works of Horace Walpole, London, 1798; two 
histories of Virginia published in 1722 and 1S04, both rarely seen now-a-days; a history of France 
in four volumes by M. Bousset, Edinburgh, 1762; "Jefferson's Notes," Philadelphia, 1801; a Lon- 
don edition of "Knickerbocker's History of New York," 1821; "Travels of Sir Henry Holland, 
very rare; a splendid edition of the " Memoirs of the Duke of Sully," in four volumes; Miss Fer- 
rier's novels in three volumes, seldom found in this countrj', and a fine edition of " Boswell's Life 
of Johnson " in ten volumes. He has in rich binding, the Waverley Novels, Dickens, Prescott, 
Motley and scores of other recent authors, American and European, and a man of any literary 
taste can find abundance of both nectar and ambrosia in Mr. Freeman's library. 

While at Morganfield, Union county, in 1849, Mr. Freeman married Tranquilla, daughter of 
Alfred and Elizabeth Dabney (Williamson) Richeson. They lost one daughter in infancy and 
have three daughters and one son living. Mrs. F. is a native of Lynchburgh, Virginia, and a 
woman of more than ordinary natural abilities, and of marked intelligence, keeping well posted 
ou current events. 



LUPPE LUPPEN. 

PEKIN. 

LUPPE LUPPEN, machinist, inventor and manufacturer, is a son of Peter Otten Luppen, 
-/ and Justina (Lutjens) Luppen, and was born in Hanover, Germany, August 20, 1823. He 
received a common education in his youth, and spent some time in Holland, perfecting himself in 
his trade, that of blacksmith and machinist, learning to work in wood and iron of almost every 
description, including the manufacture of pistols, etc. In 1849 Mr. Luppen was married to Miss 
Katharine Conrad (Smith) Luppen, widow of an older brother, and oldest sister of Hon. Dietrich 
C. Smith, late member of congress from the 13th Illinois district; and in 1850 came to Pekin. 
Three brothers-in-law had preceded him and the)' started in the business of wagon and buggy 
making on a very humble scale. The trade grew as the country filled up, and the excellent 
character of their wares became known; the capacity of the shops was enlarged from time 
to time; and now the -firm of T. and H. Smith and Company, composed of Frederick Smith, 
Luppe Luppen, Habbe Velde and Dietrich C. Smith, is giving employment to 150 work- 
men in the manufacture of wagons and carriages, which are of thorough make, and find a 
ready market in the great valley of the Mississippi. The same parties early commenced the 
manufacture of plows, and in September, 1879, organized the Pekin Plow Company, which is 
composed of the same enterprising men. This company also employs about 150 hands, and 
is manufacturing plows and cultivators of various styles, improved by Mr. Luppen, including 
the Luppen combined riding and walking cultivator, the Pekin celestial tongueless cultivator, the 
new wood-beam plow, the new steel-beam plow, the new adjustable lever-lifting spring cultivator, 
the new four hundred pound sulky plow, with or without patent foot lift, the Pekin oscillating 
harrow, etc. Mr. Luppen has more than a dozen patents on different implements; nearly every- 
thing made in either of those great factories is of an improved style from his skillful hand. He 
is a born mechanic and inventor. The articles turned out here, it is safe to say, are second to 
nothing of their kind in the market, and they find a ready sale. 

Mr. Luppen has nothing to do with the sale of the wares made in these shops; his whole time 





^ o^^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. .367 

and his whole thought are given to methods of improvement. When he makes a plow or a cul- 
tivator, for instance, of a new style, he goes into the field and tries it, and keeps trying until he is 
satisfied he has made an improvement. His life is given to study and to experiments, for a truly 
noble purpose, and he is faithfully serving his generation, receiving, meantime, a fair compensa- 
tion for the fruits of his inventive talents. His skill in this respect developed itself at a very 
early age. While other boys were at play he was making articles with the rudest materials. 

He is a member of the grain firm of Smith, Hippin and Company, and of the banking house 
Teis Smith and Company. The senior member of the latter firm, Teis Smith, died in 1870. 

Mr. Luppen is a member of the German Methodist church, a generous supporter of the Gospel, 
and an active and constant participant in Sunday-school and other Christian work. The young 
bride whom he brought to this country in 1850, and with whom he lived in happiness for thirty- 
three years, died in December, 1882, leaving two children. She was a consistent Christian, an affec- 
tionate wife and mother, and her loss was felt in a large circle of the community. 



EDGAR L. PHILLIPS, M.D. 

GALESBURGH. 

ONE of the oldest and most prominent physicians and surgeons in the city of Galesburgh is 
the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, and who was born in Orange county. New 
York, April 5, 1827. His father was William Phillips, who was a farmer and manufacturer and a 
soldier in the war of 1812-14, and colonel of a regiment of the state militia, and his mother was 
Sarah Evertson, a native of Dutchess county. New York. Edgar prepared for college at Lee, 
Massachusetts, and South Middletown, New York; entered Williams College, Massachusetts, in 
1844, and on account of his father's death left at the end of the second term, senior year. 

In 1848 our subject came to Illinois; read medicine at Fairview, Fulton county; attended lec- 
tures at Cleveland, Ohio, studying at the same time in the office of Professor Delamater; in 1852 
went to California with his older brother, N. E. Phillips, and was in practice there about two 
years, returning in 1855. 

He now attended lectures in the Saint Louis Medical College; received the degree of doctor 
of medicine in the spring of 1856, and opened an office at Knoxville, five miles from Galesburgh. 
In i860, his health being poor, he went to Pottawattamie county, Iowa, where he owned land, and 
spent two seasons in cultivating the soil, and received considerable benefit. 

In 1862 Doctor Phillips went into the army as first assistant surgeon of the 91st Illinois 
infantry, which was sent to Kentucky, and was captured by General Morgan in December, 1862, 
and after being paroled was sent to Benton Barracks, Saint Louis. The regiment was exchanged 
the next summer, and was at Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Carrollton, Louisiana, etc. Before the 
close of 1863 the health of our subject failed, and he resigned and returned to Knox county. He 
was on a farm between Knoxville and Galesburgh for one season, and in 1865 settled in the latter 
place, and resumed practice. The experience which he had in the army as a surgeon was a good 
school to him, and has no doubt added to his popularity, he having an excellent standing in the 
community, both as a physician and surgeon. He is a member of the board of examiners for 
pensions. 

Doctor Phillips belongs to the Military Tract Medical Society, and to the American Medical 
Association, and has all the transactions of the latter society for the last ten years. He keeps 
well posted in medical science. 

The doctor has taken the council degrees in Freemasonry, and at the time this sketch is written 
is high priest of Galesburgh Chapter. His politics are republican. In May, 1857, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Mary L. Sanburn, of Knoxville, and they have two sons and two daughters: John 
S. is a graduate of Knox College, Galesburgh, and one of the editors of the "Wheelman," a 
37 



^68 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

bicycle paper, Boston, Massachusetts; Edgar E, is a printer, Galesburgli, and thie two daughters, 
Elizabeth and Julia, are at home. 

While in Williams College Doctor Phillips was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society, and, 
from a volume containing brief sketches of the members of that society, we have gathered por- 
tions of the data for this notice of the doctor. 



ROBERT M. M.vcARTHUR, M.D. 

OTTAWA. 

THE subject of this sketch is a native of Ayrshire, Scotland, a son of Alexander and Jane 
(Cook) MacArthur, and was born March 4, 1825. Robert received part of his education in 
Scotland; came to this country in 1842; finished his literary studies in Aurora, Illinois, and Oberlin, 
Ohio, and his medical at Rush Medical College, Chicago, receiving his diploma in February, 1854. 
He married that year at Aurora, Illinois, Miss Martha Hard, and settled at Ottawa, in La Salle 
county, where he has been in active practice for nearly thirty years. For nearly three years of 
that time (1862-65) he was surgeon of the board of enrollment of his congressional district, hold- 
ing that post, and discharging its duties with ability and eminent satisfaction, until the close of 
the civil war. He is secretary of the United States examining board of surgeons for pensions, 
and the regular appointed surgeon of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad for Ottawa 
and adjoining towns. 

Doctor MacArthur was county coroner for ten years, a member of the board of education 
three terms, and is now serving as the health officer of the city. His practice is large, and he 
is one of the busiest men in Ottawa. The people have great confidence in his skill, as well as 
great respect for him as a citizen. He writes occasionally an article for some medical periodical. 

He was president of the alumni association of Rush Medical College for the years 1879-80, 
and in retiring from the position, which he filled with ability, delivered the annual address, which 
was rich in original matter, and gave evidence that he was abreast of the times in the progress of 
scientific thought. Upon the hypothesis of evolution, while discussing some phases of the prob- 
lem of life in its relations to the practice of medicine, he struck the key-note of pathological sci- 
ence in attributing the origin and propagation of disease to a combination of molecular matter 
by certain correlation of forces. 

The doctor has a good deal of literary taste and cultivation, and has evidently studied the art 
of putting things, his style being vigorous and forcible, and marked with the finest graces of 
rhetoric. It is a pity he could not find time to write more on miscellaneous subjects. 

He is a republican, and in his younger years was active in the party interests; never, how- 
ever, so much as to interfere with his professional duties. He is a Knight Templar, and past 
commander of Ottawa Commandery, No. 10. The issue of the doctor's marriage, already men- 
tioned, is one son, Wallace, who died in his fourth year, and two daughters, Jessie Wallace and 
Alice Ella. 

WILLIAM H. H. ADAMS, D.D. 

BLOOMINGTON. 
ILLIAM HENRY HARRISON ADAMS, president of the Illinois Wesleyan University, 



w 



is a native of Effingham county, this state, and was born March 30, 1840. His father, 
Christopher B. Adams, was born in Xenia, Ohio, and his mother, whose maiden name was Sarah 
E. Gannaway, was a native of Kentucky, her family moving to that state from Virginia. " Par- 
son " Brownlow was the son of a sister of our subject's maternal grandfather. This branch of 
the Adams family came from England to this country during the revolutionary war, and the 
grandfather of Christopher B. Adams shouldered his musket in the cause of independence, and 
was wounded in one of the battles ot that war. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 369 

When our subject was five years old the family moved to Coles county, and settled on a farm 
five miles south of Mattoon, where William had an opportunity to develop his muscle quite as 
much as his mind, being early accustomed to all kinds of farm work. In the summer of 1862 he 
raised a company for the iiith Illinois infantry; went in as a private in company A, to which he 
had promised all the offices; at the end of six months was put in charge of the contrabands; 
commenced drilling them immediately, before any orders had been issued for arming that class 
of men, and he equipped the first company of colored troops who went into the service, he taking 
command of them. They were in the 4th United States artillery, doing mainly garrison duty on 
the Ohio and Mobile railroad, and serving until the close of the war. 

Captain Adams finished his education at the Northwestern University, at Evanston, near Chi- 
cago, receiving the degrees of bachelor of arts and bachelor of divinity from that institution in 
1870, master of arts in 1873, and doctor of divinity in 1876. He was pastor of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church at Monticello, Illinois, two years, of the Clinton church three years, and was 
appointed president of the Illinois Wesleyan University in August, 1875. His chair is that of 
moral philosophy and metaphysics. 

When our subject became president the University was heavily in debt, which he reduced 
$50,000 in five or six years, leaving less than $g,ooc, which will no doubt be canceled before this 
work is out of press. In grateful acknowledgment of his services in this direction, the trustees of 
the University sent President Adams to the old world in 1880, he visiting the larger portion of 
the countries of Europe, and returning greatly refreshed and invigorated in body and mind. 

President Adams was first married in 1861, to Miss Sarah E. Campbell, daughter of Silas 
Campbell, of Coles county, she dying in January, 1866; and the second time in August, 1867, to 
Miss Hannah C. Conkling, daughter of J. W. Conkling, of Plymouth, Ohio. He had two children 
by the first wife, both dying in infancy, and has four by the second. 



EDMUND B. HANNA. 

CHICAGO. 

THIS gentleman is of Scotch descent. His grandfather, Andrew Hanna, came from Scotland 
in an early day, and settled in New York. His mother's father was General Miles, of revo- 
lutionary fame. His parents were Samuel C, and Susan R. (Miles) Hanna. He was an exten- 
sive farmer in Spring Mills, Center county, Pennsylvania, and an active temperance reformer 
even at that early day. Strong drink never passed his lips. Edmund was born in Spring Mills, 
February 19, 1828, and graduated from the Bellfonte Academy, carrying off the highest prize for 
mathematics. He soon after found employment as clerk in a dry goods store in Center county, 
owned by Irvin and Thomas, the late Judge S. B. Thomas, of Morris, Illinois. He subsequently 
kept books for General James Irvin, of Milesburgh, Pennsylvania, and after a few years entered 
into the iron and mercantile business himself, in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. From there he 
moved to Petersburgh, Ohio, and thence to Morris, Illinois, in June, 1853, with a stock of goods, 
following trade in both places. He continued in trade in Morris for a number of years; was 
appointed postmaster by Abraham Lincoln, April 22, 1861, during his first term, and when the 
district was represented by Lovejoy in congress; he held the office till June 30, 1871, a period of 
over ten years, the longest term of any incumbent since the establishment of the office. He was 
for several \'ears mayor of Morris, and the last republican mayor holding office in that town. 
During the war he was a very active man, promoting the interests of the government at home, 
and caring for the necessities of the boys in the army. 

June 4, 1855, he was married to Miss Irrilla B. Hicks, the youngest daughter of Joseph Hicks, 
of Belmont county, Ohio, by whom he has had two children, a daughter, now happily married, 
and a son sixteen years old, in school at Lake Forest, Illinois. 

In 1871 he came to Chicago, one day after the great fire, and is now engaged in the manufac- 



\ 



370 UNITED STATES BIOGRAEHICAL DICT/O.VARY. 

ture of mineral paint in Chicago, and also in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The style of the firm is 
Matteson Brothers and Company, North Branch and Bliss streets, Chicago, and they turn out two 
or three thousand tons of paint yearly. 

Mr. Hanna is still a republican, but no longer an active man in politics. He is a Master 
Mason and an Odd FeHow by turns and a good fellow all the time. In personal appearance he is 
tall and commanding, six feet in his stockings, and weighs one hundred and sixty-five pounds 
avoirdupois. He is a blonde, with the kindest clear blue eyes; he is affable and very agreeable, 
and makes one immediately at home. He is frank and gentle spoken, and shows a native kind- 
ness of heart in every motion. He is a good business man and stands high in Chicago. 



GENERAL FREDERICK W. PARTRIDGE. 

S YCAMORE. 

FREDERICK WILLIAM PARTRIDGE, formerly consul at Bangkok, Siam, is a son of Cyrus 
and Mary (Loveland) Partridge, and was born at Norvi-ich, Vermont, August 19, 1824. His 
father, who was born in the same town, was a captain under General Scott at the battle of 
Lundy's Lane, and died at Norwich. Frederick was educated at the military school in his native 
town and at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, leaving the latter institution at the 
close of the freshman year on account of the death of his father. In 1845 he went to Pennsyl- 
vania to take charge of the Harrisburgh Military Academy, in which he was eminently successful 
as an educator, and where he remained until the Mexican war broke out. He raised a company 
at Harrisburgh, and in January, 1847, entered the United States army, being sent by the war office 
as a secret agent to Mexico. Having performed that delicate mission, he left the military service 
in the summer of 1847, and settled in Kendall county, Illinois, where he was engaged in farming 
for seven or eight years. 

Before leaving New England our subject commenced the study of law at Concord, New Hamp- 
shire, in the office of ex-President Pierce, and he finished with Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, of Chicago, 
and in 1857 we find him at the new town of Sandwich, De Kalb county, busily engaged in the 
practice of his profession. Meanwhile he was ver\- much interested in politics. Originally he 
was a democrat of strong free-soil proclivities, and naturally broke away from that party when it 
sold out to the slave power. He joined the great party of freedom, and in i860 worked zealously 
for the election of Mr. Lincoln. 

From a sketch of Mr. Partridge in "Our Representatives Abroad," published in 1874, it is 
stated that he probably raised the first volunteer three years' company in the United States — 
company E of the 13th Illinois infantry — which company he commanded for a long time under 
the commission of a senior captain, and which regiment was the first raised for three years' ser- 
vice during the war. Major Partridge was wounded at Chickasaw Bayou, Mississippi; Chatta- 
nooga, Tennessee, and Ringgold Gap, Georgia, having, previous to the last two battles, been pro- 
moted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel; and for extraordinary good conduct he was breveted 
colonel at Missionary Ridge, and brigadier-general at Ringgold Gap. In the official report of 
these two battles honorable mention is made of him and his regiment. 

In July, 1864, he was mustered out with the gallant and sadly decimated 13th, and he resumed 
the practice of his profession at Sandwich, where he still held the office of postmaster. He was 
soon afterward elected clerk of the circuit court and (x-officio recorder, and moved to Sycamore, 
the county seat. At the end of four years, when his term expired (in April, 1868), he was 
appointed by President Grant consul at Bangkok, where he remained for nearly eight years, mak- 
ing a praiseworthy record in this official capacity. 

He was there in the autumn of 1869 when two native converts to the Christian religion 
were killed by the King of Cheangmai, a tributary of Siam, who ordered the missionaries to 
leave the country, at the same time proceeding to decapitate all native converts to Christianity 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 371 

whom he could find. As soon as he heard of these butcheries and orders, General Partridge 
addressed a note to the regent of Siam, and demanded that these Americans, who had been 
invited to Cheangmai by its king, and who were pursuing their high calling under the treaty, 
should be protected, both in their person and property. Subsequently the king visited the court 
of Bangkok, and our alert and efficient consul, seeing his opportunity, placed the option before 
tlie Siamese government of granting protection to the Americans at Cheangmai or admitting 
that that country was independent of Siam, thereby allowing him to treat with the savage king 
of Cheangmai. This step immediately wrenched from the Siamese government a treaty giving 
])rotection to the missionaries and all other Americans residing at Cheangmai. So successful was 
General Partridge in this matter that the secretary of state at Washington, Hon. Hamilton Fish, 
sent him an autograph letter, not only of approval, but of congratulation. 

Prior to our subject's appointment to Siam our country had been represented by acting con- 
suls, that is, missionaries from the United States, who made the interests of our country second- 
ary to those of missions. The result was that the United States consulate had not much prestige, 
the English influence dominating everything foreign in Siam. But General Partridge soon caused 
our consulate to be not only respected, but feared in that country. 

While at Bangkok General Partridge made the Siamese government promptly conform to all 
the stipulations of treaties with other powers. When the Siamese seized an American schooner 
for an alleged infraction of the Siamese revenue laws, he promptly laid the affair before our gov- 
ernment, and finding that the Siamese were averse to making apologies or paying damages, he 
caused an American war vessel to appear off their coast, and that brought them to terms. 

While consul to Siam our subject took the opportunity to see something of Asia, traveling 
mainly on elephants, being nearly a month at a time on the back of one of these animals. He 
visited those most extraordinary ruins of Nakon-Wat, at Siam-Rap, in Cambodia, and the great 
city of Ongchor, together with many other points of interest in that quarter of the earth. 

When he finally left Bangkok, July 4, 1876, he crossed British India, came through the Isthmus 
of Suez, saw a great deal of Europe, reached this country in October, visited the centennial expo- 
sition, and arrived at his home in Sycamore just in time to vote for Hayes and Wheeler. He was 
a thoroughly traveled and thoroughly fatigued man. He has seen a great deal of this round 
globe, and we doubt if he desires to ever go wholly over the ground again. The general is a 
well informed man, and is unusually interesting in conversation. 

General Partridge married IVIiss Mary Uitchner Combs Paullin, of East Aurora, Erie county. 
New York, in 1852. This lady died, universally lamented, September 20, 1882. They have had 
six children. Only two are now living. 



HON. JOHN PORTER. 

MONMOUTH. 

THE subject of this sketch is an attorney-at-law, and was for many j-ears judge of Warren 
county. He is a self-educated man, and whatever success he has had in life he owes to the 
achievements of his own hands and intellectual attainments. He is a native of Huntingdon 
county, Pennsylvania, and was born in the township of Henderson, April 27, 1824. His father 
was James Porter, of Scotch-Irish parentage, born in Ireland, coming to this country in early 
childhood, and being reared in the Juniata Valley, Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Wraj-, a 
native of Pennsylvania. Her grandfather, Joseph Douglas, of the Douglas family of Scotland, 
was in the French and Indian war, and was wounded at Kittanning. 

Our subject was reared on his father's farm until eighteen years of age, attending a country 
school meantime during the winter term. At the age just mentioned he commenced learning the 
bricklayer's trade, at which he worked for five seasons, teaching school during the winters, and 
while thus engaged making greater progress, as we once heard him say, than when a student. 



372 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

In January, 1847, he married Miss Mary E. Robb, of Huntingdon county, and was engaged in 
farming at the East until 1850, when he came to Ogle county, Illinois. .There he worked a few 
months at his trade, taught school the following winter in that county, and in the spring of 185 1 
bought a farm in Sumner township, Warren county. He improved it until the spring of 1858, 
when he moved into the city of Monmouth, the county seat, he having been elected county 
judge the year before to fill a vacancy. In the autumn of 1857 he was reelected for four years, 
and also in the autumn of 1861, he holding that office for nine consecutive years. 

During that period he also studied law, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1863. On 
leaving the bench he devoted himself entirely to the practice of the legal profession, at which he 
has made a success. He is a well read lawyer, a man of sterling integrity, a wise and prudent 
counselor, and excels in chancery business. 

In 1868 Judge Porter was elected to the legislature, and served through the twenty-sixth gen- 
eral assembly. He introduced the bill, which became a law, making drunkenness ground for 
appointing a guardian. He was originally a democrat, following the lead of Judge Douglas. He 
joined the republican party on the breaking out of civil war; has been active in local politics, and 
has attended a number of state conventions, being, in fact, quite a prominent and influential man 
in his party. His religious connection is with the Presbyterian Church, of which he is an elder. 
He is a Royal Arch Mason and an Odd-Fellow. 

Mr. and Mrs. Porter have buried one son, and have seven children living, three sons and four 
daughters: Silas is a lawyer, in partnership with his father; Sarah P. is the wife of Thomas Dono- 
hue, banker of Belle Plain, Kansas; Nannie is the wife of G. F. Butler, druggist, same place; 
James R. and Charles are in Colorado; Mary L. is the wife of J. W. Brook, a farmer and stock 
raiser of Henderson county, Illinois, and Ella is with her parents. 



JOHN F. POWELL. 

WAVKEGAN. 

JOHN FROST POWELL, manufacturer, and, at the time of writing, mayor of the city of Wau- 
kegan, was born in Chicago, August 29, 1837, when that city was half the size of the one over 
whose municipal interests he now presides. His father was George N. Powell, a native of New 
York state, a hotel-keeper and farmer, dying in Chicago of the cholera more than thirty years ago. 
Mrs. Powell is still living, her home being in Chicago. John F. is the oldest child in a family of 
five children, only tvvo of them besides himself now living. He received a little mental drill in the 
public schools of Chicago, but is largely self-educated; farmed to some extent prior to 1858, when 
he commenced the manufacture of pumps on Milwaukee avenue, near the city limits. 

In October, 1869, he moved to Waukegan, continuing the manufacture of wood pumps — the 
"Star" — and adding the "Champion" windmill, " Shatswell " patent door and window screens, 
the "Boss" sickle grinder, etc. 

In 1877 Robert J. Douglas, son of Robert Douglas, the nurseryman, became a partner of our 
subject, and the firm of Powell and Douglas employs from sixty to seventy men the year round, 
and are turning out a very popular class of pumps, windmills, screens, and foundry and hardware 
specialties generally. There is a good demand for everything they make, and they are running 
the largest manufactory of any kind in Waukegan, being public-spirited as well as enterprising 
citizens. 

For some time they were greatly cramped for want of room, but in 1S80 they had their new 
shops completed, and moved into them, and now have conveniences for working a hundred men. 
An artesian well supplies the works, and water is conveyed to every part of the buildings, with 
the best of conveniences for extinguishing fires. Side tracks connect the works with the North- 
western railroad, and tiie facilities for shipping are the very best. The firm must be doing very 
near, perhaps fully, $200,000 per }'ear. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ^73 

Mr. Douglas is also a member of the firm of Robert Douglas and Son, who are proprietors of 
the largest evergreen and forest tree nurseries i-n this country, and he is a public-spirited man. 

Mr. Powell held the office of school director two or three terms while a resident of Chicago, 
and since settling in Waukegan there has been quite as much demand for his services in the 
municipality, we doubt not, as he cares about rendering. After representing the fourth ward for 
six years as alderman he was elected, in March, 1881, to the office of mayor, and makes a popular 
official in that position, his business capacities being first-class. 

Mayor Powell is a Knight Templar in the Masonic fraternity, but holds, we believe, no office 
in the order. His wife was Marceleen Arno, a native of the province of Quebec, married in 1S59. 
They have nine children, five sons and four daughters. 



EZRA MAY. 

BELVIDERE. 



THE progenitor of the May family in this country, of which the subject of this sketch is a 
descendant, was John May, who was born in England in 1590, and who commanded the 
James, a vessel which sailed between London and New England. He settled at Jamaica Plain, 
near Boston, in 1635, only five years after the settlement of that city, and only fifteen after the 
landing of the Plymouth colony. The grandfather of our subject was Colonel Ezra May, who 
came through what is known as the Woodstock (Connecticut) branch of the family, where Nehe-' 
miah May settled about 1730. Colonel May moved to Goshen, Massachusetts, cleared the May 
farm there, and was a leading man of the place as long as he lived. He was one of the founders 
of the church at Chesterfield, adjoining Goshen, and was prominent in ecclesiastical as well as muni- 
cipal matters. He was a member of the provincial congress; had command of the 2d Hampshire 
regiment in the war for independence; was at White Plains, Stillwater and Saratoga; had at one 
time charge of the sick in an army hospital, and finally died, from shear exhaustion, in the ser- 
vice of the colonies, before the war closed. He was the only attendant in the hospital who did 
not have the smallpox, and his cares, responsibilities and anxieties were too much for him. He 
died at Goshen in January, 1778, in the forty-seventh year of his age, and is there interred in the 
old burying-ground. His memory is sacredly cherished by his descendants, who are justly proud 
of his patriotic history and self-sacrificing life. Colonel Nehemiah May, an uncle of our subject, 
was also a revolutionary officer. 

The father of our subject was Calvin May, who was born at Goshen in 1765; was educated at 
Yale College, being graduated in the first class; became a leading physician and surgeon in that 
part of the country, being widely known and warmly esteemed, holding the office of justice of the 
peace, under appointment of the government, through all his later years and until his death, 
which occurred January 23, 1842. Calvin May married Mary Hj^att, a native of Charlestown, 
Massachusetts, and she died in Belvidere in 1856. 

Ezra May, the seventh child of Calvin and Mary May, was born at Phillipsburgh, Lower Can- 
ada, November 6, 1813. He received a common English education, and farmed at the East until 
1836, when he came as far west as Michigan City, Indiana, where he was engaged in hotel keep- 
ing for a few years, removing thence to Cherry Valley, Winnebago county, Illinois, in 1839. 
There he devoted himself to agricultural pursuits for seven or eight years; then moved into 
Boone county (1847), opening a general store at Belvidere, and keeping it for five or six years, 
when he changed to dry goods, and added a distillery. Subsequently he was in the milling busi- 
ness, and through all these years was farming more or less, mainly by proxy. He has a dozen 
farms or more, which, with one exception, are carried on by tenants, all these farms within five 
miles of the city of Belvidere, and aggregating 2,400 acres. It is noteworthy that in all his enter- 
prises and various branches of industry, Mr. May has never had a serious set-back; has nlways 
been a careful and shrewd manager, attending strictly to his business. 



374 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



He has held different local offices, such as school director, trustee of the town, etc., and has 
always taken a deep interest in any movement tending to benefit the place or the people, and is 
looked upon as one of the old land-marks of Belvidere. Mr. May has always been interested in 
political affairs; was originally a whig, and since the dissolution of that party has usually voted 
the democratic ticket. In religious belief he is an Episcopalian, and his moral character is unim- 
peachable and elevated. 

He married, in February, 1841, Miss Louisa Newton May, a daughter of his cousin. Deacon 
Ezra May, one of the founders of the Presbyterian Church in Belvidere, and of eight children, 
the fruits of this union, six are still living. The oldest, Ella A., is married to Arthur R. Olney, 
wholesale druggist, Clinton, Iowa; Florence, to Brayton W. Smith, of Jacksonville, Illinois; Ezra 
is at Los Angeles, California; Clara H. is keeping house for her father, and Calvin Dexter and 
Stephen Arnold Douglas are students in the University of Michigan. 

Mrs. May died September 19, 1862, — a very serious loss alike to the husband, the family, and 
the communit)^ She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church till her last sickness, and 
was deeply lamented by her co-workers in Christian and benevolent circles, and by the poor, to 
whom she was always a warm friend. 

Mr. May is a cousin of General Nathaniel Lyon, who fell bravely fighting for his country at 
Wilson's Creek, Missouri, in the summer of 1861, and whose family in England has been promi- 
nent for two or three centuries, the present Earl of Strathorne being one of its members. 



HON. MATTHEW HENRY PETERS. 

WATSEKA. 

THE subject of this sketch is preeminently a self-made man, whose life history illustrates in a 
marked degree what may be accomplished by native force of character. Beginning his life 
in the humblest obscurity, left an orphan at a tender age, pinched by poverty, and compelled to 
buffet with the most humiliating adversity, he has, by the power of his own manliness, risen 
proudly above every obstacle, and now, in the prime of his manhood, stands a fair type of Amer- 
ican energy and enterprise. His life is marked by proud success, the result of his own effort. A 
native of Rhenish Bavaria, he was born June 6, 1843, and while a babe was brought to America 
by his parents, who settled at New Orleans. There his mother soon afterward died, and her 
death being almost immediately followed by the death of his two sisters, his father, with two 
small boys, was left a stranger in a strange land, very poor, and unable to speak the language of 
the people. Yet greater misfortunes awaited them. The father died of yellow fever, and our 
subject and his younger brother, Samuel, were left homeless and friendless. Samuel was placed 
in an orphan asylum, and Matthew was taken in charge by an acquaintance, who, under the pre- 
text of providing the boy a home, subjected him to the most inhuman treatment and to a life of 
abject servitude. In the shop of his cruel master the boy was forced to work from early morn 
till ten and eleven o'clock at night, Sundays not excepted, and was allowed as his food a slice of 
bread three times a day. Not content with this, the inhuman wretch would even force the boy 
to steal, and if unsuccessful in his thieving, he was unmercifully beaten for his failure. 

In 1855, when about twelve years old, although nearly dead from starvation and cruel treat- 
ment, the manhood of the boy asserted itself, and he resolved to endure such a life no longer. 
Rising early one morning, he betook himself to another part of the city, sleeping at night wher- 
ever he could find a shelter to crawl into, and during the day picking up whatever he could sell 
to the junk dealers, and subsisting on food gathered from the refuse of the hotels or picked up 
from the gutters. But brighter days were at hand. In March, 1855, he secured employment with 
the cook on board a Mississippi boat, an event which proved the turning point in his life. Here 
he met Henry S. Roberts, a gentleman who was traveling, and who, attracted by his bright look, 
learned with interest his history, and took him with him to his own home in the state of Ohio. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. T^JJ 

Upon the death of his benefactor, which occurred soon afterward, Matthew was left in care of 
Mr. Roberts' widowed mother, whose motherly kindness toward the boy in after years found a 
full recompense, he having provided her a home in her old age where she has every comfort, and 
is loved and treated with true filial devotion. 

During the next five years young Peters was employed in farm work, improving all his spare 
time in study, often poring over his books until late at night, and in i860 had made such progress 
and was so well informed that he began teaching, meeting with good success. 

At the opening of the war of the rebellion, at the first call for volunteers he responded, and 
April 23, 1861, enlisted as a private in company E, i6th regiment Ohio infantry. After the expi- 
ration of his term of enlistment, he, in December, 1861, reenlisted in the 74th Ohio regiment, 
under Granville Moody, known as the fighting parson. Here he was made sergeant, and soon 
after was chosen lieutenant of his company, and commissioned January 7, 1862. December 31 
following. Lieutenant Peters was so severely wounded at the battle of Stone River, Tennessee, 
that he was deserted on the field by his comrades as past help. He, however, recovered, and 
passed througfi the war, enduring its hardships and sharing in its triumphs. When General 
Sherman started on his march to Atlanta, it began with a skirmish at Tunnel Hill, and was a 
continual battle for one hundred days before Atlanta fell. Early in the campaign, Peters, who 
had been made adjutant of the regiment, was struck by a shot while charging a rebel battery on 
Buzzard Roost Mountain. This was May 9, 1864. July 13 following, he was promoted to the 
rank of captain, for gallant and meritorious services. When sufficiently recovered from his 
wounds to walk by the aid of a cane, he rejoined his regiment at Savannah, Georgia, and until 
the close of the war was'constantly in the field. Not to recount the numerous battles in which 
he participated, with his many almost miraculous escapes, the proudest day of his military career 
was at the grand review of the armies at Washington, May 24 and 25, 1865, when he was detailed 
by General George P. Buell, commander of the brigade, on his staff as assistant inspector general. 
Captain Peters served in this capacity until notified that his regiment was to be mustered out, 
when he asked to be relieved, that he might join his comrades on their homeward march. He 
was mustered out of the service July 12, 1865, but not until he had been commissioned major of 
his regiment. 

In 1866 Major Peters settled at Watseka, Illinois, and engaged in the hardware trade, but 
finding it unsuited to his tastes, he soon sold it, and in 1867 opened the first book and stationery 
store in Watseka. ' This business he conducted with marked success until November, 1879, when 
he turned it over to his faithful clerk, who had been with him over ten years. Within this period, 
(in December, 1872), he took charge of the Iroquois '' Times," and managed it for eighteen months, 
during which time it became a widely circulated and influential paper. This he sold out in 1S74, 
but bought it again four years later, and is now (1882) its editor and proprietor. 

In 1875 Major Peters was elected mayor of Watseka, and in 1877 was reelected to the same 
oflice to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Franklin Blades, who had resigned to accept the judge- 
ship. In politics he was, prior to 1872, a republican, following the teachings of Horace Greeley, 
whom he had been taught from his first arrival in the North to honor and respect. 

In 1S78 he was elected to the state legislature on the national ticket, and from the active and 
prominent part which he took in the thirty-first general assembly, gained the high esteem of his 
fellow members and the fullest confidence and respect of his constituents. 

Since becoming a resident of Watseka he has been particularly active in military affairs, and 
in 1874 was mainly instrumental in organizing the first military company of Iroquois county, and 
elected captain of the same; and when the military code of Illinois became a law, and the various 
companies of the state were organized into regiments and battalions, the Watseka Rifles were 
designated company A, 9th battalion Illinois National Guards, and Captain Peters was elected to 
command the battalion, with the title and rank of colonel. 

Colonel Peters has taken a high stand in the Odd-Fellows' order, often representing his lodge 
and encampment in the grand lodge; he is also a prominent member of the Knights of Honor, 
38 



278 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

having represented the Grand Lodge of Illinois in the Supreme Lodge of the United States three 
years. The secret of his success is to be found in his untiring industry, energy and enterprise. 
As a citizen he is public-spirited; as a business man prompt and upright; while in his private life 
and character he is open-hearted, generous, and true to every noble impulse. 

June 19, 1867, he was married to Miss Clara M. Lyon, at Sycamore, Illinois, a lady of rare 
accomplishments and culture, kind, active and energetic, a fit companion for our worthy subject. 

Such is a brief outline of the life of one whose career has been rife with thrilling incidents, 
and vi'ho, now in the prime of his manhood, enjoys the well earned fruits of his successes, and who, 
with his clear record of the past, may confidently and hopefully look to the future. 



JAMES MONTGOMERY, M.D. 

MARSEILLES. 

THE gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch is the oldest medical 
practitioner at Marseilles, and has a highly creditable standing in his profession. His birth 
is dated in Jefferson county, Ohio, July 28, 1S36, he being a son of Hugh and Matilda (Shane) 
Montgomer)'. His grandfather, John Montgomery, was from the Nortli of Ireland, and settled in 
Jefferson county near the close of the last century. His mother was of German lineage. James 
received an academic education in his native county; was reared on his father's farm until past 
twenty years of age; read medicine at Knoxville, Ohio, with Doctor George D, Hamilton; at- 
tended lectures at the College of Medicine and Surgery, Cincinnati; received the degree of doctor 
of medicine in 1862; practiced two years in Jefferson county, near where he was born; came to 
Illinois in 1864, and practiced in Peoria county until the autumn of 18C7, and then settled in his 
present home. 

Doctor Montgomery attends ver}' closely to his professional duties, which are usually quite 
exacting on his time and energies, and has long had a first-class general practice. He is very 
prompt to obey calls, careful in making his prescriptions, and equally careful to keep himself 
well posted in medical science. He seems to full)' realize that this is a progressive age, and that 
if he would keep abreast of it he must give his leisure hours to hard study. 

The doctor is interested in the cause of education, and since settling in Marseilles has held 
the office of school director a few terms, — the only civil or municipal office, we believe, which he 
deeemed it best to accept. He is a republican and a Master Mason; a man of fine social quali- 
ties and gentlemanly bearing, and is well qualified to multiply friends. 

He married, in 1857, Miss Rebecca Swickard, a native of Jefferson county, Ohio, and they lost 
one son in infancy, and have five children living. The family attend the Universalist church. 



HON. ROBERT H. McCLELLAN. 

GALENA. 

ROBERT H. McCLELLAN, president of the National Bank of Galena, and for many years 
one of the leading citizens of this city, was born in Hebron, Washington county. New York, 
January 3, 1823. His father, Colonel William McClellan, was born in the same county, and his 
grandfather, Robert McClellan, was from Kirkudbright, Scotland, coming to this country in 1775, 
the year that the colonies took up arms against the mother country. He was too young to take 
part in that war. The mother of our subject was Margaret Randies, who was also a native of 
Washington county. Both parents died, one in 1872, the other in 1880. 

Mr. McClellan prepared for college at Argyle and Cambridge, in his native county; entered 
Ihiion College, Schenectady, in 1846, and graduated in the class of '47; taught in the academy 
one year at Argyle; read law with Hon. Martin I. Townsend, of Troy, New York; was admitted 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 379 

to the bar at Albany in 1850; came to Galena that year; edited the Galena "Gazette" for some 
six months, during the absence of the editor, the late H. H, Haughton; opened a law office, and 
has been in the practice of liis profession here for more than thirty years, making a success almost 
from the start. 

Mr. McClellan has been attorney for the Illinois Central Railway Company at this end of the 
road ever since it was surveyed, in 1852, and has been president of the National Bank of Galena 
since it was organized, in 1865. Under his supervision it has been managed with great prudence, 
and is one of the most solid institutions of the kind in northwestern Illinois. Mr. McClellan is a 
director of the Hanover Manufacturing Company, which is engaged in manufacturing cloth and 
flour, and also of the Hanover Pulp Company, two flourishing enterprises in the southwestern 
part of Jo Daviess county. 

He was a member of the state legislature in 1861, attending what is known as the war session. 
He was elected to the upper house of the legislature in 1876, and in that body was chairman of 
the revenue committee, and did a large part of the work of that committee. He was also chair- 
man of the joint committee of the two houses on the same subject. He was one of the working 
members of the senate in the two sessions which he attended, and made an honorable record. In 
politics Mr. McClellan was originally a whig, and has been an unwavering republican since that 
part\' was organized. He is a member and one of the most liberal supporters of the South Pres- 
byterian church. 

Mr. McClellan first married in Boston, in 1858, Miss Caroline L. Sanford, a native of Albany, 
New York, she dying in Galena in February, 1876, leaving five children; and the second time, in 
1879, Mrs. C. D. (Denison) Garfield, daughter of Doctor Denison, of Royalton, Vermont. 



HON. JOSEPH H. MAYBORNE. 

GENEVA. 

JOSEPH HAYWARD MAYBORNE, one of the oldest lawyers in Kane county, and lately 
state senator from the fourteenth district, is a native of the county of Kent, England, dating 
his birth at Dover, March 31, 1822. His father, William Mayborne, was chief gamekeeper for 
Lord Liverpool, having the oversight of a large number of men who were thus employed by his 
lordship. The Maybornes were of Huguenot descent, and fled from France about the time of 
the massacre of Saint Bartholomew. William Mayborne married Elizabeth Parsons, whose father 
was a captain, engaged in the East India trade; and in 1825 the family came to New York city, 
and after spending two or three years there and in Rochester, settled in the town of Sherman, 
Chautauqua county, where Joseph was educated. He commenced reading law with Judge James 
Mullet, of Fredonia; finished with Richard P. Marvin, of Jamestown, and was admitted to the 
bar at Mayville in 1844. 

After practicing a few months in Chautauqua county, in the spring of 1846 Mr. Mayborne 
came as far west as Chicago, then a very uninviting field for settlement. He remained there 
until the autumn of 1848, when he moved to Geneva, where he has been in the constant practice 
of his profession, with the exception of three years spent in the service of his country. In Janu- 
ary, 1863, Mr. Mayborne went into the army as paymaster, with the rank of major; was breveted 
lieutenant-colonel October 16, 1865, and was mustered out of the service at his own request, Jan- 
uary 2, 1866. 

On leaving the army. Colonel Mayborne (usually called Major among his neighbors) resumed 
the law practice, and is doing business in all the courts in this section. An old acquaintance of 
Mr. Mayborne thus speaks of him as a lawyer and citizen: 

"I have been acquainted with Hon. Joseph H. Mayborne for thirty years and upward, during 
a large portion of which period he has been a practicing attorney in the courts over which I have 
presided. As a lawyer he stands in the front rank; as a citizen he has the universal respect and 
confidence of his neighbors and friends." 



380 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

In politics he was originally a whig, and a great admirer of Henrj- Clay, and he attended the 
first meeting in Kane county for the organization of the republican party, held at Aurora in Sep- 
tember, 1854. From that day he has been an unwavering and active member of that party, being 
most of the time, from 1855 to 1862, chairman of the central county committee, and in 1872 a del- 
egate to the national convention which met in Philadelphia, and renominated President Grant. 
For many years he has been a very influential member of his party, and in 1876 was elected to 
the state senate, in which body he served his constituents and the commonwealth in a highly 
creditable manner for the term of four years. During the second session, when the republicans 
had control of the senate, he was chairman of the committee on charitable institutions. He also 
served on the committees on the judiciary, railroad, education, library, appropriations, and the 
miscellaneous committee. 

Our subject married, December 24, 1846, Miss Theresa Johnson, of Blackberry, Kane county, 
and they have four children, all daughters, and all at home. 



HENRY A. MIX, M.D. 

OREGON. 

HENRY AUGUSTUS MIX, physician and surgeon, and a native of Oregon, dates his birth 
July 12, 1838. He belongs to a prominent family, among the pioneer settlers in Oregon, 
and is a son of William J. Mix, Sr., M.D., and Eliza Goodwin (Wood) Mix. William J. Mix, Sr., 
was born in Grand Isle, Vermont, in 1795, he being the eldest of eleven children; was in the lum- 
ber and fishing trade on the Saint Lawrence River in early life; studied medicine with Doctor 
Wood, of Campbell's Landing, Canada; attended lectures in Montreal, where he received the 
degree of doctor of medicine in 1824; practiced at Conneautville, Pennsylvania, Tecumseh, 
Michigan, and Ottawa, Illinois, before coming to Oregon, where he settled in 1835. Here he 
lived, actively engaged in the practice of his profession, until his death in 1850. He was at the 
battle of Plattsburgh, New York, which occurred in September, 1814, his father commanding a 
company in that engagement. While a resident of Pennsylvania he served as surgeon of the 
107th regiment of militia from 1829 to 1835. He was the first probate justice of Ogle county. 
Doctor Mix had two wives, and three children by the first (whose maiden name was Annie Drury), 
only one of them, a son, William J. Mix, Jr., now living. He came to Oregon in 1836, and is a 
capitalist. 

By his second wife the doctor had four daughters, three of them yet living and all married, 
and one son, the subject of this sketch, who was as much a born anatomist as Keats was a born 
poet or Blaise Pascal a born mathematician. We learn from the "History of Ogle County" (Chi- 
cago, 1878) that, "at an early age, he developed a natural taste for anatomy, having, when only 
ten years old, put together the entire parts of a skeleton, and at the age of fourteen he dissected 
a human body and exposed every muscle." 

It would be cruel to keep a lad with such a taste and of such talents in the direction here indi- 
cated out of the medical profession, and when young Mix had spent a few terms at the Rock 
River Seminary, he commenced the study of medicine with Doctor Elias S. Potter, whose sketch 
appears on other pages of this work, and after reading studiously for three years, attended Rush 
Medical College, Chicago, and was graduated in February, 1864. Civil war was then progressing, 
and Doctor Mix immediately entered the service as second assistant surgeon of the 64th Illinois 
infantry. The following September he was made first assistant, and during the advance on 
Atlanta and the campaign to the sea was one of the operating staff of the first division of the 
i6th army corps, being appointed over many older surgeons on account of his superior skill. In 
May, 1865, he was made surgeon of the 64th, and the next month was selected as one of the three 
surgeons in the Army of the Tennessee to constitute a board of medical examiners. 

On leaving the army, in July, 1865, Doctor Mix went to Chicago and took a course of lectures 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 38 I 

in Rush on diseases of women and cliildren, and he then entered into partnership with his pre- 
ceptor, Doctor Potter, continiiintr it until 1874, since which date Doctor Mix has been alone in 
practice. His thorough drill, in the first place, with his preceptor and in Chicago; his invaluable 
experience in the army, and his additional studies at Rush in specialties, all tended to give the 
people confidence in his skill, and the result is that his practice has been large and lucrative, 
and he is no doubt one of the most successful medical men of any age in Ogle county. He is a 
member of the county medical society, a republican in politics, and a Royal Arch Mason. 

The wife of Doctor Mix was Adeline A. Perry, married in Lynnville, this county, July 11, 1868, 
and they have one son, Morton P. In 1874 the Dcjctor built a fine brick residence on Third street, 
which, as the local historian says, is really " an ornament to his native town." 

There was once another Henry A. Mix living in Oregon, the youngest brother of William J. 
Mix, Sr., and hence an uncle to our subject. He came to Oregon in December, 1841; was 
admitted to the bar in the same month, having been graduated at Cambridge (Massachusetts) 
Law School; was a leading attorney in this county for years, and was killed by accident, falling 
off a bridge in 1867. His legal career was an honor to the profession. 



T 



ARCHIBALD MEANS. 

PERU 

HE subject of this sketch is secretary and manager of the Illinois Zinc Company, which has 
about four hundred workmen on its pay roll, and is doing not far from $600,000 a year. 
Mr. Means is a native of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, and was born March 31, 1833. His 
father was William Means, a foundryman in early and middle life, who in 1851 retired to a farm 
at Jefferson county, Ohio. The grandfather of Archibald was from the North of Ireland, and 
came over and settled in Allegheny county after the American revolution. The mother of our 
subject was Nancy Swearengen, whose mother was a Blackmore, a member of a family to which 
was granted, long prior to the revolution, a tract of land where the city of Washington now 
stands. A resident of Peru, who knew the Means family in Ohio forty years ago, speaks of them 
as leading men in various branches of industry and some of the professions. 

When Archibald was about three years old the family moved to Steubenville, Ohio, where he 
received an academic education and learned the printer's trade. Subsequently he spent three 
seasons as a steamboat clerk on the Ohio River, a position not at all congenial to his taste. We 
next find him in Lawrence county, southern Ohio, acting as clerk in an iron furnace. A year 
later he went to Greenup, now Boyd county, Kentucky, and was there employed in a similar 
manufactory, being at Ashland when the civil war began. He recruited a company in that town 
for the 14th Kentucky infantry; went into the service as captain of company E, and served about 
sixteen months, when his health broke completely down. 

Captain Means was with General Garfield at Middle Creek, on the Big Sandy; went the next 
spring (1862) to the Cumberland, where the forces were stationed a while to furnish a rendezvous 
for Tenri,essee refugees. He was at the capture of Cumberland Gap, June 18, 1862, and in 
November resigned and returned to Ohio. 

In was two or three years before Captain Means fully regained his health. In 1866 he went 
to Adams county, southern Ohio, and was there engaged in mercantile pursuits until 187 1, when 
he came to Peru to superintend the Illinois Zinc Works, then not in the most flourishing condition, 
and running on a small scale. His fine executive capacities and managing abilities soon put the 
institution squarely on its feet, and during the last decade it has done a highly prosperous business. 

Captain Means is the only resident stockholder. He has the entire management of the con- 
cern, and everything is progressing in excellent order. A ready market is found for all the wares 
turned out in this mammoth manufactory, the largest of any kind in Peru, and the second of its 
class in the L^nited States. 



382 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

In politics our subject has always been a republican, pronounced and outspoken, and is one of 
that class of men who can give a reason for the political faith that is in them. In i860, while in 
Kentucky, he was one of five men in the precinct, and of eleven in the county, who voted for 
Abraham Lincoln. The author of " Lacon " saj^s that the man of principle is the principal man, 
and there is no difficulty in knowing where to place the subject of this notice. 

In religious preferences Captain Means is a Presbj'terian, but there being no church of that 
denomination at Peru, he belongs to the Congregational, in which he is an office bearer. He 
has a third wife. The first was a daughter of Thomas AV. Means, of Hanging Rock, Ohio; the 
second, of William Ellison, of Manchester, Ohio, and his present wife is a daughter of General 
Newton Schleich, of Lancaster, Ohio. He has four children living, all by the second wife. 



SAMUEL C. PLUMMER, M.D. 

ROCK ISLAND. 

SAMUEL CRAIG PLUMMER, one of the oldest physicians in Rock Island, and a prominent 
man in his profession, dates his birth at New Salem, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, 
April 10, 1821. His father, John Boyd Plummer, a merchant most of his life, was born in Alle- 
gheny county, that state. His mother was Elizabeth (Craig) Plummer, whose father was in the 
war of 181 2-14, and whose grandfather was in the French and Indian war. Jonathan Plummer, 
the paternal grandfather of Samuel, was also in the last-named war. There is good fighting blood 
on both sides of the family. The progenitor of this branch of the Plummer family in this country, 
Francis Plummer, came over from England in 1635, only five years after Boston was settled, and 
took up his abode at Newbury, Massachusetts. He brought with him his wife and two sons, 
Joseph and Samuel Plummer. We learn from "Coffin's History of Newbury," that in Septem- 
ber of that year, 1635, Francis Plummer was licensed to keep an ordinary, that is a tavern. In 
April, 1638, Francis Plummer and five others were fined two shillings and sixpence apiece for 
being absent from the town meeting, having been lawfully warned, etc. 

The name of Francis Plummer often appears on the early records of Newbury, as a select- 
man, etc., and he was quite prominent among the pioneers. From him and his sons have sprung 
a great many persons of that name, scattered all over the country, many of them having held 
highly honorable positions. 

From the work already quoted we learn that "the descendants of Francis Plummer still own 
(1845) the land which was once his, near the river Parker. * * * Five of Francis Plummer's 
descendants, and bearing his name, have been members of congress. One of them, Gecjrge, son 
of Jonathan, was the first white child born in Pennsylvania, west of the Allegheny Mountains." 

The Jonathan Plummer here mentioned was the great-grandfather of our subject, and a sol- 
dier under General Braddock and Colonel Washington at the time of Braddock's defeat. The 
early generations of the Plummers seem to have been remarkable for their longevity. We read 
that the average age of twelve children of Samuel and Hannah Plummer, born between 17 19 and 
1740 was seventy-three years. 

Doctor Plummer was educated in the preparatory department of the Western Reserve College, 
Hudson, Ohio, and at Greenville, Pennsylvania, to which latter place the family moved when our 
subject was about eleven years old. He studied medicine at Greenville, with Doctor De La Cas- 
sitt ; attended lectures at Cleveland, being a member of the first class in that medical institution 
(1843-44) ; practiced a short time at Greenville, and in 1S48 settled in Rock Island. Four years 
afterward Doctor Plummer returned to Cleveland, attended another course of lectures, and there 
received the degree of doctor of medicine in March, 1854. 

April 16, 1861, he enlisted, and, May 24, was mustered into the service as surgeon of the 13th 
Illinois infantry, and remained three and a half years, six months over the time for which he had 
enlisted. He was never sick or off duty a day. For a long time he was medical director of the 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 383 

15th army corps, army of the Tennessee, being ranking surgeon in that army, and on the com- 
manding general's staff. 

His experience in the army was of great benefit to Doctor Pkimmer, and on returning to Rock 
Island in December, 1864, he stepped at once into a good general practice. He has a high repu- 
tation, both as physician and surgeon, and a large practice in the leading families in Rock Island 
and vicinity. Two or three times he has spent a winter at some medical college, and keeps thor- 
oughly brushed up in his profession. He is a Royal Arch Mason, but holds no office, we believe, 
of any kind. 

He has a second wife. The first was Miss Julia Hayes, of Burg Hill, Trumbull county, Ohio, 
married October 17, 1844, and dying October 6, 1872, leaving five children, three daughters and 
two sons, two having previously died. Emma M., the oldest daughter, is the wife of George W. 
Dawson, of Orion, Henry county, Illinois ; Elizabeth is the wife of George M. Looseley, of Rock 
Island ; Clara S. is at home ; Frederick Hayes is in Hiawatha, Brown county, Kansas ; and Sam- 
uel Craig, Jr., is attending Augustana College, Rock Island. Doctor Plummer was married the 
second time June 9, 1874, to Mrs. Sallie M. (Dawson) Moore, of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. 
The family attend the Broadway Presbyterian Church, of which the doctor and wife are members. 



o 



ISAAC MARLETT. 

A URORA. 

NE of the pioneer settlers in what is now the city of Aurora, is Isaac Marlett, who is one of 
the oldest men living in Kane county, and will soon be in his ninetieth year. He was born 
in Charlestown, Montgomery county. New York, December 31, 1793, being only six years younger 
than the constitution of the United States. He is a son of Gideon Marlett, whose father was from 
France, and Mary (Ouackenbosh) Marlett, who was of Dutch parentage. When he was in his 
fifth year the family moved to Milford, Otsego county, he being the youngest child in a family of 
eleven children. He and the next older brother used to go two miles to school through a woods, 
their path being marked by blazed trees. Isaac's education was restricted to the rudimentary 
branches, and only partial in them. He was reared to hard work, which was never a misfortune 
to any able-bodied youth. 

At eighteen years of age Isaac went to Upper Canada, now Ontario, and lumbered for eight 
winters in the pineries on the Bay of Ouinte, working at the joiner trade in that province the rest 
of the season. Every spring, while the ice was still in the bay, in making up rafts, he used to 
stand eight hours a day in the water, up to his waist, his noon lunch being brought to him by 
boat, and he eating standing in the water. Very few constitutions could endure that strain with- 
out materially shortening life. 

Returning to his native state, Mr. Marlett worked at the carpenter and joiner's trade at Milford 
for several years, and married Mary Ann Allen, of that town when he was nearly forty years old. 
He continued to work at Milford, in company with a brother-in-law, William Lander, who was 
an expert mechanic, until 1843, when he came to Illinois, and settled in Aurora, then a village of 
five or six families. Samuel McCarty is the only man now living here who was here then. Mr. 
Marlett worked at his trade here, off and on, for thirty years or more, being employed at one period 
in making carriages ; was a general merchant at anotlier, and for two or three years kept the 
Empire House, the oldest hotel in this place. 

For the last ten or twelve years Mr. Marlett has done only work enough to keep him in good 
health. He is as sprightly, however, as men ordinarily are at sixty or sixty-five, and no stranger 
would be likely to guess that he had seen even seventy winters, yet at the time this sketch is pre- 
pared, he is in his eighty-ninth year. 

He was constable of Aurora four years, and deputy sheriff of Kane county twelve years, all the 
offices, we believe, that he would ever accept. He was a democrat until the formation of the 



384 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

republican party, with which he still votes. He is a Master Mason, an Odd-Fellow, a member of 
the Universalist church, and a man of unblemished character. 

The wife of Mr. Marlett died several years ago, and he is still feeling and lamenting his great 
loss. They had four daughters and two sons, losing one of each. Mary Ann, the oldest daughter, 
is the wife of John Allen, Aurora ; Maria, of Samuel Crance, Aurora ; Eliza, of O. F. Barber, 
Rockford, Illinois, and Frank, the only son living, a soldier in the civil war, is a railroad conduc- 
tor. He has a family. Several years ago Mr. Marlett divided his property among his children, 
and is now living with his son, being in very comfortable circumstances. 



SETH F. HANCHETT. 

CHICAGO. 

THE present incumbent of the important office of sheriff of Cook county, Illinois, has been 
in public life since 1867, and has proved one of the most efficient and popular officers in 
each of the various positions he has held ever entrusted with public affairs. His early life was an 
arduous one, and well calculated to develop his manly self-dependence while still young. It is a 
fact worthy of record that the majority of the successful men of Chicago, and perhaps of the West 
as well, were thrown upon their own resources at a very tender age. 

Mr. Hanchett was born near Mayville, Chautauqua county. New York, April 30, 1842. His 
parents were Joseph C, and Sabrina (Howard) Hanchett. The Hanchetts are an English family, 
and trace their origin in this country to an English officer of the revolution, who received the 
grant of a large tract of land in the valley of the Mohawk, from King George. After locating his 
land he returned to England, married, returned to this country and settled on his estate. He 
was subsequently killed by the Indians. 

When 'nine years old the mother of Seth died, and he fell to the care of an uncle for whom he 
worked on the farm during the summer for six vears, and attended school winters. In this wa)' 
he clothed himself and acquired the rudiments of an education. At the end of that period he 
was seized with the western fever, and with the savings of his five years' labor in his pocket, 
amounting to $50, he started for the eldorado of the West. He was then fifteen years of age, 
and of a rugged constitution, full of energy and hope, and well prepared to engage in the ever 
increasing struggle for e.xistence in the Great West. He came alone, and landed in Chicago the 
latter part of August, 1856. He had a relation living near Marengo, Illinois, with whom he spent 
one year, attending school there to good advantage, one winter. 

After a few months spent in exploring the country to the west and north, he returned and 
fixed himself permanently in Chicago. He at first found employment in the service of the North 
Chicago City Railway Company, where he remained until the breaking out of the war in 1861. 

He was but little past nineteen, and considered himself politically a Douglas democrat, but 
his ambition and patriotism were both aroused, and he set about raising a company for Bell's cav- 
alry, then quartered at Camp Douglas. With the assistance of Captain Annis Hathaway, they 
soon had their quota full, but the regiment being cut down to two battalions, they were not ac- 
cepted, and Hanchett enlisted as a private in the 9th Illinois cavalry, and with his command went 
to the front. 

He remained with his regiment over a year, or until November, 1862, during which he saw ar- 
duous service in the states of Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi. He was then prostrated with 
the southern fever, contracted wiiile on duty in the marshes, and was sent to Saint Louis hospital. 
Here he hovered for many weeks between life and death, determined to live, yet abandoned to 
die. No furloughs were at that time granted, and the sick must summon strength to live, or 
courage bravely to die, without a loving hand to smooth the pillow. But at length his case was 
given up as hopeless, and he received his discharge, and was permitted to be sent home to die 
among his friends. This he wisely refused to do, but it took him ten months to recover even in 
the invigorating atmosphere of Chicago. 




^^>~^^^:;$=?S?s^-^ -■: 



v^T\k)V^ 




\)X)^ H.'^^o^do^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 387 

In the latter part of 1863, however, he felt himself strong enough to again take up arms. He 
was by this time a black republican to the backbone, and longed again to engage in the fraj'. 
Hearing that a cavalry regiment was being formed at his old home in New York, he hastened 
thither, and reenlisted in the 15th New York cavalry. In this regiment he served under General 
Franz Sigel, in the .campaign in West Virginia, and was with General Hunter in the battle of 
Lynchburgh. When Sheridan came into the Shenandoah Valley in 1864 his regiment was assigned 
to Custer's division, and saw any amount of hard fighting. In February, 1865, Sheridan left Win- 
chester with his command, and joined the army of the Potomac, under Grant, before Petersburgh. 

They reached Petersburgh, March 25, and were in all the cavalry engagements of that closing 
campaign of the war, ending with the terrible battle of Five Forks, April i. In this last desperate 
cavalry engagement of the war, while charging the rebel lines, he was struck by a flying fragment 
of shell, and maimed for life. 

He was at the time in command of the left of the skirmish line, and after two charges, in 
which they alternately drove the enemy, and were driven by them, they received orders from 
General Sheridan that the rebel line must be carried at all hazards, as the Union arms were suc- 
cessful all along the line, and the left flank must not permit the enemies' right to hold the whole 
army in check, or flank them. With this inspiration a third desperate charge was made, and the 
battle was won. 

Mr. Hanchett, however, left his left arm on the field, and rcjde off with an empty sleeve, an 
unmistakable proof of his courage and devotion to his countr)^ It was four hours before he could 
get the services of a surgeon, and then the torn and bleeding fragment was amputated at the 
shoulder. From the battle-field he went by rail to City Point, thence by boat on the third to 
Washington, where he arrived on the fourth, and went into hospital, where he remained till the 
latter part of June following, when he received his discharge and immediately returned to 
Chicago. 

Here he found employment in the commission house of Hanchett, Angle and Cook, for about 
one year, when he received the appointment of superintendent of the soldier's home. This posi- 
tion he resigned July i, iS67,and accepted a position in the sheriff's office, under General John L. 
Beverage. He was first assigned to duty as bailiff in the county court, under Judges Bradwell 
and Wallace, and served successively under sheriffs Beverage, Fischer, Cleaves, Bradley and Agnew, 
and until the election of Kern to the sheriff's office. This was a sweeping chattge of administration, 
and he went out vi'ith the rest. He then in company with W. H. Gleason, his present chief clerk, 
started a collecting agency, and successfully carried it on till 1877, when he was elected to the 
important office of clerk of the probate court, by a majorit)' of 10,000 votes, which office he held 
till his present election to the office of sheriff. In the fall of 1880 he was a candidate for the 
nomination for sheriff, as against General Mann and Canute R. Mattison, the late coroner. He 
was defeated, however, in convention, by General Mann, who was elected. The same three gen- 
tlemen were also candidates before the convention in the last election, but Mr. Hanchett secured 
the nomination by methods so fair that his opponents were his warmest friends, and he secured 
election over McGarigle, his democratic competitor, by the largest majority on the ticket. In the 
fight he had the fire and police departments, indeed the whole organized city government opposed 
to him, besides all the saloon-keepers and the disreputable classes generally, yet his majority was 
about 4,500, while the balance of the successful ones went into office by majorities ranging from 
300 to 2,900, Mr. Seipp, the democratic county treasurer reaching the last-named figure. 

Socially, Mr. Hanchett is a very agreeable man. He is fond of good company, and entertains 
his friends royally. He is gifted with a good degree of personal magnetism, and both makes 
friends readily, and keeps them eternally. 

He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union Veteran Club, now number- 
ing about 1200 members, and has* been treasurer of the Veteran Union League since its organiza- 
tion, about two years since. He is also a member of the Ancient Order of Ignited Workmen, 
which is a most worthy benevolent organization, composed principally of working men, now 
39 



388 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

numbering in Chicago alone over 5,000 members. Among other substantial benefits offered to 
its members is life insurance at net cost. In all those orders Mr. Hanchett ranks high, and is as 
deservedly popular as in society outside. 

In his home and famih- relations Mr. Hanchett is fortunate and happy. June 27, 1867, he 
was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie L. Atkins, the daughter of Robert Atkins, an old settler of 
Chicago, by whom he has had three children, Frank S. Hanchett, aged over fourteen years, a 
most promising young man, now attending school at Morgan Park Military Academy; Seth R. 
Hanchett, nine j'ears old, attending the Lake View school, and one daughter, Bessie L., now two 
years old, the pride and pet of the household. 

Mr. Hanchett's career has not been of a character to enable him to amass a fortune, but in all 
the elements which go to make up a successful and happy life he has thus far triumphed. 



WESLEY H. MANIER. . 

CARTHAGE. 

T T /'ESLEV HOWELL MANIER, a practicing lawyer at Carthage for more than thirty years, 
V V is a son of John and Ann G. (Williams) Manier, and was born in Montgomery county, 
Kentucky, October 2, 1S29. His father was born in Fleming county, same state, in 1804, and was 
the son of John Manier, Sr., who was born in Mrginia in 1779, and the grandson of Jonathan 
Manier, who was born in the same state in 1759. The last named was killed by the Indians in 
1783- John Manier, or Minneer, father of Jonathan, was born in Germany, and settled in the Old 
Dominion long before the revolution. 

This branch of the Williams family is of Welsh descent, and came to Virginia long before the 
revolt of the colonies. Roger W'illiams, the progenitor, who settled in Brunswick county, Vir- 
ginia, had seven wives, and children by most of them. Hakey Williams, one of his sons, mar- 
ried Sarah Jones, a relative of Paul Jones, of naval renown. He was murdered by ruffians and 
robbed just before the birth of his son John, who was the maternal grandfather of our subject. 
The latter married Amelia Gill, of Greenville county, North Carolina, and settled in Lincoln 
county, Kentuck)-. 

John Manier, the father of Wesley, was a carpenter and millwright, also a miller, farmer, etc., 
and an enterprising man, and reared his children in habits of industry, dying at Mount Sterling, 
Kentucky, about 1S68. His wife had died two years earlier. 

The subject of this sketch in his youth worked with his father on the farm and in saw and 
grist mills; received a classical education by the aid of a private preceptor and in a select school; 
taught one term; came to Ouincy, in this state, in May, 185 1; read law with Williams and Law- 
rence; was licensed to practice in 1S52, and in June of that year settled in Carthage, where he has 
made the legal profession almost his exclusive business. At an early day he was in different law 
firms, in company with John M. Ferris, Hon. B. F. Scofield and Bryant F. Peterson, and is now of 
the firm of Manier and Miller, his partner being John D. Miller, formerly a student in his office. 
For the last seven or eight years Mr. Manier has assisted Hon. N. L. Freeman on the reports of 
the supreme court of the state, and is an adept at the business of preparing the head notes of 
adjudicated cases, etc. 

The politics of Mr. Manier are democratic, with greenback leanings, but he is not a violent 
partisan, and has warm friends in all parties. He is courteous in manners and cordial in disposi- 
tion, and calculated to make steadfast friends. He has held a few local offices, such as assessor, 
supervisor, school director, member and president of the town board, etc. He is a Knight Temp- 
lar in the Masonic order, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a man of high moral 
as well as legal character. 

Mr. Manier was married in Carthage, October 25, 1854, to Miss Sarah A. Allen, a native of 
Kentucky, and a daughter of John Allen, who settled in Hancock county when the daughter was 



UNITED STATES B/OGRAPH/CAT DICTIONARY. 389 

one year old. They have buried three children and have three living: Laura A., Flora H. and 
Sallie. Laura is a graduate of the Jacksonville Conservatory of Music and of Carthage College; 
has taught music at Hedding College, Abingdon, and is now a student of the New England Con- 
servatory of Music, Boston. Flora is also a graduate of Carthage College, and Sallie is a student 
in that excellent institution. Mr. and Mrs. Manier take good care that their children shall be 
well educated. 



MILES WHITE. 

LENA. 

1"^HE subject of this biographical notice is a native of Jefferson county, New York, being born 
at Lyme, February 17, 1841. His father, William White, a farmer, was a native of the same 
state. His grandfather aided with his rifle in gaining the independence of the colonies. The 
mother of Miles, before her marriage, was Alvira Freeman, a native of the state of New York. 
When he was ten years old the family came into this state, and settled at Ward's Grove, Jo 
Daviess county, where the son was reared on a farm. He received a district school education, 
supplemented with one term at the Mount Carroll Seminary; remained on his father's farm until 
of age; carried on farming for himself for three years, and in March, 1865, enlisted in the 7th 
Illinois cavalry, and served until the following November. 

Keturning to Illinois, Mr. White settled in Lena, and in May, 1866, engaged in the grocery 
business, remaining in that branch of the mercantile trade until 1873, when he changed to a gen- 
eral stock of merchandise, and greatly expanded his business. In 1880 he built the White House 
block, the finest improvement ever made in the village, a brick structure fifty by eighty-five feet, 
and three stories high, with a bank and two stores on the lower floor, and the hotel on the other 
two flats. The building is well constructed, and thoroughly finished from cellar to attic, and cost 
$18,000. The hotel is tastily furnished throughout, and well supplied with sample rooms and 
every convenience for the traveling public, and is rented by an experienced hotel-keeper. In his 
store Mr. White carries the largest stock of merchandise of any merchant in town, and is a 
straightforward, thoroughgoing, successful business man. 

Mr. White has served as school trustee and town trustee two or three terms each, and may 
have held other local offices. No man in Lena takes more pride in seeing improvements going 
on, and in encouraging generally the interests of the place. 

He is a republican, and a very active and earnest worker for the interests of his party, serving 
his second term, at this time (1882), as chairman of the republican central committee of Stephen- 
son county. Any cause which he believes to be right he espouses with his whole heart, and labors 
for its success with untiring zeal. 

Mr. White married, July 4, 1862, Miss J. Ellen Fleming, daughter of Thomas Fleming, of Lena, 
and she died February 9, 1882, leaving four children, two having preceded her to the spirit world. 



STEPHEN D. POLLOCK, M.D. 

GALESBURGH. 

STEPHEN DYSERT POLLOCK, physician and surgeon, is a son of John D. and Rachel G. 
(Dysert) Pollock, and was born in Union county, Ohio, December 22, 1838. His father was 
a native of Delaware, of Scotch lineage; his mother of Welsh. When Stephen was ten years 
old the family moved into this state, and settled at Paris, Edgar county, where the son received 
an academic education, working meanwhile part of the time until he was eighteen years old on 
his father's farm. He studied medicine at Abingdon, Knox county, with Doctor W. W. Porter; 
attended lectures at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, and there received the degree 
of doctor of medicine in 187 1. While there he also took a private course of instruction in 



390 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

surgery with Doctor Frank Hastings Hamilton, and in diseases of the heart and lungs with 
Professor Austin Flint, Sr., both men of eminence in their profession, and leading authors. 

He returned to Abingdon, where he had commenced practice vvhiJe a student, and was 
in successful business there in all for nearly twenty years. While a resident of that place he 
served at different periods as school director, treasurer of the school board, school trustee, and 
lecturer in the Abingdon College, his chair being that of anatomy, physiology and hygiene. 

In 1879 Doctor Pollock went to New York city, and spent some time attending the operations 
in the Woman's Hospital, and by invitation assisting Dr. J. Marion Sims in private operations in 
the city, and afterward took a post-graduate course in diseases of women in the University of 
Pennsylvania. He is also a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, 1880, and of 
Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago, 1881. At no period of his life has he been more studious 
than at the present time. He is a growing man. 

In May, 1S82, the doctor changed his residence from Abingdon to Galesburgh, m the same 
county. The two cities are only ten miles apart, are connected by rail, and he retains his chair 
in the college, and the better portion of his old practice. In January, 1S82, he was appointed 
medical director of the Covenant Mutual Benefit Association of Illinois. 

He is a Knight Templar, and has been district deputy grand master of masons, and is serv- 
ing, and has before served, on important committees in the Grand Lodge. He was married in 
1862 to Miss Jennie Ver Treese, of Knox county; they have three sons and one daughter livyig, 
and one son dead. 

Doctor Pollock has a florid complexion, blue eyes and a sanguine temperament; is five feet 
and eleven and a half inches tall, and weighs two hundred pounds. His build is symmetrical. 
He is easy and courteous in his manner and cheerful in his disposition, and these qualifications, 
added to his skill, admirably fit him to visit a sick room. 



GENERAL M. R. M. WALLACE. 

CHICAGO. 

MARTIN REUBEN MERRITT WALLACE was born September 29, 1829, at Urbana, Cham- 
paign county, Ohio. His father, John Wallace, was a native of Delaware, where he was 
born in 1786, and passed the years of his youth and early manhood in the state of Virginia, 
removing with the great westward tide to Ohio in 1825, where he married, for his second wife. 
Miss Sarah Hitt, of Kentucky. 

In 1834 the family, consisting of ten children, moved to the great prairie state of Illinois, 
where they settled on a farm in La Salle county, near what is now the flourishing town of Ottawa. 
Here the subject of this sketch receiv^ed the rudimentary education, attainable in those days, of 
rude log school houses, and schoolmasters who would to-day be laughed at as clowns. The col- 
lege in which young Wallace first fretted over his reading, writing and arithmetic consisted of a 
few winter months of such schooling each year, and in the warm season, the spring, summer and 
fall, by working on his father's farm. 

In 1839 his father removed to Ogle county, and again settled on a farm near the present town 
of Mount Morris, the site of the Rock River Seminary, of which institution he was for many 
years, and at the time of his decease in 1S50, president of the board of trustees. It was under 
his father's personal supervision in this seminary that young Wallace pursued his studies and 
obtained his education. His parents were both consistent and earnest members of the Methodist 
church. They lie buried in the cemetery at Mount Morris, having lived to a good old age. 

In 1 85 2 young Wallace went to the city of Ottawa, in La Salle county, to study law in the 
office of Dickey and Wallace, the firm consisting of Hon. T. Lyle Dickey (present chief justice of 
the supreme court of Illinois) and his brother, W. H. L. Wallace (afterward major-general, who 
fell at the battle of Shiloh, on the Tennessee River, April 6, 1862, — a most lamented sacrifice 



UNITED STATES RTOGRAPrilCAI. D/CT/ONARY. 3gl 

on the altar of his country). Under the care and tutelage of such sterling lawyers and upright 
citizens, it may be assumed that young Wallace obtained that important desideratum in the 
career of a professional man — a right start. He made rapid progress in his studies, and was in 
due time admitted to the bar, and began the active practice of law. In the spring of 1856 he 
removed to a wider field of activity, the then booming city of Chicago. 

In Chicago he formed a partnership with Hon. Thomas Dent, of the now well known firm of 
Dent and Black. For five years thereafter he pursued a fairly lucrative practice. Just after get- 
ting on the road to reasonable fame and fortune, like so many choice spirits who were stirred to 
patriotic ardor as with an inspiration that seemed like the voice of God, he joined the swiftly mov- 
ing caravan of patriots to crush the armed hosts of treason and rebellion. No time for thought of 
self when the fate of this great nation hung trembling in the balance. Old and young, rich and 
poor, patriotic and designing, brave and craven, all went forth and kept step to the ''wild, grand 
music of the Union." 

Immediately after the outbreak of the rebellion of 186 1 he unhesitatingly abandoned his pro- 
fession and threw his whole energies into the work of giants — the organization and equipment 
of the army of citizen soldiers who were destined to save this fair fabric of free government from 
disintegration and destruction. He took an important part in recruiting and equipping the 4th 
Illinois cavalry, and received a commission as major of the regiment, commanding the second 
battalion on its march and transportation from Camp Hunter, at Ottawa, Illinois, to Cairo, the 
border of the scene of active hostilities. 

Almost immediately after getting into the enemy's country, and just before starting on the 
famous expedition to Forts Henry and Donelson, a most distressing misfortune befell Major 
Wallace. While loading his battalion on the transport, his younger brother. Sergeant Matthew 
Wallace, was thrown from the guards of the boat into the river, and being drawn under the wheel 
of the boat was drowned. This terrible affliction was hard to bear, but by a bitter repetition it 
was made doubly sad by a still greater affliction a few months later in the death of his distin- 
guished brother, Brevet-Major-General W. H. L. Wallace. In the awful tumult of that Sun- 
day's battle at Shiloh he was mortally wounded. His death was the theme of all the official 
reports, from the commanding general to brigade commanders. His was a costly sacrifice; not 
less because of his superb private worth as a citizen and a lawyer of great ability and promise 
than for the zeal, energy and splendid qualities he displayed as a soldier. Major Wallace took an 
active and gallant part in all the operations before, during and after the storming and capture of 
Fort Donelson, which important event took place February 16 and 17, 1862. 

He was in the battle of Shiloh (April 6 and 7, 1862) throughout the two terrible days of car- 
nage, by common consent the bloodiest and most desperate battle of the war. He survived the 
ordeal as by a miracle, for he was in the thickest of the fight, in the most hazardous arm of the 
service, the cavalry. With the warm life blood of his heroic brother yet warm on his hands he 
bounded into the saddle to face again and again the murderous fire of the enemy. In all the 
daring and difficult operations of the army, in the siege of Corinth, continuing from the time of 
the battle of Shiloh till the fall and evacuation of that great rebel stronghold, May 30, 1862, 
Major Wallace bore himself with zeal, discretion and undaunted courage. In the gloom of an 
indescribably dreary wilderness, alternating from an oozy swamp to the red-brick color of a bar- 
ren soil, by day and by night, in storm and in sunshine, in the awful silence just preceding an 
attack, amid the sharp rattle and roar of a battle, which was the hourly diversion of the com- 
batants, the dashing cavalrj-men were ever the first to develop and draw the fire of the enemv in 
ambuscade, a service which asks the courage of lions. 

In this hazardous work Major Wallace ever received the commendation of his superior officers. 
In the subsequent varied movements of our army, either in pursuit of a supposed retreating 
enemy or to repel a sudden attack on flank or rear, the force in which Major Wallace's command 
was look an active and distinguished part. In an engagement, December 5, 1862, at Cofifee- 
ville, in central Mississippi, Colonel McCullough, of the 4th Illinois cavalry, was killed, after 
which event the command of the regiment was conferred upon Major Wallace. 



392 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



Major Wallace, in his official report of the battle, thus eloquently refers to his late superior 
officer: 

"Colonel McCullough had few equals as an officer. Brave to a fault, his gallantr)- and kindly 
qualities of heart won him the love and esteem of all, both officers and men. His comrades 
in arms say of him that he never experienced the sensation of fear. He led his regiment in the 
bold and daring pursuit of the enemy at Fort Henry, thus early in the war placing himself upon 
the roll of brave and dashing cavalry officers. The colonel was always ready for dut}^, always 
with his command, and best satisfied with the post of danger and active duty. Colonel McCul- 
lough passed with his regiment through the battles of Forts Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, the 
siege of«Corinth, falling at the head of his command, pierced by three bullets, each inflicting a 
mortal wound, December 5, a.d. 1862, at .the battle of Coffeeville, Mississippi. This battle 
was continued until dusk, and the rebels succeeded in getting on the flanks of the federal forces, 
coming upon Colonel McCullough, with their bayonets at his breast, and demanding his surrender. 
Knowing that to do so would sacrifice his command, with certain death staring him in the face, 
the colonel, with his eagle eye looking into the muzzles of the rebel muskets, heroically replied, 
'Never! ' and instantly fell from his horse a lifeless corpse. That was a rich sacrifice, sanctified 
by acceptance upon the altar of patriotism, when Colonel McCullough yielded up his life for his 
country." 

The following month after Colonel McCullough 's death, January, 1863, Major Wallace was 
commissioned lieutenant-colonel, and in March of the same year was promoted to the colonelcy 
of the regiment. 

In the fall of 1864, by reason of the expiration of the full three years' term, he was mustered 
out of the service, whereupon he took up his abode in Natchez, iMississippi, resuming the practice 
of the law, which he continued there until the spring of 1866, at which time he returned to Chi- 
cago. In the summer of that year he was appointed by President Andrew Johnson United States 
assessor of internal revenue for the first district of Illinois, which position he held until the spring 
of 1869. Shortly after quitting the government service as assessor, October, 1869, he was nomi- 
nated by acclamation and elected on the people's ticket for the position of county judge (which 
court at that time had probate jurisdiction), which onerous and responsible position he held until 
1877, being reelected the second term without opposition. Resigning his position as county 
judge on account of impaired health, he was, without a dissenting vote, made county attorney by 
the board of county commissioners, which position he filled with signal ability and credit for one 
year (1878), after which time he resumed the practice of law in Chicago. He is a member of 
Saint Paul's Universalist Church, in Chicago. He cast his first ballot for Stephen A. Douglas 
for president, and has adhered to the democratic party ever since. In September, 1863, while 
home on a short leave of absence from the army, he was married to Miss Emma R. Gilson, eldest 
daughter of Hon. George W. Gilson, who came to Illinois in 1837. Mrs. Wallace, on her mother's 
side, was a cousin of the brave and brilliant young hero. General T. E. G. Ransom, who came 
west while quite young. 

In personal appearance Judge Wallace is distinguished, being six feet three inches in height, 
with a dignified bearing. Superficiallv, one might judge him austere in manner, but there is no 
trace of arrogance. It is the rare dignity which habits of strong and deep thinking write upon 
the face allied to the most unrelenting contempt for chicanery or petty artifice. If in no other 
way an estimate might be arrived at which would universally be approved and declared just, it 
would be to award him the highest possible place in the public esteem for integrity and consci- 
entious fidelity to his clients and his friends. He combines, in an admirable manner, the rare 
combination expressed by the truism, "Laughter and reverence are sworn brothers," for no man 
has a more reverent nature, coupled with one which is full of the rare and valuable element we 
call humor. 

On the bench he was an ideal judge — patient, painstaking. With admirable sense he saw 
through, and quietly, without any parade or pedantry, swept aside the cobwebs of sophistry or 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 293 

the rubbish of mere palaver, which is a too common indulgence by the legal profession. There 
was no nonsense allowed in his court. Nor was any decision ever questioned upon its equitable 
aspects. He never made the rendering of a decision the occasion of delivering an argument. 

As a lawyer. Judge Wallace inspires instant respect and confidence by his manner and 
thoughtful habit. Apparently slow, he goes to the very root of a case, and loses no vital point by 
undue haste or show of precocity. A' client never will argue the point with him, for he gives no 
one the opportunity to presume upon him in that way; yet never suggests the slightest dogma- 
tism. As a forensic pleader. Judge Wallace is, if possible, still more admirable. There he car- 
ries judge and jury with him by a straightforward adherence to law and the practice as estab- 
lished, never resorting to the cheap and shallow tricks indulged in by many lawyers, who know 
better, but cannot overcome their vanity for display. As an orator he is earnest and impressive, 
speaking right on without any theatrical clap-trap or needless rhetoric in a voice at once powerful 
and natural. Perhaps in no way is the character of Judge Wallace as lovable as in his devotion 
to and affection for his family. Blessed with a wife who is as a sunbeam through all the vicissi- 
tudes of life, with five bright and growing children, there in the home is where he is the idol, 
counselor and friend. Not rich in this world's goods, he is rich in "honor, love, obedience, 
troops of friends," having proved faithful to the many public and private trusts committed to 
him. The words of the gentle, high-schooled Brutus may well be applied to Judge Wallace: 

"His life is gentle, and 
The elements so mix in him, 
That nature might stand up 
And say to all the world, 
This is a man ! ' " 



w 



HON. WILLIAM C. SNYDER. 

FULTON. 

ILLIAM COWPERTHWAIT SNYDER, senator for Lee and Whiteside counties, is a son 
of James and Sabilla (Cowperthwait) Snyder, and was born in Haddonfield, New Jersey, 
July 29, 1 82 1. His father, a miller, was born in Burlington county, same state, and was a son of 
Christopher Snyder, of Bergen county, New Jersey, and of Dutch descent. Sabilla Cowper- 
thwait was a native of Burlington county, New Jersey, and a relative of the well known Philadel- 
phia publishers of that name. 

In his youth the subject of this sketch had restricted advantages for education, leaving school 
at thirteen years of age, serving a long apprenticeship at the mercantile business and remaining 
in his native state until twenty-four years of age. Before leaving there he commenced the study 
of medicine, toward which profession his taste seemed to incline. 

In 1845 Mr. Snyder came to the West, spending two years at Lyons, Iowa, and in 1847 
recrossed the Mississippi into Whiteside county, this state, locating at first at Union Grove, where 
he opened a drug store in company with his preceptor. Doctor Bassett. In the winter of 1847-48 
he attended a course of lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and was in practice at Union 
Grove, twelve miles east of Fulton, until 1854, when he moved into the latter place, and engaged 
in mercantile pursuits. For the last sixteen or eighteen years he has been engaged in the ware- 
house business. 

Doctor Snyder has long been a very active and prominent citizen of Whiteside countj^. He 
was postmaster from 1861 to 1882; was drainage commissioner for about a dozen years, super- 
visor for two or three terms, and may have held other local offices which we do not recall. 

In the autumn of 1882 he was elected to the senate from the nineteenth district, and is chair- 
man of the committee on state library and geology and science. Senator Snyder is a stirring 
man, whether attending to his own private business or to that of the state, and having good sound 
sense makes a valuable member of the upper house. 



394 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



His politics are republican, unwavering and intense, and it is safe to say that no man in his 
county has worked harder to advance the interests of the party. He was chairman of the White- 
side county republican central committee for ten or twelve years, and at one period was editor 
and proprietor of the Fulton "Journal." 

Senator Snyder has taken the chapter and council degrees in Masonry, and has given no incon- 
siderable attention to work in that order. For more than forty years he has been a zealous advo- 
cate of the cause of temperance, and has been the state presiding officer of the Sons of Temper- 
ance. No more earnest friend of humanity can be found in Whiteside count)' than the senator. 

He was married at Lyons, Iowa, in 1849, to Miss Isyphene C. Pearce, a native of Rhode Island. 
They buried their first-born child, Sabilla, when she was just entering upon her teens, and have 
seven children living:. Kate C. is the wife of Thomas J. Pickett, postmaster and newspaper pub- 
lisher at Ashland, Nebraska; Martha C. is the wife of J. C. Neff, station agent at Rochelle, Illi- 
nois; Joseph C. is a partner of his father in the warehouse business and postmaster; Anna C. has 
charge of the musical department of Northern Illinois College, Fulton, and J. Justin, C. Henry 
and Lena V. are at home. 



GURDON P. RANDALL. 

CHICAGO. 

C^ URDON PAINE RANDALL, one of the oldest and best architects in Chicago, is a native 
1 of Orange county, Vermont, his birth being dated at Braintree, February 18, 1821. His 
father was a contractor, builder and millwright, born in Connecticut, and his grandfather was 
Greennfield Randall, whose family left Connecticut for Vermont. The mother of Gurdon, whose 
maiden name was Laura Scott Warner, was a native of the Green Mountain State, and born in 
Williamstown, Orange county. 

Born of good New England stock, and reared to habits of industry, our subject, after attend- 
ing a district school until sixteen years old, commenced work with his father, building mills, pri- 
vate houses, churches, etc, working at his trade of millwright and builder until twenty-five years 
of age. He was then for a period of five years, engaged in the construction of railway bridges, 
depots, etc., in his native state, his work being mainly on what is now known as the Central Ver- 
mont railroad. 

About 1851 Mr. Randall went to Syracuse, New York, where he was engaged in the study and 
practice of architecture, until 1856, when he settled in Chicago. He now belongs to the older 
class of men of that profession, and is noted all over the country for the neatness of his designs, 
his integrity under all circumstances, and the thoroughness of his work. With him public build- 
ings seem to be a specialty, and the reader can form some idea of the extent of the field over 
which he operates by seeing a list of some of the prominent college, academic and normal and 
high-school buildings which he has designed. Here is a partial record of them : 

Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois; Evanston College for Ladies; Ladies College, of 
Madison University, Wisconsin ; Mercer University, Macon, Georgia ; Academy of the Sacred 
Heart, Saint Louis, Missouri ; Saint Mary's Academy, Leavenworth, Kansas ; Jefferson Institute, 
Jefferson, Wisconsin; State Normal Schools, at Normal, Illinois; Winona, Minnesota; Whitewater, 
Wisconsin, and Plattville, Wisconsin ; and high schools in Clinton, Kankakee, Litchfield, Olney, 
Galesburgh, and Aurora, Illinois; Marshall and Menominee, Michigan; Madison, Berlin, Marinette 
and Dodgeville, Wisconsin ; Winona, Red Wing and Saint Paul, Minnesota ; Elkhart, La Porte, 
and Plymouth, Indiana; Atchison, Kansas; Omaha, Nebraska, Denver, Colorado, etc. 

To this list might be added several hundred ward school-houses, scattered far and wide over 
the country, including New England, the middle and gulf states, as well as the western, ex- 
tending to the Rocky Mountains. We are thus particular in regard to his work pertaining to 
educational buildings, because Mr. Randall has made them a study, and in 1882 published a pam- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 397 

phlet of his own, entitled " How to Build School-houses; with Systems of Heating, Lighting and 
\'enti!ation." It is well illustrated, and full of instructive matter, which is of great value to par- 
ties having such structures under contemplation. Several years ago he published a much larger 
pamphlet on the same subject. We believe it is Mr. Randall's purpose, at no distant day, to issue a 
similar pamphlet on church designing and another on jail construction, and court houses, of which, 
by the way, he has designed some of the best in the country. He is high authority on any of these 
subjects. Some people are born poets, and Mr. Randall is a born mechanic. His skill in architec- 
ture came to him by intuition, and he has made it his chief study, as well as livelihood, for more 
than forty years, he meantime interspersing scientific studies as his prime and almost sole recre- 
ation. He is thoroughly wedded to his profession, and employs the best draftsmen to be found 
in the country. 

Mr. Randall has kept entirely out of politics and of civil offices, and is a very quiet and studious 
man. He takes a good deal of interest in Masonry, and many years ago organized Union Park 
Lodge, of which he was master for six years. At one period he was Grand Lecturer for the Order 
in this state. He has taken the thirty-second degree. 

Mr. Randall was first married in 1842 to Miss Louisa C. Drew, of Stratford, Orange county, 
Vermont, she dying childless in 1871 ; and the second time in 1874,10 Mrs. Martha Caroline 
(Anderson) Holt, a native of New York, having by her one child, a daughter, Cora, aged nine 
years. 

E. BREESE GLASS. 

ED IV A KD S I 'IL LE. 

ELLIOTT BREESE GLASS, attorney-at-law, and master in chancery of Madison county, Illi- 
nois, is a native of Saint Clair county, in this state, and dates his birth April 16, 1845. His 
father, Cornelius Glass, was born in Fleming county, Kentucky, and was a son of James Glass, 
who immigrated to this state in 181 7, and who had been in the second war with England. 

The father of James Glass and great-grandfather of our subject was from the North of Ireland. 
Cornelius Glass married Elizabeth Jane Pulse, a native of the Old Dominion, and Breese was the 
eldest son in a family of four children. He was educated at Shurtleff College, Upper Alton, Illi- 
nois. He read law principally with Hon. Levi Davis, of Alton, and was admitted to the bar at 
the June term of the supreme court, 1870. Mr. Glass practiced a few years in Upper Alton, and 
in the autumn of 1875 located in Edwardsville, his present home, where he has been engaged in 
the practice of his profession ever since. In July, 1872, he was appointed county attorney for 
Madison county, by the county court of said county, and at the presidential election in 1872 he 
was elected state's attorney on the democratic ticket, and served four years, making a good record. 
He was appointed to the office of master in chancery in the autumn of 1879, and reappointed in 
1881, which position he still holds. He is very careful in taking testimony, and in making sales, 
and in adjusting matters after the sales are made, and attends to all chancery business in a most 
satisfactory manner. 

As a lawyer, Mr. Glass is well read, studious and growing. He prepares his cases with a great 
deal of pains, but encourages no one to go to law who has not a clear cause of action. Once 
enlisted, he clings to his client with a great deal of tenacity, and thus far he has been quite suc- 
cessful. He is good, both as an office and jury lawyer, and has ambition and ability enough to 
make it likely that he will continue to rise. 

Mr. Glass has always voted the democratic ticket, and during a political campaign never fails 
to do valiant service for his party on the stump, he being a ready, fluent and entertaining speaker. 

He attends county, district and state conventions, and is now chairman of the executive com- 
mittee of his congressional (Bill Morrison's) district. He is an untiring worker in the inter- 
ests of his party, and on the assembling of the legislature this year, he received the caucus 
nomination of his party, for the position of clerk of the state senate. 
40 



398 VNirKD STATES BIQGRAPjriCAL DICTIONARY. 

Since the summer of 1882 he has been the political editor of the " Edvvardsville Intelligencer," 
the oldest democratic paper in his county, and is doing good work for his party. He seems to 
like journalism, and evidently has an aptitude for the profession. Some of his editorials are 
decidedly spicy. 

He belongs to the order of the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Glass is very fond of field sports, with 
the dog and gun, and also of trap shooting, and is one of the best wing shots in southern Illinois. 

May r8, 1874, Mr. (ilass was married to Miss Eudora Stocker, a daughter of George R. Stocker, 
of Upper Altiin. and they now have two children, a son and a daughter. 



PERRY H. SMITH, JR. 

CHIC A CO. 

PERRY HIRAM SMITH, JR., one of the rising young lawyers of Chicago, is a son of Perry 
H. Smith, Sr., whose sketch precedes this, and was born at Appleton, Wisconsin, May :o, 
1854, His mother was Emma A. Smith, daughter of Rev. Reeder Smith, who was from New 
England, and was the founder of Lawrence University, at Appleton. When our subject was five 
years of age the family moved from Wisconsin to Chicago, where they have since resided, moving 
among the highest, most polished circles. Perry commenced his school life in this city, spending 
a year or more in the Ogden School on the north side, and at eight years of age was sent to 
the grammar school of Racine College, Wisconsin, where he studied three years. In 1867, in 
company with his parents, he made the tour of Europe. It was the year of the Paris E.xposition, 
which he had the opportunity of visiting and studying; it was, no dnuht, the best mental task 
which could have been assigned him at that particular period. 

Returning home in 1867, Perry, still a mere lad, just entered on his teens, entered the 
Charlier French Institute, New York city, where he remained for two years, under the tuition of 
Professor Elie Charlier, the French orator at the Yorktown celebration, in October, 1881. Again 
(1869) he visited the old world, connected himself with the Institute of Luxembourg, Brussels, 
where he not only fitted himself to enter the sophomore class of Hamilton College, at Clinton, 
New York, but acquired a very thorough knowledge of the French language. While there, Mr. 
Smith witnessed some of the battles between the French and Germans, the Franco-Prussian war 
being in progress, and he had the opportunity oi entering Paris at a very critical period, when 
that city was in the hands of the commune. The fruits of his observation gathered during that 
exciting period in European history, cannot be lost to an inquiring mind like Mr. Smith's. On 
his return, he entered Hamilton College, and was graduated in 1874 as class orator, and with 
other honorable distinctions. 

Soon after receiving the degree of bachelor of arts, Mr. Smith made a third visit to Europe ; 
returned at the end of a year; entered the law department of Columbia College, New York, at 
the head of which is Judge Theodore Dwight, of the court of appeals, and was graduated with 
honors from that institution also. Probably no lawyer in Chicago had a more thorough literary 
and legal outfit than Mr. Smith, and with high promise of success he was admitted to practice in 
the supreme court of New York. Returning to Chicago, after remaining a short time in the office 
of John N. Jewett, he formed a partnership with Henry Crawford, who for many years has been so 
prominently connected wih the heaviest railroad litigation of this countr\'. Two years later 
(1878) with Francis H. Kales, of the late firm of Beckwith, Ayer and Kales, and the firm of Kales 
and Smith has built up a highly remunerative practice. A writer for a local periodical thus speaks 
of Mr. Smith as a lawyer: 

"In the practice of his profession he is very zealous, as, indeed he is in everything which he 
undertakes. He is reliable and honorable in all places arid under all circumstances; is loyal 
to truth and right, justly valuing his own self-respect and the deserved esteem of his fellow men, 
as infinilelv better than wealth, fame or position." 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 399 

Mr. Smith is an earnest adherent of the democratic party, and unusually iuHuential and pop- 
uhu" for a man of his age. In 1881 he was put forward by his party as a candidate for congress, 
in the 3d district: and made a gallant canvass, carrying the city portion of his district by a thou- 
sand majority, but the district is very largely republican, and he failed of an election. Some one 
has attributed his defeat to the atrocious crime of being a young man. If that was the cause he 
may remember the career of the yotinger Pitt, and press on. As adjuncts to his splendid literary 
and legal attainments and native talents of a liigh order, he has social qualities of the most ac- 
complished class, and all the elements of true manhood. 

We conclude this sketch with an extract from a |>en photograph of our subject, written not 
long ago by a gentleman wlio has long been acquainted with him : 

"Belonging to the most vexatious of professions, he has risen to an enviable position in its 
ranks, such as to cause wonder and surprise when one reflects upon the discipline through which 
he must have reached it. It is the best possible evidence, that without the need and spur of 
necessary effort to obtain that which is the anxious concern of the majority of work-day toilers, 
independence so far as mere support and material comfort goes, this young gentleman has proved 
absolutely ' proof and bulwark 'gainst sense.' Though of a family renowned for wealth and social 
supremacy not alone in this city and section, but all over the land, he is vet in the best and truest 
sense, a representative of the people. He is a gentleman with all which that term implies. Not 
alone in mere refinement and polish of outward manners, and the easy assumption of cordial feel- 
ings toward all, but considerate, thoughtful and kindly at heart toward the meanest creature. 
There is as much difference between true dignity and arrogance as between the ring of genuine 
and spurious coin. He that woidd genuflect with studied grace in the presence of ladies in a 
drawing-room, may be an arrogant boor in the presence of his washerwoman or carriage-driver. 
And, in this very matter of personal intercourse with all classes and conditions of people has Mr. 
Smith best shown the true instincts of the real gentleman. Frank, easy, with a peculiar, quiet 
candor, which is winsome to the fullest degree, generous and considerate, the meanest beggar 
that timidlv murmurs his stereotyped appeal will receive at his hands as gentle and considerate 
treatment as the curled darlings of our best society. Above the very appearance of anything like 
trickery or double dealing, he is yet discreet and reserved in expressing his judgment. Well and 
thoroughly educated in the best schools, he is yet perfectly simple in his methods of expression, 
and. what is most admirable, always and under every form of temptation to imitate, unaffected in 
manner and speech." 

STILLMAN W. WHEELOCK. 

MOLINE. 
1II<: gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch, is mayor of the city of 



T 



Moline. and one of its most prominent citizens. He has resided here for more than thirty 
years, and has been one of the foremost men in originating enterprises which, in that period of 
time, have built up Moline from a village of perhaps 800 inhabitants, to a city of 9,000. Mr. 
Wheelock is a son of Chapin and Lucy Wheelock, and was born in the town of Holland, Erie 
county. New York, June 17, 1817. He was reared on his father's farm, and finished his education 
by one year's attendance at the Aurora Academy, Erie county. 

In the spring of 1839 Mr. Wheelock started for the West, reaching Chicago by steamboat May 
10. It was then an unprepossessing-looking place, with mud enough to supply a small state, and 
Mr. Wheelock did not take to it. The historian of Rock Island county states that he packed his 
entire assets in a bandanna, which he slung on a cane, and then took a bee line for the Fox River ; 
but tradition has it that he was the proprietor of a small hair trunk, which had once been new, 
and which he left in Chicago awaiting further orders. At Saint Charles, Kane county, he found 
employment in a saw mill, at one dollar a day, and he remained there and in that vicinity a dozen 
years or more, owning and cultivating, part of the time, a farm in Du Page county. He was also 



400 



UNITED SIATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



a lumber manufacturer, in company with S. B. Flint. In 1841 he married, at Saint Charles, Miss 
Lydia Flint, a sister of his partner, and a native of Alstead, New Hampshire, descending from an 
old Concord, Massachusetts, family. 

Mr. Wheelock came to Moline in 185 i ; bought the site of the Moline Paper Mill ; put up the 
building, and made the first sheet of paper in August of the next year. That mill has since been 
enlarged, and is now turning out four or five tons of news, print, and wrapping p^aper per day. 
Mr. Wheelock has been a stockholder in the Moline Water Power Company since its organiza- 
tion ; put $75,000 in the Moline Plow Company in 1870, and is its president. It gives employ- 
ment to 400 workmen, and is turning out 60,000 first-class steel plows annually. 

He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Moline, and has beeu its president 
since it went into operation. 

During the civil war he was chairman of the board of supervisors, and had charge of the fund 
received for the relief of soldiers' families, being himself a very liberal contributor to that fund. 

In 1872 Mr. Wheelock built the post-office block at a cost of $20,000, and soon afterward 
donated it to the Moline public library, which now contains about 6,000 volumes, and is a stand- 
ing memorial of his generosity. 

In April, 1877, he was elected mayor of the city without opposition, and by repeated reelec- 
tions still holds that office. He takes the same interest in municipal matters as in his own private 
concerns; and in this position his public spirit and executive abilities are seen to the best advan- 
tage. 

JOHN G. FRANKE, M.D. 

NEWTON. 

WHILE the life history of him whose name heads this sketch has many things in common 
with that of most self-made men, it yet abounds in incidents and interesting experiences, 
and has an independence and spirit of self reliance peculiarly its own, and furnishes an example 
of perseverance, untiring energy and crowning success well worthy of emulation and imitation. 
He was born in the city of Munster, Prussia, February 17, 1817, of German parentage. His father 
was a physician. Both his parents died while he was young, and he went to live with an uncle, 
but soon afterward bade farewell to friends and home and native land, and started for the United 
States. This was in 1837. His uncle furnished him money sufficient to pay for his passage, but 
when he reached his new home he was without money, friends or influence, but had a fixed pur- 
pose and a determination to succeed. The voyage was one of thrilling incidents. Soon after 
they were at sea the vessel sprung a leak, and they were thirteen weeks in crossing the ocean, 
and at times were in a most perilous position. The young doctor took his stand among the 
deck hands, and went into active service, and was constantly expecting the moment to come when 
they would have to quit the vessel and take to the smaller boats, but they finally landed in New 
Orleans in safety. 

The doctor then began the practice of his profession, to which he was fully adapted, having 
been brought up in it from early youth, and met with great success from the beginning. He 
continued his practice in New Orleans for five years, making considerable money, which he sub- 
sequently used in traveling throughout the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains, and 
finally stopped for a short time in Iowa and Missouri, eventually settling, about 1848, at Newton, 
Illinois, which continued to be his home until his death. 

He followed his profession continuously for twenty-seven years, and came to rank among the 
leading physicians of central Illinois. By close confinement to the duties of his extensive prac- 
tice, his health became greatly impaired; so much so that he feared he would be compelled to 
abandon his practice; but after an extended trip through California and other western states, 
where he spent about a year, he returned with renewed strength, and entered vigorously again 
into his practice. He was not only eminent as a practitioner, but also made his profession a 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 4OI 

financial success, accumulating considerable wealth, which he used very freely and judiciously. 
He was always public spirited and generous, and did much good throughout the county, and 
contributed not a little to the prosperity and well-being of the little city of Newton, in which he 
resided about thirty-five years. 

Doctor Franke continued in active practice until 1880, when he had an attack of cardiac drop- 
sy, which was the disease which proved fatal to his father, after which time, until his death, he 
was an invalid, and a patient sufferer. He died March 15, 1883. In 'political sentiment Doctor 
Franke was always a democrat, and was formerly a very active worker in the democratic party. 
Two years after he settled in Newton he was married to Miss Gertrude Fisher, who is a native of 
Prussia, but at that time was living in Newton, having left her home and native land when fifteen 
years of age, coming to America with her aunt. They had nine children, six of whom are living. 
The eldest two, Adam A. and John J., are practicing physicians, both practicing in Newton. 
Another brother, Peter, has taken one course of lectures, and is now running the largest drug 
store in Newton, which was formerly owned by his father. 

Doctor A. A. Franke is a young man of ability and promise in his profession. He was born 
at Newton in September, 1852; pursued his professional studies at the Kentucky School of Medi- 
cine, graduating therefrom in the spring of 1877, and July 4 following returned to his home and 
established himself in his profession. He has been very successful, and has made for himself a 
fair reputation, which is constantly growing. He was married September 14, 1S80, to Miss Lizzie 
Nigh, a daughter of Mr. Fuller Nigh, an old settler of Newton. 

Although Doctor John G. Franke has gone from the acene of his labors, his work lives after 
him, and his name will long be cherished in the memories of all who knew him as that of an 
upright citizen and a just and honorable man. 



ELIJAH L. MARSHALL, M.D. 

KEITHSBURG. 

ELIJAH LARISON MARSHALL, the oldest physician in practice at Keithsl)urg, and one 
of the leading men of his profession in Mercer county, is a native of New Jersey, and was 
born near Trenton, September 24, 1823. His father was William Marshall, in his early and mid- 
dle life a merchant and stock dealer; also a prominent politician, and for several years a member 
of the New Jersey legislature. His mother, before her marriage, was Catharine Larison. Both 
parents were born in New Jersey, and died at Cordova, Rock Island county, Illinois, where the 
family settled about 1837. 

Our subject received his literary and medical education at the University of the City of New 
York; settled at Keithsburg in August, 1850, and has been in general and successful practice 
here for nearly thirty-three years. In 1862, while the civil war was in progress. Doctor Marshall 
became connected with the 84th regiment Illinois infantry as a medical officer, and was in the 
service one year. His regiment was in the Army of the Cumberland, and in General Crittenden's 
corps and Palmer's brigade. 

Doctor Marshall has held a few civil offices, such as town trustee and school director, but has 
kept out of all political offices, and given his time to his professional duties. He votes the demo- 
cratic ticket, but is not a strong partisan. 

He married, July i, 1852, Miss Sarah Elizabeth McBride, of Mercer township, near Keiths- 
burgh, and of three children, the fruit of this union, only one son, Tom A., is living. He is a 
druggist at Keithsburg. The other two children died young. The doctor's wife is a daughter 
of the late James McBride, one of the oldest settlers in this county, and one of the most enter- 
prising men of that class — the pioneers in this part of the state. 

A writer in the "History of Mercer County" thus speaks of our subject: 

"As a practitioner of medicine and surgery Doctor Marshall stands deservedly high in the 



402 UN/TED STATUS BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



\ 



estimation of all, and not the least so in the estimation of his professional brethren. But it is in 
the department of surgery perhaps that the doctor has done his best work and earned his highest 
triumphs. Few practitioners outside the large cities have performed a greater number of intricate 
and capital operations or met with a more uniform success in operative surgical procedures than 
has the subject of this sketch. His close observation of pathological conditions, his success in 
weighing the relations of cause and effect, and his almost intuitive judgment and decision at 
the bedside, have secured for him a reputation as consulting physician and surgeon second to 
none in this county. Generous and hospitable in his home circle, courteous and affable in every- 
day life, strong and enduring in his personal friendships, thorough in his professional attainments, 
earnest in his warfare against disease, with an almost chivalric fidelity to the sick and afflicted 
consigned to his care. Doctor Marshall has stamped the impress of his marked individuality upon 
the history and daily life of the large community in which he has lived and labored for nearlv 
the third of a centurv. 



HON. EDWIN- H. JOHN.STON. 

rORf BYRON. 

EUWIN HORACE JOHNSTON, attorney-at-law, and formerly a member of the general 
assembly of Illinois, dates his birth at Barnet, Caledonia county, Vermont, September i8, 
1823. His father, Alexander Johnston, was born in the same state, and his grandfather, Alexan- 
der Johnston, Sr., was from Scotland. The mother of Edwin was Almira (Pratt) Johnston, a 
native of Peacham, Vermont. He learned the carpenter's trade of his father, whom he aided 
more or less at that business; received part of his education at the Peacham Academy, and at 
sixteen years of age commenced teaching, having that winter the largest school and the highest 
wages of any teacher in the town. He taught three consecutive winters in \'ermont, attending 
the academy the rest of his time, and paying his own way. 

In the spring of 1844 he went to New Alexandria, Westmoreland countv, Pennsylvania, where 
he attended an academ3^ and taught a public school and music now and then, for three more 
years, having, all those academic days, the legal profession in his eye. He studied law at Hamil- 
ton, Ohio, with Hon. William Bebb, who was chosen governor at that time, still supporting him- 
self by teaching, remaining in his office for three years. At the end of that time Mr. Johnston 
was admitted to the bar at Hamilton (1847), and practiced there until June. 1856, when he settled 
in Port Byron. 

While at Hamilton he married, in 1848, Miss Ellen Morris, who died in 1854, leaving a son 
and daughter, the daughter only now living. Mr. Johnston has always been in general practice, 
and has had fair success in his business. He is a man of unbending integrity and high-minded 
purposes, and his neighbors have great confidence in him as a legal adviser. 

In August, 1862, Mr. Johnston went into the army, as captain of company G, 126th Illinois 
infantry, and served nearly two years, when his health failed, and he was obliged to resign. He 
was at the siege of Vicksburg, and afterward his regiment was in General Steele's department, 
and at the- taking of Little Rock. The left lung of Captain Johnston has been hepatized for 
eighteen years, and during that period he has had no use of it. A chronic diarrhoea, contracted 
in the army, still clings to him, and he has not been a sound and thoroughly healthy man since 
1864. He draws a pension. 

Our subject was a member of the county board of supervisors for a long time, and chairman 
of that board for five or six terms. He was a member of the legislature from 1871 to 1875; was 
on the judiciary committee during all that period; was chairman of the committees on inland 
commerce and navigation, and railroads and warehouses, and a member of the committee which 
framed and reported the railroad and warehouse laws now in force in this state, and of the com- 
mittee for the revision of the statutes. His record as a legislator is truly honorable. 

Captain Johnston was a whig in his younger years, and on the demise of that party affiliated 



UNITED STATES PIOGRAPIIICA L DICTIONARY. 4O3 

with the republican, and may be called one of the constituent members of the latter party. He 
was a member of the state convention which met at Decatur, and which by vote recommended 
Abraham Lincoln as a suitable candidate for president of the United States; on which occasion 
Mr. Lincoln was brought into the hall on the shoulders of some of the delegates, and made one 
uf his characteristic speeches. In those days our subject was one of the wheel-horses of his party 
in Rock Island county, being quite prominent in county, district and state conventions. He has 
licit the vital power that he had before the war, but according as his strength is, he is still willing 
to work for the continuance in power of the great party of freedom; at least while it is true to its 
principles and the best interests of the country. 

Captain Johnston is a stockholder, director and secretary of the Port Byron Lumber Com- 
pany, and a public-spirited citizen. He is a Royal Arch Mason, a member and trustee of the 
Congregational Church, and a man whose moral and religious character is unquestioned. His 
present wife was Miss Jane Saville, of Krie, Whiteside county, Illinois. They were married in 
December, 1858, and have had three children, losing one of them. Saville is a graduate of the 
University of Iowa, and a law student with his. father; and Edwin J. is studying for the medi- 
cal profession; Mattie, the third child and only daughter, died at the age of seven years, while 
her parents were attending the Centennial at Philadelphia, in August, 1876. She was taken sud- 
denly ill, and they hurried home to find her a corpse. She was a bright scholar, standing at the 
liead of her class, and a pet playmate among the children of Port Byron. 



WILLIAM ALLP:N JORDAN. 

MORRIS. 

THE subject of this sketch is the son of Allen Jordan and Catharine (Dayton) Jordan, and 
was born at Hudson, Columbia county, New York, July 17, 1829. His father was a prac- 
ticing lawyer of Hudson, and in 1839 the mayor of the city. Ambrose L. Jordan, who succeeded 
John Van Buren as attorney-general of New York in 1850, defeating him in a well-fought canvass, 
and who became famous in the defense of Big Thunder, the chief of the Anti-Renters, and his 
principal followers, was the paternal uncle of Mr. Jordan. Coming of a family of successful law- 
yers, it was natural that his own early aspirations should be in the same direction, and it is more 
than probable that they would have been realized had not a dreadful calamity overtaken his 
father when he was about eleven years old. At the age of forty-two his father was stricken with 
paralysis, which deprived him of speech, when in the full tide of prosperity, and full of vigor, 
ambition and hope. William was the elder of two children by a first wife, and Mr, Jordan had a 
family of seven by his second wife, when overtaken by this calamity. For seven years the family 
struggled against fate, but the father had finally to abandon his profession, and in 1847 came 
West, where on a piece of land his bo\'s could more effectually aid him in making a living. They 
reached Plainfield, Will county, in May, and for the first year rented a piece of land. The year 
following Mr. Jordan settled his family on a piece of government land, in the town of Seward, in 
Kendall countv, which was named at his suggestion after William H. Seward, with whom he was 
familiar, and between whom and himself a warm friendship existed. 

William was at the academy in Hudson at the time of his father's misfortune, and continued 
his studies three years longer, or until fourteen years of age, but had then to give up his studies 
and go energetically to work to help support the family. When eighteen years old he came west 
with them, and was, until he married, of great assistance to the family. These were years of 
arduous toil and great privation and self-denial. While he felt that he was capable of filling a 
higher sphere in life, he abandoned at the call of duty all his hopes and aspirations, and be- 
came a farmer. His summers for several years were spent on the farm, and his winters in 
teaching school. 

November t, 185,5, when past twenty-four years of age, he marriefl Miss Anna E. Wing, the 



404 UNITED STATF.S lUOGRAPHICAT. DTCTIONARY. 

daughter of Captain Clifton Wing, of Sandwich, Massacliusetts, and removed to a piece of land 
of his own. He had previously bought roo acres of prairie land, to which he very soon added 
no acres more, and began his married life undermost favorable auspices. For about twelve years 
he stuck to his farm. About 1865 he began to realize the immense demand for agricultural im- 
plements which a dense farming population on the rich virgin soil of the prairies of Illinois 
was soon to make, and saw in it an opportunity for wealth, beyond what he could hope to 
attain in farming. He at once sold his farm at a fine figure, and invested his capital in the 
business at Minooka, Grundy county. He began to do a very prosperous business, made 
money rapidly, and continually enlarged his operations until he had no less than seventeen sub- 
agencies, and did a much larger business than any other dealer in that part of the state. But 
the grange movement came and demoralized prices and business generally, until in his efforts to 
keep up till the craze passed away he lost heavily. For several years he lost money as fast as he 
had previously made it. The usual unreliability of agents also had a part in his misfortunes, and 
his resources were seriously crippled. In 1870 he sold out entirely at Minooka, and moved to 
Morris, where he has continued to prosecute his business with much less spread than formerly, 
but with more safety and satisfaction, and with equal success. He now does the largest business 
in his line in the county. 

Mr. Jordan has never been an office seeker, but in January, 1882, he received the appointment 
of postmaster at Morris, which he has administered to the entire satisfaction of his neighbors. He 
is a republican in politics, a staunch temperance man, and fully alive to the issues of the hour. It 
need not be said that Mr. Jordan is a very popular man, and widely known. He is one of the pio- 
neers of northern Illinois, and as such, plain, simple, hospitable and generous to a fault. He is 
public-spirited and active in every public enterprise, open, frank, genial and enthusiastic in his 
friendships. He sometimes regrets the necessity which checked his early ambitions, but finds in 
the consciousness of having done his duty a full reward. 

He is the father of seven children, of whom four survive, and his home is a very happy and 
prosperous one. 

CHARLE.S H. RICHINGS, M.D. 

ROCKFORD. 

CHARLES HENRY RICHINGS, one of the oldest physicians and surgeons in Winnebago 
county, Illinois, is a native of Warwickshire, England, his birth being dated February 26, 
1815. His father was Rev. Benjamin Richings, A.M., an Episcopal minister, and for fifty-six 
years rector of one parish. He and his predecessor were rectors of the one parish for more than 
a century. Benjamin Richings married Harriet Goodacre, and both died in the old countr\' at 
eighty-four years of age. Mrs. Richings was a relative of Wilberforce, the great philanthropist, 
and an uncle of hers. Captain Lewis, fought under Wellington in Spain, and his monument in 
Westminster Abbey was erected by the soldiers of his regiment. Her family lost all their prop- 
erty fighting for Charles I. Our subject was educated in Belgium, where he had an uncle, who 
was in the battle of Waterloo when the nephew was four months old, and who was detailed, and 
remained in that country until his death. It is worthy of note that with this family originated a 
famous breed of hunting horses — of a bright chestnut color, and celebrated for their great en- 
durance and noble bearing — the sire and dam of which were hidden in a bunch of fagots, and 
so kept secreted from Cromwell's army, and remained in the family ever since. 

After finishing his medical education. Doctor Richings spent some time in hospitals at Brus- 
sels, Paris,- London, etc., and in 1836 came to the United States, settling at first in Lysander, ten 
miles west of Rockford, and a few years later moved into this city. He attended a course of 
lectures in Rush Medical College, and received the degree of doctor of medicine from that insti- 
tution. 

Doctor Richings has been in general practice in Rockford between thirty and forty years, and 



prosperous n 

ill>v nillU ■KJ lUlU no less th'' 

other dealer in that part 
;ind business generally, un 

■" ' ■" ■"■ ■' ' - he lost nu'ii' 

larl in his mi 
7u he ^■ iitircly at Minooka, . 

,...-■ his bus;.. ' '-n".li '.^^^ -ill.-,! irl 

id with equal su< 

..nary, 1882, he ;ifr'\-e(1 the api 
i ministered to the entire satisf., I'.is neig': 

iSiues of thi 
TTe is nne 

imbitiors, h 
inscjousness 

■' father ot 1'* IS a very .' 



i. Kit ill 

!TF\"R , .; ;iii,l surgeons ir. W'Imt' 

iig datei' 
■ ii Lpisci.jjiil iMinister, and ioi ..av-.six 
, , rectors of tlic o\i<i parish (nr -ii.,,-!- Ili.n! 

min Rich i in the 

!i)i(.:j, tile great ; 
;a Spain, and his 
iiment. Her family lost all t' 
LCiica ■u " ' .|^^ where he had 
;>»\v 'vas f'-",!i old, and who was 

note that with this family originated a ; 
• > - I ' - T-d celebrated 'T-'' ■ • ■■-■=■' 

'lie sire :i iden in a bn 

<d in the iamily e 

ig at fir 
•lis city. He att' 

ilivcior I if medic ' 



u) Kockford intwccn ihuLy and 1 



I 



*. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 407 

has long stood in the front rank in his profession in Winnebago county, and indeed in this section 
of the state. Though making a specialty of no branch of the healing art, he has long been 
accounted very skillful in surgery, and has a large share of the business in that line. The doctor 
is thoroughly wedded to his profession, and has made it his life study, refusing all civil and polit- 
ical offices, and everything likely to distract his mind and attention from his legitimate calling. 

In the early part of the civil war, directly after the battles of Donelson and Shiloh, he was 
telegraphed to by Adjutant-General Fuller, and, obeying the summons, spent a few weeks each 
time in the hospitals. On the trip from Pittsburgh Landing to Saint Louis he had medical 
charge of the government boat and surgeons on board. 

Doctor Richings reached, many years ago, the scarlet degree in Odd-Fellowship, and is a 
Knight Templar in the Masonic order, but we doubt if he often sees the inside of a lodge of either 
kind. His numerous professional calls take the precedence of everything else. He is a member 
of the Episcopal church, and a man of sterling character. 

He married, in 183S, Miss Mary Stevenson, of UUesthorpe, Leicestershire, England, and they 
have one son, Henry Richings, M,D., a graduate of the Medical University of New York, anil 
one of tlie most promising physicians of the younger class in Rockford. 



JACKSON B. MrMICHAEL, D.D. 

MONMOl'III. 

JACKSON BURGESS McMICHAEL, president of Monmouth College, was born in Trumbull, 
now Mahoning, county, Ohio, July 22, 1833. His parents, John and Margaret (Burgess) Mc- 
Michael, were Scotch-Irish, and came from Ireland to this country when they were young, the 
father at fifteen years of age, the mother in her infancy. At the time of our subject's birth they 
were living on a farm near the village of Poland. 

Jackson was reared to farm work until seventeen years of age, and then learned the trade of 
a carriage-maker, serving an apprenticeship of two years. When learning that trade he began to 
cultivate a taste for reading, and found especial pleasure in study. He abandoned his trade, and 
for two or three years was engaged in studying and teaching. He finally entered Westminster 
College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, and was graduated in 1859. During one year while in 
college he taught the classes in mathematics, at the same time keeping up all his own studies. 

On leaving college, Mr. McMichael taught the academy at Greenville, Pennsylvania, for three 
months, and then concluded to take a theological course, and enter the ministry of the United 
Presbyterian church. Accordingly, he entered the seminary at Xenia, and took the full three 
years' course, finishing his studies in March, 1862. He was ordained by the Xenia presbytery, 
October 9 of that year, and was settled over the church at Sugar Creek, Greene county, Ohio, 
holding that pastorate for sixteen years. As a sermonizer he is strong rather than polished, 
rhetoric giving place to logic; is lucid in his style, methodical in his plan, and aims to enlighten 
the conscience, as well as to convince the judgment. He has a keen sense of the ridiculous, and 
can be witty, but rarely indulges in anything like humor in the pulpit. 

During much of the time that he was preaching at Sugar Creek he was a member of the board 
of trustees of the Theological Seminary, and president of that board; and from 1873 to 1878 he 
performed the double duties of pastor of the church and teacher in the seminary. Sugar Creek 
and Xenia being ten miles apart His chair was that of ecclesiastical history and government. 
In 1878 a vacancy occurred in the presidency of Monmouth College, and our subject was chosen 
to fill it. Here he has the chair of moral science, teaching, however, a variety of studies, such as 
evidences of Christianity, natural theology, etc. 

"As a scholar," writes an intimate friend of President McMichael, " he is no skimmer orsmat- 
terer. What he knows he knows, and what he does not know he does not pretend to know. In 
college his specialty was the mathematics. As regards languages he is partial to his mother 
41 



4o8 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

tongue. As an educator he has always been a success, whether it was a country school, tutor in 
college, professor in a theological seminary, or president of a college. He has great strength as 
a disciplinarian." 

He received the degree of doctor of divinity from Hanover College, Indiana, and his alma 
mater, both in the same year, 1877. 

Doctor McMichael was married October 16, 1862, to Mary Narcissa, daughter of Rev. Thomas 
Hanna, D.D., of Washington, Pennsylvania, and they have buried one son, and have four sons 
and one daughter living. The two elder sons, Thomas Hanna and John Charles, are members of 
the sophomore class, Monmouth College, and the others, who are old enough, are pursuing their 
studies. 

The institution over which the subject of this sketch presides was opened September 3, 1856; 
was incorporated February 17, 1857, and for twenty-five years has been training youth for spheres 
of usefulness in the world. In addition to classical and scientific courses, it has musical and art 
departments; a corps of about fifteen teachers in all; a library of two or three thousand volumes; 
an extensive philosophical and chemical apparatus; a cabinet, containing a large assortment of 
geological specimens, coins and other articles of interest to the student, and in short has every 
facility for prosecuting studies to the best advantage. Under the administration of President 
McMichael, the high standing of the institution is well maintained, and its influence broadening. 



AUGUSTUS VAN BUREN. 

CHIC A GO. 

AUGUSTUS VAN BUREN, son of Evart Van Buren, whose sketch follows this, was born in 
. Penn Yan, New York, March 20, 1832, and received his literary education at Kinderhook, 
the birth-place of his father, and the home, in his lifetime, of Martin Van Buren, president of the 
United States in 1837-1841. At sixteen years of age Augustus entered his father's office, and 
commenced the study of law, and he was admitted to the bar before he had reached his majority. 
In 1852 he caught the gold fever, went to California, and dug mineral, sold goods, and practiced 
law. A writer in the "Alliance," of Chicago, states that the first law case of our subject was the 
defense of an Indian tried for murder, before the mayor of Stockton. Mr. Van Buren won the 
case, as no one appeared for the prosecution. The Indian was to pay him a fee of $800, which 
he had safely deposited in the red man's bank — the earth; but the Indian was killed before the 
money was dug up, and our subject is still short of that fee. 

After remaining a long year in the Eldorado of the Pacific, Mr. Van Buren returned to his 
home in the Empire State, and soon afterward settled in Saint Clair, Michigan. While there he 
was nominated for district attorney of the county by the democrats, but the district was republi- 
can, and he was defeated. 

In 1865 our subject came to Chicago, a much larger field than the Michigan town, and much 
more favorable for the display of his legal talents, especially as a criminal lawyer. Time has 
shown that, for his own pecuniary advantage, and reputation, he made a wise choice in this last 
remove. We have seen it stated in some paper or periodical that he has been engaged in more 
than seventy capital cases, and that, with few exceptions, he has been on the winning side. His 
success as a criminal lawyer is, no doubt, second to that of no attorney in this city. Says the 
" Alliance " writer: 

" It might almost be said of him, as the pirate said of Rufus Choate, that he felt that the great 
advocate would clear him if he were found with the victim's money in his boots. But the pirate 
did not recognize the fact that Mr. Choate, in order to win a cause, had to believe in his client's 
innocence, and the same is true of Mr. Van Buren. That he has saved some criminals from the 
scaffold who ought to have felt the halter draw is undoubtedly true, but in a great majority of 
the cases, over one hundred in number, in which the public has had an interest, which he has 



A 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 4O9 

tried, and not one of which he has finally lost, it is fair to assume that the victims of circumstan- 
tial evidence have been saved from undeserved death by the shrewdness and eloquence of this 
advocate." 

Among the capital cases in which he has been engaged, and in which he, being attorney for 
the defense, gained the suit, we will mention only four or five: Edward Powers, indicted for 
murder, for killing a man with a stone or slug at the rolling-mills. Gregory Peri, who, on the 
day of the great fire, killed two men in the employ of Michael Keeley; tried on one indictment, 
convicted, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Not satisfied with this, the prosecution tried 
him on the other indictment, and he was sentenced to be hung. Mr. Van Buren took the case to 
the supreme court, and it affirmed the judgment. Peri's counsel went to the governor, and he 
suspended the sentence. Peri was pardoned three years ago, and is now out West. Joseph Craw- 
ford tried for the murder of William Shanley. Mr. Van Buren, with great industry and perse- 
verance, saved his neck. Joseph St. Peter and Mrs. Clarke, tried for the murder of Alviro Clarke, 
the husband of Mrs. Annie Clarke. The trial, it will be recollected, lasted three weeks, and the 
whole nation, so to speak, became interested in it. The accused parties were acquitted, and Mr. 
Van Buren, as leading counsel for the defense, added to his laurels on that occasion. 

Mr. Van Buren understands fully the intricacies of the law; is sharp to discover and quick to 
take advantage of any defect in it that would favor his client, and stands by that client with a 
persistency which is simply tireless and astonishing. 

Mr. Van Buren is a law partner of his father, and the firm has an extensive practice in the 
civil as well as criminal courts. 

Augustus Van Buren married Miss Harriette W. Groesbeck, at Chicago, in 1866, and we 
believe they have no children. 



ELIAS S. POTTER, M.D. 

OREGON. 

ELIAS SMITH POTTER, deceased, was a native of Port Hope, Ontario, dating his birth 
September 15, 1820. His father, Elias Potter, a farmer, was from New York; his grand- 
father, Philip Potter, was from Germany, and his mother, Elizabeth (Bedford) Potter, was born 
in Canada, her parents being from New York, and of English descent. Doctor Potter received 
a partial academic and theological education at Amherst, Ontario; came to Killbuck, Ogle 
county, in 1838, and took up large tracts of land. The next year he went to Peru, La Salle county, 
and was in a drug store there five years, studying medicine at the same time, at first with his 
uncle, Doctor William Smith, and finishing with Doctor J. H. Elmer, of the same place; attended 
lectures at Rolph's College, Toronto, and returning to Illinois obtained a license of the state 
board of examiners. 

In 1844 Doctor Potter settled in Oregon, and was in practice there for thirty-nine years. He 
spent much time attending lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and kept well brushed up 
in the different branches of his profession. The doctor was largely a self-educated man, and per- 
haps never studied with more avidity than during the last few years of his life! His practice 
extended into Lee and Winnebago, as well as over much of Ogle county. He was examining 
surgeon for the third congressional district for 1862 to 1864. He was well known, and greatly 
esteemed in Ogle and adjoining counties. 

Young men in Ogle county having the medical profession in view, regarded it as a great favor 
to study with our subject, and he had about a dozen students who have graduated at different 
medical colleges, and are now prominent in the fraternity. They loved him like a father. 

He was a member of the legislature in 185 1 and 1852, his politics being republican. 

Doctor Potter married in Oregon, July 4, 1845, Alice Ross Conroy, a native of Vermont, and 
they had six children, only four of them now living: Ella Blanche, wife of Alonzo L. Ettinger, of 



4IO UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIQXARY. 



'J 



Iowa Falls, Iowa; Charles Freemont, druggist, Oregon; Frank Choate, in business with his brother- 
in-law, at Iowa Falls, and Elizabeth Eloise, who is at home. 

Doctor Potter died March 2, 1883, and the members of the Grand Army of the Republic, and 
the members of the Ogle County Medical Society, took suitable action on his demise. We append 
the doings of the medical society at its meeting held March 7, 1S83. 

Whereas, The Ogle County Medical Society is again called upon to register the loss of one of its oldest and most 
honored inembers, by the death of Doctor Elias S. Potter ; the physicians of Ogle county lose a worthy colleague, who 
has labored and dwelt among us for more than forty years. He made his home in the city of Oregon in 1844, and 
acquired a very large practice, enjoying the love and confidence of his patients and friends as a most estimable man. 
In the midst of his professional duties, and in the very act of visiting the sick, he was called suddenly away. The Ogle 
County Medical Society give voice to the unanimous sentiment of the profession in the expression of their sorrow at 
the sudden demise of Doctor Potter, and their deep sympathy with the bereaved family ; therefore, 

Resolved, That in the death of Doctor Potter the medical profession of Ogle county has lost one of its most honor- 
able, upright and most respected brothers, whose judgment, kindness and genuine congeniality we have always 
esteemed and admired. 

Resolved, That we sincerely mourn and deplore the loss of our brother, whose gentlemanly conduct, generosity of 
heart and professional ability were the characteristics ot his life. 

Resolved, That in the labor and character of our brother, we have an example of industry, manliness and useful- 
ness, in a high degree commendable and worthy of imitation. 

Resolved, That we tender the bereaved family of the deceased our heart-felt sympathy and condolence in this, their 
sad bereavement and affliction. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions of respect and condolence be sent to the family, also to the Ogle county 
papers for publication, and to the Chicago " Medical Journal and Examiner." 



c 



HON. LEANDER L. GREEN. 

ODELL. 
EANDER LIVINGSTON GREEN, a successful fanner, and late member of the Illinois leg- 



islature, is a son of Caleb and Mary (Oakes) Green, and was born in the town of Sweden, 
Monroe county, New York, January 24, 1826. His father was born in Rhode Island, and was a 
grandson of a brother of Nathaniel Greene, of revolutionary fame. The father of Mary Oakes was 
a minister of the gospel. She was born in Oneida county, New York. Caleb Green was the first 
member of the family to spell his name without the final "e." In 1830 he brought his family as far 
west as Ashtabula county, Ohio, and settled in the town of Cherry Valley, on 740 acres of forest 
land, which Leander aided in clearing after he was old enough, being early and thoroughly inured 
to hard work. He finished his education at Kindsman Academy, where he attended one year. 

In 185s he came to Illinois, and settled on a farm of 170 acres on Buck Creek, La Salle county, 
seven miles from Ottawa ; and while there held nearly every township office from clerk up to 
supervisor, filling the latter post for several years. During the civil war he was an agent for fill- 
ing the county's quota of soldiers, being an active and thorough-going war democrat. 

While the civil war was in progress, Mr. Green purchased forty-one acres of excellent land, 
near the village of Odell, and in 1S70 moved to this place and settled on it. He has also between 
1300 and 1400 acres of land in Nebraska ; owns a block at Walnut, Pottawatamie county, Iowa, 
also a store in the same place, and has other property. His accumulations are mostly the fruit of 
his industry and wise calculations. 

Mr. Green is agent for a large tract of improved land, near Odell, owned by eastern parties. 
He is in very comfortable circumstances, and has the good sense to let others do the fretting. 

Mr. Green has held the office of supervisor in Odell, and in 1880 was elected to the32d general 
assembly, being the democratic minority candidate, and receiving the largest vote, we understand, 
ever cast in Livingston county for any one candidate. 

Our subject was married April 16, 1847, to Miss Marilla Randolph, of Cherry Valley, Ohio, 
and they have three sons and one daughter. Gurley J. is a hardware merchant at Stromsburgh 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 4II 

Nebraska ; Franklin H. is a hardware merchant, grain dealer and real-estate agent at Walnut, 
Iowa ; Oakley E. is a real-estate agent and banker at Genoa, Nebraska ; and Maud I,, who is 
twenty years younger than her youngest brother, is attending school in Odell. 

Mr. Green is very fond of hunting, and usually spends part of the autumn each year at the 
West, going as far as Wyoming territory, and the eastern part of Colorado. His specialties in the 
game line are deer, elk and antelope, and he is a first-class shot. His game costs him about a dol- 
lar a pound, but he hugely enjoys the sport of getting it, and always returns to Illinois in good 
order. 

CHARLES SCOTT, M.D. 

BEL VIDERE. 

ONE of the leading physicians and surgeons in Boone county is the gentleman whose name 
we have placed at the head of this sketch, and who, though in practice but a few years, has 
a very extensive business. He is the son of a physician, Doctor Amos Scott, and both were born 
in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, — the son, May 26, 1850. His mother's name was Harriet 
McCarty, who was also a native of Pennsylvania. 

In 1865 the family came to this state, and settled at Pecatonica, Winnebago county, where the 
father had a farm, as well as practiced his profession. Charles received a public and high-school 
education, farming during the summer season until of age, teaching school two winters. He 
studied medicine with his father; attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, receiv- 
ing his diploma in February, 1875, and after remaining at Saint Luke's Hospital one year, 
settled in Belvidere. He stepped very soon into a good practice, which has been growing from 
year to year, until he has as much to do as any one man, having any regard for his own health, 
could desire. The extent of his rides may be inferred from the fact that he keeps six horses, 
none of which are suffering from want of exercise. He is United States pension surgeon for 
Boone county, and enjoys a fine reputation as a surgeon. 

Doctor Scott loves his profession; is a diligent student; keeps himself well supplied with med- 
ical literature, and hence is a growing man. He is a member of the Illinois State Medical 
Society, and has a highly respectable standing in the fraternity. He has reported a few interest- 
ing cases for medical periodicals. 

The wife of Doctor Scott was Miss Clara E. Tousley, sister of Reuben J. Tousley, proprietor 
of the Julien House, Belvidere, their marriage being dated May 20, 1877. They have one son, 
Charles, aged five years. 

URBAN D. MEACHAM. 

FREER OR T. 

URBAN DUNCAN MEACHAM, lawyer, and one of the early mayors of Freeport, was born 
at Sheldon, Genesee (now Wyoming) county. New York, March 12, 1816. His father, James 
Meacham, also a lawyer, was born in Otsego county, same state. The grandfather of Urban. 
Jeremiah Meacham, was one of those stanch patriots who thought more of freedom than of the 
mother country, and who promptly rebelled against her oppressions, enlisting in the Connecticut 
troops. He was in the army when the traitor Arnold undertook to betray it into the hands of 
the British general, and with Washington at Valley Forge, going, in fact, through the war to its 
glorious end. He then moved into Otsego county, and spent his last days in a free country, 
dying in the town of Burlington, that county. 

The mother of Urban was Patience Wallace, who was of Scotch descent, and related to the 
Duncans, who were of the same nationality. She became a widow in 1826, and in 1836 took her 
children, three sons, to Walworth county, Wisconsin, then in the territory of Michigan, and set- 
tled on a farm in the town of Troy. Urban, the second son, remained with his mother, aiding to 



412 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



\ 



cultivate the land, until past his majority, studying law meanwhile, during his spare hours, at 
Elkhorn. There he was admitted to the bar in 1846, and there practiced for six years. While a 
resident of Elkhorn he held several town offices, was postmaster from 1845 to 1849 (the Polk 
administration), and served as state's attorney for four years. 

In 1852 Mr. Meacham settled in Freeport, where he has practiced his profession a little more 
than thirty years, still, however, retaining the homestead farm in Wisconsin. His practice em- 
braces all branches, and extends into all the courts, and he has had a good run of business, his 
profession affording him a competency. Being an old resident of this county, and very well 
known, he has a large circle of warm friends. 

Since coming to Freeport, Mr. Meacham held, several years ago, the office of state's attorney 
for the period of four years, his being the old fourteenth district, which consisted of Winnebago, 
Stephenson and Jo Daviess counties. He was also mayor of the city of Freeport one term, being 
elected in 1862 as a war democrat. He voted for Mr. Lincoln in 1864, because he did not think 
it wise to change the administration during the civil war, and latterly he has acted with the 
greenback party. 

Mr. Meacham was first married in 1836, to Miss Prudence Geddes, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, 
she dying in i860, leaving two children, only one of them, William P., now living, he being on 
the farm in Wisconsin; and the second time in 1864, to Mrs. Eliza A. (Coon) Thompson, having 
by her three children, only two of them, a daughter and son, Jessie and James, now living. 



HON. THOMAS G. BLACK, M.D. 

CLA YTON. 

THOMAS GILLESPIE BLACK, a member of the state legislature from Adams county, was 
born in Murray county, Tennessee, June i, 1825. For his parentage and the pedigree of the 
family the reader is referred to the sketch of his father, found on other pages of this work. When 
Thomas was about nine years old (1834) the family came into this state, and settled in that part 
of Morgan county which was cut off and became Scott county. The subject of these notes was 
engaged in farming and attending school during the winter season until about eighteen, teaching 
also about four or five months. He studied medicine with Doctor William H. Wilson, of Win- 
chester; attended lectures in the medical department of the University of Kentucky, at Louisville, 
from which he received the degree of doctor of medicine, and in June, 1849, settled in Clayton, 
Adams county, where he has had a successful practice for more than a score of years. 

Doctor Black went into the army in August, 1861, as captain of company C, 3d Missouri cav- 
alry, and some time afterward was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and subsequently to colonel, 
of the same regiment. Its field of operations was the states of Missouri and Arkansas, and Colo- 
onel Black served for three years. At Hartsville, Missouri, in a single engagement, no less than 
thirteen bullets went through his clothes and hat or grazed his saddle. 

Colonel Black has held a few local offices, such as school director, supervisor, etc., and was a 
member of the thirtieth general assembly, and is now a member of the thirty-third. In the former 
body he was chairman of the committee on corporations; in the latter body he is chairman of the 
committee on labor and manufactures, and is also on the committees on appropriations, peniten- 
tiary, contingent expenses, elections, and insurance. 

In early life the colonel was a whig, and on the demise of that party transferred his allegiance 
to the republican party. He has been a delegate to several state conventions, and in 1880 was 
sent to the national convention which nominated General Garfield. In Adams county and in the 
legislature he is a man of a good deal of influence. He is surgeon of the 2d brigade national 
guards. 

Colonel Black is high up in masonry, being past commander of the commandery; and he has 
taken all the degrees in the encampment of Odd-Fellowship. He is an elder in the Disciple 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ^I^ 

Church, and an active man in Sunday-schools, temperance, and every good cause. April 15, 1849, 
he was married to Miss Martha F. Nance, who was from Giles county, Tennessee, and they have 
buried two children and have four living: Mary Ellen is the wife of Doctor Robert Briggs, of 
Clayton; Martha F. is the wife of Lee Wells, of Creston, Iowa; Edwin T. is a graduate of Rush 
Medical College, and practicing at Clayton; and Joseph N. is a graduate of Rush, class of '83. 



GENERAL ISAAC H. ELLIOTT. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

ISAAC HUGHES ELLIOTT, adjutant-general of the state, is a native of Illinois, his birth 
being dated near Princeton, Bureau county, January 25, 1837. His father, John Elliott, was 
born in Clermont county, Ohio, and his grandfather, John Elliott, Sr., was from Ireland, immi- 
grating to this country in the latter part of the last century, and settling near Cincinnati, where 
he died. The mother of Isaac was Mary Hughes, a native of Ohio. She had six children, of 
whom he was the eldest child. He was reared on his father's farm, prepared for college, and 
entered the University of Michigan, being graduated in the class of '61. The country was in the 
full blaze of civil war; his patriotic fires had been kindling since the fall of Sumter, and on 
receiving the degree of bachelor of arts he enlisted in the 33d Illinois infantry as captain of com- 
pany E, his regiment being at first in Missouri, under General Curtiss. Captain Elliott was 
captured October 15, 1861, at Big River Bridge, in that state, and paroled. He was with his 
regiment all through the war — at the battles of Champion Hill and Black River, the siege and 
capture of Vicksburg; was in the department of the gulf, going into Texas, and, returning, was 
at the siege of Mobile, etc. He was promoted regularly, clear through from captain to brigadier- 
general. 

General Elliott was mustered out late in the autumn of 1865, and returned to Bureau county 
to take the office of county treasurer, to which he had just been elected, serving one term. He 
has a farm near Princeton, which he was cultivating when, in August, 1881, he was appointed to 
his present state office, to which he is now giving his careful attention. He is well fitted for the 
post, and richly merits the honor conferred upon him. 

General Elliott is a Blue-Lodge Mason, holding his connection with the Princeton Lodge. He 
married in 1867 Miss Elizabeth H. Denham, step-daughter of Hon. Owen Lovejoy, and they have 
four children. 

HON. HENRY RAAB. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

THE State superintendent of public instruction, whose name is at the head of this sketch, is a 
native of Wetzlar, Rhenish Prussia, a son of Philip Louis and Justina (Kayser) Raab, and 
was born June 20, 1837. His father was a tanner and currier by trade, an industrious, well-to-do 
rnan, and gave his children a good education. Henry was educated in the kindergarten, the com- 
mon schools, and the Royal Gymnasium, taking the scientific course, which included also Latin, 
French and English. 

In 1853 Mr. Raab came to this country, worked awhile at the trade of currier, in Cincinnati, 
subsequently had the supervision of an uncle's farm near Saint Louis, and in 1857 became an 
assistant teacher in the public schools at Belleville, Saint Clair county, this state, being associated 
at one period with Hon. J. P. Slade, late state superintendent of schools. In early school work 
our subject had the assistance and counsel of that eminent educator, George Bunsen, who was a 
pupil of Pestalozzi. 

Becoming many years ago quite familiar with the standard works on education, Mr. Raab has 
been greatly benefited by the study v^^hich he devoted to them. He was connected with the pub- 



414 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



lie schools of Belleville for fifteen years, and was superintendent of the city schools for ten years, 
making a praiseworthy record in his profession. He has attended many county teachers' insti- 
tutes, and some state conventions of scientists, and his lectures and discussions before such bodies 
were so able, and attracted so much attention that in 1882 the democratic party nominated him 
for the state office, to which he was elected, and the duties of which he is now performing with 
his accustomed zeal. He is an enthusiastic worker in the cause of education, and will, no doubt, 
honor the post which he fills. 

The kindergarten which he founded at Belleville in 1874, has had a highly creditable history, 
and is quite flourishing. He was librarian of the Saengerbund library at his home in Saint Clair 
county, for more than twenty years, and is full of public spirit and enterprise in all such matters. 

Mr. Raab was married at Belleville, in 1859, to Miss Mathilde Von Lengerken, who was from 
Ankum, Hanover, and they have three children living: Ernest P., a graduate of the medical 
department of the University of Pennsylvania, and in practice at Highland, Madison county, this 
state; Line A., a clerk in her father's office, and Mathilde, who is at school. 



EXCELSIOR IRON WORK.S. 

CHICAGO. 

THE business represented under the above name was organized by Carlile Mason, a brief out- 
line of whose biography is here recorded. He is a native Scotchman, and was born in the 
town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, in the month of May, 1817. His father, George Mason, was 
descended from a French officer, who was outlawed by the English government while fighting 
for Prince Charles in Scotland. He was a man of local prominence, and a leader in all the 
reforms of his day, and for many years a member of the town council, and was also chaplain of 
the poor-house and insane asylum. He died in 184S. 

Carlile was sent to a private school until twelve years of age, at which time he entered his 
father's factory for dressing cloth by a new process, discovered by his brother, and which it was 
desired to keep from the public. During this time he improved his spare hours by study of the 
common English branches, under a private teacher, and also acquired a limited knowledge of 
chemistry. 

Having decided to become a mechanic, he turned his attention in that direction, at the age of 
sixteen, and served for seven years, working his way up through all the various positions from a 
blacksmith, until he became an accomplished machinist. He now established himself in business 
on his own account, and was meeting with fair success, when occurred the financial failures of 
1842. In these failures he lost all his capital, and resolved to immigrate to the United States, 
and start anew. Accordingly, July 20 of that year, he sailed from Liverpool to New York, 
whence he went directly to Chicago, where he readily secured work at $20 per month. In the 
spring of 1843 he engaged as engineer for Frink and Walker, on the steamer Frontier, which 
plied between Peoria and Peru, on the Illinois River, carrying the mail to connect with the stages. 
Continuing in that position daring the summer, he, in the fall of that year, went to Sterling, Illi- 
nois, and opened a blacksmith shop. In this, however, he was not as successful as he had hoped 
to be, owing to the newness of the country, and in 1845 returned to Chicago, and accepted the 
position of foreman for Gates and Scoville, who had contracted to supply all the iron work for 
the Illinois and Michigan Canal. Here he had an opportunity to develop and extend his mechan- 
ical knowledge, of which he eagerly availed himself, and he also formed the acquaintance of 
many of the engineers of the canal, whom he found true and lasting friends. At the close of his 
engagement here, he was employed with J. W. Cobb in the manufacture of steam engines and 
boilers, and having been sent to Lake Winnebago to put an engine into a small steamer, he there 
engaged as engineer for the company, to run the steamer during the season of 1849. 

In the winter of 1849-50, having returned to Chicago, he was induced to forego a return to 





'/^i^y-^ 




^:i-cf'~t?-^ 



UNITED STATES lUOCRA I'll ICA L DICIIOXARV. 4I 7 

Scotland, for which he had made every preparation, and opening a small shop, made a contract 
with the gas company to lay the pipes across the Chicago River, an undertaking which he accom- 
plished with remarkable success; so much so that he was afterward employed in a similar opera- 
tion by the gas company at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His success in these undertakings made for 
him a fine reputation, and gave him a new start in his business, and from that time until the 
financial depression of 1S57 he continued to prosper in his operations and extend his works. 

A change, however, was awaiting him. The commercial and industrial depression resulting 
from the monetary crash so affected his business that he was compelled to succumb. His entire 
capital was swept away, and with nothing left but his fair name, energy, enterprise and an indom- 
itable will, he worked for six years liquidating the debts in which he had become involved. 

During the period in which the country was engaged in civil war the business flourished, and 
until 1873 each year marked a decided advance in the progress -of its operations. It was during 
this time, in i860, that he established the present Excelsior Iron works. In these works were 
afterward associated with him his two sons. The business was begun on a small scale, having 
but $500 capital, and at the beginning employed but six hands; but such was the progres,s of its 
operations that increased facilities were soon required, and at the end of two years about sixty 
hands were required in the different departments. The small shops occupied at the start have 
given place to an establishment of immense proportions, being 150 x 150 feet, and located on the 
corner of Clinton and Carroll streets; 220 hands are now employed, a capital of $125,000 is en- 
gaged, and the annual products amount to $400,000, 

The products of these works are extensively known, and comprise, besides a general line of 
machinery, steam engines, boilers, and other goods in that line. Their engines and boilers are 
noted for their many excellences, and are now numbered by thousands, and it is a notable fact 
that out of this large number there has never yet occurred an explosion. 

The company during the past year have constructed and sent out from their works five hori- 
zontal engines, sixteen-inch bore, twenty-four-inch stroke; four portable hoisting engines, eight- 
inch bore; two twelve-inch vertical engines; thirteen fence barbing machines; two sets of wind- 
ing engines, 150 horse power each, besides a large amount of other work. In their boiler depart- 
ment they have contracted to build and erect 164 boilers, fifteen hot-blast stoves, five blast 
furnaces, together with all the necessary connecting pipes, smoke stacks, etc. Of these boilers, 
seventy-two were cylinder boilers, forty-eight inches diameter, thirty-six feet long; eight cylinder 
boilers, forty-two inches diameter, thirty feet long; thirteen t\yo-flue boilers, forty-two inches 
diameter, twenty-four feet long; thirty-seven tubular boilers, sixty inches diameter, sixteen feet 
long; twelve tubular boilers, seventy-two inches diameter, eighteen feet long; two tubular boil- 
ers, seventy-two inches diameter, sixteen feet long; six tubular boilers, sixty-six inches diameter, 
sixteen feet long; two tubular boilers, sixty inches diameter, fifteen feet long; two tubular boil- 
ers, fifty-four inches diameter, sixteen feet long; one marine boiler, eight feet in diameter, nine- 
teen feet long; and the remaining nine were forty-eight inches diameter, twelve and fourteen feet 
long. The hot-blast stoves were twenty feet, one inch diameter, sixty feet high to spring of dome, 
and the furnaces were twenty-nine feet diameter and sixty-five feet high. For this work there 
has been delivered at their works between January i, 1880, and January i, 1881, 2,983,000 pounds 
of plate iron one-quarter inch thick, and upwards of 316,293 pounds of steel boiler plate; 93.222 
pounds of sheet iron, 130,000 pounds of rivets, 237,464 pounds of bar iron, 23,424 pounds of ham- 
mered shafting, 69,414 pounds of channel and I beams, and 62,857 pounds of angle iron, a pro- 
portionate amount of castings, boiler tubes, steel, brass, etc., have passed through their hands. 
The officers of this company are Carlile Mason, president; George Mason, vice-president; Will- 
iam L. Crawford, secretary, and J. A. Mason, superintendent of the works. 

Such, in brief, is the history of a business which has grown from a very humble beginning to 
a position which reflects the highest credit upon its managers. Mr. Mason's many sturdy quali- 
ties have gained for him a wide reputation as a practical and thorough business man, and aside 
from his private interests, he has been made the recipient of many public trusts. 
42 



41 8 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

In political sentiment he was formerly an ardent abolitionist, and since the organization of 
the republican party has been an earnest supporter of that body. During the war he was inspector 
of steamboats at Chicago. 

In 1870 he was elected to represent his district in the state legislature, and filled the office for 
two years. He was afterward president of the board of police and of the fire department of Chi- 
cago, and in 1876 was appointed by the governor of Illinois as a member of the state centennial 
committee. 

In religion he is of liberal Presbyterian views, and has been an influential member of the First 
Congregational Church of Chicago since its organization, in 1847. 

Mr. Mason was married in his native town, June 6, 1839, to Miss Jean McArthur, and of the; 
five children that have been born to them, two sons and one daughter are now living. The for- 
mer are associated with their father in business, and the daughter is the wife of a prominen 
dental surgeon of Chicago. 

Mr. Mason is the youngest of a family of eight sons and three daughters, of whom only one 
died in infancy. (3f these, seven immigrated to the United States, and all except our subject 
settled in Vermont, where lived an aunt, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Caledonia county, 
in that state, and whose descendants stlli live on the old farm near Ryegate. that was cleared in 
the eighteenth century. 

Mr. Mason has in his possession a letter written him by his father in 1844, four years prior to 
his death, in which he gave this advice: " Remember that your employer's interests are your inter- 
ests; and if you expect to do well, be honest to your employer, yourself, and your God." To the 
following of this he attributes much of his success. 



i 



REV. FRANCIS A. READ. 

POLO. 

REV. FRANCIS ASBURY READ, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Polo, Ogle 
county, is a son of Lewis and Roxy (Richardson) Read, and was born at Deerfield, Oneida 
county. New York, Februar}' 26, 1822. His father, a mechanic, and a soldier in the war of 1812- 
14, was born in eastern New York, and his mother in western New York. Francis received only 
a public-school education, being largely self-educated in the sciences, as well as wholly in theolo- 
gy. In his youth his health, part of the time, was poor, but he did some collecting for his father, 
and was a clerk awhile in a drug store. He had a taste for books, and sick or well, rarely wasted 
any time. 

He was converted in his native town when in his fourteenth year; moved with the family to 
Joliet, Illinois, in 1836; became a local preacher at Joliet in 1840, and in 1844 went on the Wau- 
ponset circuit. He then preached one year each at South Ottawa and Washington, Tazewell 
county, when his health failed and he was out of the conference one year. Being readmitted, he 
was stationed one year at the Blue Island mission. Wheeling circuit (Cook county), two years each 
at Libertyville (Lake county), Rockford, State street (now Wabash avenue), Chicago, Galena, 
Batavia, Rockford again, and Belvidere. The term of pastorate admissible was now changed 
from two to three years, and he served the latter period as pastor at Batavia and Freeport; was 
then presiding elder four years, with residence at Freeport, when, returning to station work, he 
was sent a third time to Rockford (Winnebago Street Church). He went tlience to Mendota; 
three years later to Lyndon, Whiteside county, and two years afterward came to Polo, where he 
is serving his second j'ear. 

The preaching of our subject has usually been attended with marked success, and it is safe to 
say that in the aggregate, nearly two thousand persons have been added to the several churches 
while he has been their pastor. Few ministers of any denomination in this part of the state have 
more warm personal friends than Mr. Read, and many have been the tokens of their regard for 



" UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 4ig 

liim. The preachers of Freeport district presented him a silver dinner and tea set at the con- 
ference when his term of presiding elder closed. At Mendota he received a gold-headed cane, 
and when he left Rockford, where he has preached in all seven years, the citizens of the place, 
outside his church, presented him with a horse, each gift being presented with earnest expres- 
sions of friendly feeling and fellowship with him in his untiring efforts to do good. 

While holding pastorates at Galena and Freeport, he built fine churches, and commenced the 
Court Street Church at Rockford, having it well under way when he left. His active work in 
three places has amounted to nineteen years, something which very few circuit preachers can say. 
He was treasurer of the conference missionary society for fourteen consecutive years, thousands 
of dollars passing through his hands annually. He was appointed chaplain of the 95th Illinois 
infantry in 1862, and joined his regiment, but owing to poor health, did not go into the field. 

Mr. Read was first married January i, 1849, to Miss Narcissa L. Nasen, daughter of Rev. John 
Nasen, a Methodist- Episcopal clergyman, of Elk Grove, Cook county, and she died August 18, 
i860, leaving one son, Francis Adelbert, now a merchant at Freeport, and four other children had 
preceded her to the spirit land. He was married the second time August 20, 1861, to Miss Jose- 
phine B. Jordan, daughter of Numa S. Jordan, lawyer, of Fulton county, Illinois, she being a 
graduate of the Rockford Female Seminary. They have had four children, all daughters, losing 
the oldest, Helen, at the age of ten years. The others are Allie May, Frances J. and Esther Lizzie. 



EBEN R. STONER, M.D. 

GRIGGSVILI^E. 

THE gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch is the oldest physician 
now in active practice at Griggsville, and has been in this (Pike) county, engaged in the 
medical profession, since 1852. He is a native of Clermont county, Ohio, a son of Joseph and 
Margaret (Fred) Stoner, and was born January 11, 1827. His father was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and his mother of Virginia. His grandfather, Philip Stoner, was from Germany. When 
our subject was nine years old the family came to Brown county, this state, then a part of Schuy- 
ler county, where he and his father engaged in farming until he was eighteen years old. His 
father died in 1852 and his mother in 1857. 

Doctor Stoner received only the ordinarj? drill of a common school, and is largely self-edu- 
cated. He fitted himself for a teacher, and was engaged in that calling four winters, commencing 
the study of his profession with Doctor H, L. Sulphin, of Perry, while thus employed. He attended 
two courses of lectures at McDowell's College, Saint Louis, and received the degree of doctor of 
medicine in 1854. Before taking the last course of lectures Doctor Stoner had practiced two 
years at Chambersburgh, Pike county. On receiving his diploma he moved to Perry, same 
co\inty. In October of that year he married Ann Eliza Whitaker, daughter of Benjamin D. 
Whitaker, of this county. 

Doctor Stoner remained at Perry for seven years, and in 1861 settled in Griggsville, where, as 
at previous places, he has had a good run of professional business; and he will have no other, 
having never accepted an office of any kind nor handled anything but medicine and surgical 
instruments. Evidently his ambition has been and still is to be known as an attentive, careful 
and successfuJ physician and surgeon. He has had thirty-one years' experience in his profession; 
has kept well read up in medical science, and has a good reputation for both skill and success. 

The doctor has paid some attention to the study of geology and archaeology, and he has a fine 
collection, particularly in the latter branch of science. He is naturally of a scientific turn of 
mind, and, Pike county abounding in mounds and other remains of the prehistoric period, he has 
made it a part of his mental recreation to gather relics. 

Doctor Stoner has reported a very few cases to medical journals, such as he deemed of benefit 
to the medical fraternity, but never takes up his pen unless he has something of real importance 
to note. 



420 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. 

He takes some interest in politics, but rarelj^ does little more than cast his ballot, except dur- 
ing a very exciting canvass. His affiliations have always been with the democratic party. 

The family of Doctor Stoner consists of three children, one son and two daughters. One 
daughter died in infancy. Stanley, the second child living, is a student at Cornell University, 
Ithaca, New York, and Emma W. and Alice Mabel are at home. The children are all being well 
educated. 

JOHN P. BARRETT. 

CHIC A GO. 

JOHN P. BARRETT, electrician for the city of Chicago, was born in the city of Auburn, New 
York, in 1S37. He came to Chicago with his parents in 1845; attended the public schools 
until his fourteenth year, and on account of the death of his father was compelled to leave school 
and assist in the support of his brother and three sisters: His inclinations led him to follow a 
seafaring life, and his first- occupation was deck sweep on the steamer Pacific, then running, in 
connection with the Michigan Central railroad, between New Buffalo, Chicago- and Milwaukee. 
He followed the lakes in various capacities of seaman and mate of several vessels until 1857, 
when he went to New York and shipped for California, where he made several voyages around the 
Horn, but in 1S58 he met with an accident off the coast of Chili. The vessel he was in was dis- 
masted, and he was injured so that he was compelled to adopt some other mode of life, and after 
being an inmate of the Mariners' Hospital of San Francisco for eighteen months, he returned to 
Chicago, and was appointed (August i, 1862) by U. P. Harris, the then fire marshal of Chicago, 
to the position of watchman of engine company No. 8; afterward transferred to engine company 
No. II, and from there to the cupola on the courthouse as bell-ringer, and there, for nearly two 
years, he tolled the hours and watched for fires. In May, 1865, the fire-alarm telegraph was adopted 
by the city, and he was appointed an assistant in the service in that department. He gradually 
arose from the lowest to his present position, the head of the largest municipal telegraph in the 
world. 

Many improvements have been made in the system by Mr. Barrett. Among his inventions 
are the Barrett automatic joker, now in general use in all the principal fire departments of the 
country. His last invention was the police patrol telegraph, now so widely known throughout 
the land. 



T 



SAMUEL HOLDERMAN. 

MORRIS. 

HIS gentleman is a son of Abram Holderman, and a younger brother of the subject of the 
preceding sketch. He has been known for many years as the largest cattle dealer in north- 
ern Illinois, and bears the suggestive title "cattle king." He was three years old to a day when 
the family reached Holderman's Grove, and had the pleasure of riding in hot haste to Ottawa in 
his night-gown when they fled from Black Hawk's dusky warriors. In later years old Shawbenee, 
whose humanity saved their lives, only had to make his appearance at Samuel Holderman's to 
carry off all his ponies could haul of potatoes, corn, pork and other supplies from his farm. 
When nineteen years old Samuel finally left school, with a plain common-school education, and in 
1848, when twenty years old, began life for himself. The father loaned him and an older brother 
$1,000 with which to buy young cattle. They gave a joint note therefor, and, having signed it, were 
puzzled by being asked by their father whether they ever meant to pay it. "Of course," said 
Samuel, "after we sell the cattle." "Very well, my sons," said the wise father, "you will be often 
asked to put your names to paper that you do not intend nor expect to pay. Remember, never 
to sign your names to paper that you are not willing to pay." This excellent advice stood them 
in good stead for many years, and it was only by neglecting it that the only misfortune of his 




>r-\^;> 




^244'^^^-^, 



^^t<^^^^ 



t-U^^^i^'i 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 423 

life came upon Samuel Holderman. This first business transaction of Mr. Holderman was a 
frreat success, and laid the foundation of his fortune. He took this money, to which he added a 
Httle store of his own and his brother's, amounting to less than $100, and went on horseback to 
Knox county, Illinois. He then purchased 114 head of young steers at a cost of about nine dol- 
lars each; wintered them on corn, for which he paid six cents per bushel in the field and gathered 
it himself; paid his own board and that of his horse by permitting a neighbor's drove of hogs to 
follow his stock and gather up the offal from his feeding; drove them home, herded them through 
the summer, and sold them for $17.50 per head. This paid their note and left them nearly $1,000 
profit on the transaction. 

He next hired $1,400 of his father; went to Henderson county; bought 200 head; drove them 
home; bought out his brother's interest, and wintered them on hay and grain his brother had 
prepared. His father owned a farm of 240 acres in the town of Felix, four miles from Morris, on 
Mazon Creek. Here his cattle were wintered, and here he soon afterward formed a partner- 
ship with his cousin, John Holderman, and together they bought the farm. This partnership 
prospered exceedingly, and when it was dissolved, seven years later, Samuel took 800 acres of 
land at $20 per acre as his share of the real estate, and John took 640 acres at $15 per acre. 

In July, 1852, he married Miss Martha H. Coke, by whom he had six children, five of whom 
are now living. She died in 1867. In February, 1874, he married his deceased wife's sister, then 
a widow, Mrs. Elizabeth King, with whom he has lived happily ever since. 

Up to the year 1874 Mr. Holderman prospered in everything he undertook. He owned 5,364 
acres of land, all lying contiguous in the town of Felix. He had erected a dwelling thereon 
costing $15,000, and surrounded himself with every comfort wealth could command. He formed 
a temporary copartnership with a lumber and grain dealer in Morris, and at the end of the year 
the firm were $20,000 ahead. After settling up he proposed a dissolution, as his own business 
required all his time and attention, and the purpose of the partnership was accomplished. 
Mutual friends remonstrated, and he finally yielded, but went about his own affairs and left the 
joint business of the firm to his partner. He, good easy man, trusting and venturesome, became the 
victim of a ring made up on the board of trade, and Holderman had the bills to pay. He had put 
his name to paper he never expected to pay, but he did pay, all the same, to the tune of $185,000. 
It is doubtful if the transactions in which his fortune was lost were genuine, but a nice sense of 
honor seemed to decide the balance, and he settled. He sold out his magnificent domain to Jere- 
miah Collins for $220,000 cash, and in March, 1882, moved into Morris. 

The great stock-raising territories of the West had for some time attracted the attention of 
Mr. Holderman, and when the crash came he made at once a move in that direction. His first 
venture was in July, 1881, when he bought 563 young cattle in Utah territory, fed and finally sold 
them at a profit of five dollars a head. The purchase of fat cattle of stock men and shipping 
them to the Chicago market also employed a part of his capital and time. His time and that of his 
sons is now fully employed in the business in Wyoming. His home is still in Morris, but he is 
rapidly repairing his fortunes, and becoming as noted in his specialty in the Far West as he has 
been in Illinois. The business is one of little risk and of great and certain profits, and great 
wealth is only a question of time with any one engaged in it. To illustrate the difference in the 
business in Illinois and Wyoming, Mr. Holderman furnishes the following figures: A calf will cost in 
Illinois $1 per month to raise till three years old, and it will cost $1.25 to get it to market from Morris. 
The total cost for three years is then $37.25. A calf in Wyoming only costs $1 per year to raise till 
three years old, but costs $10 per head to ship to Chicago, a total of $13 per head, as against 
$37.25 from Illinois. Besides, Wyoming grass-fed steers bring $1 per hundred more in Chicago 
market than Illinois grass-fed beef. It need not be said that instances are numerous of rapid 
accumulation of wealth among the cattle kings of the Far West. He mentions a case of two 
brothers who nine years ago were penniless and worked for stock-men at $30 per month, but are 
now worth at least $300,000 each. 

Mr. Holderman is a man who will succeed anywhere. He is a solid-built, muscular man, in 



^ 



424 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



magnificent health and strength. He is active and despises ease and pleasure, hopeful, never 
cast down nor discouraged, and of indomitable will, energy and perseverance, and of inexhausti- 
ble patience. He is a man without evil associations or bad habits. In spite of reverses he is a 
careful, shrewd and cautious man, and a man of good judgment, but with a heart as big as an 
ox. If this is not a weakness it is at least his vulnerable point; but it is doubtful if even the 
claims of friendship will be able again to catch him napping. Of course he is a republican in 
politics of the old school, for he is a broad-gauge man everywhere, and perhaps, for that reason, 
despises the crooked ways of politicians, and prefers to be a king among his herds than a leader 
in politics. 

It is impossible to get such a man down or keep him under. He is of a make-up to snatch 
victory from defeat, and' triumph everywhere. His hosts of friends everywhere rejoice in his 
prosperity, and have unbounded confidence that "Sam is always sure to win." 



CAPTAIN PATRICK McGRATH. 

CHICAGO. 

CAPTAIN p. McGRATH is of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in the County Doun, Ire- 
land, in 1833. When he was five years of age his family immigrated to this country, and first 
settled in Albany, New York, where they resided for four yxars, when they moved to Johnstown, 
Fulton county, New York, and remained five years, when they moved to Wisconsin, and took up 
a farm in Dodge county, where he worked clearing up the land, and assisted in making a home- 
stead, which is in the possession of one of the family to this day. He was ambitious to become 
something more or different than a farmer, and employed the time between seasons of labor on 
the farm in attending school and reading and studying by himself during all his leisure hours. 
In 1859-60 he attended the Larego College, a commercial institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 
paying his tuition from the proceeds of his farm labor. He was studious and industrious, and 
hence has acquired a self-education superior to that of the majority who have had all the advan- 
tages of schools. He has learned from the great book of nature, and to a good purpose. 

At the outbreak of the late rebellion he enlisted in the 17th (Irish) Wisconsin infantrv as a 
private, and was commissioned by the then Governor Harvey as second lieutenant, and served 
faithfully for three years and six months. He was promoted to first lieutenant at Lake Provi- 
dence, Louisiana, and was engaged in the siege of Vicksburg, commanding the special detail of 
sharp-shooters of General Ransom's brigade through the entire siege, and in all the charges 
against the city and its fortifications, and was specially complimented by General Ransom for 
gallantry and bravery as a soldier and officer during that memorable siege. He was among the 
first to put foot in the captured intrenchments, and was selected to take charge of a portion of 
the arms and equipments of the conquered rebel soldiers. After the capitulation. General Ran- 
som surrounded and took the city of Natchez, in which Captain McGrath also bore a conspicuous 
part. 

After this event he was granted a thirty days' furlough, with many others, to recuperate 
exhausted strength and energies. At the expiration of this time he promptly reported to his regi- 
ment, and was appointed by general order to reenlist the regiment as veterans, and succeeded 
in getting all but about thirty to do so, which General McPherson said "was a larger proportion 
than was reenlisted in any other regiment in the western army, and to Captain McGrath must be 
accredited most of the credit. He labored earnestly and industriously to accomplish the result." 
Earnestness, persistency and industry are characteristics of his nature, as shown in whatever he 
undertakes. 

In the fall of 1S64 he was promoted to the captaincy of his company (company A, 17th Wis- 
consin) at Acworth, Georgia, and was always on the skirmish line, and always at the front and 
on duty in the most dangerous positions. He was with that regiment subsequently in all the 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 425 

battles in which it was engaged, inchiding Sherman's march to the sea. At the close of the war he 
was mustered out, leaving behind a record which stamped him a brave, courageous and honora- 
ble soldier and officer. 

In 1865 he went to Chicago, and was employed by the board of public works as superintend- 
ent of one of the departments; thence to the postoffice, where he was engaged for two years, when 
he was appointed by the board of county commissioners, in 1878, as county agent, which impor- 
tant and responsible position involves the caring for the poor and needy in various ways. He 
has been reelected each succeeding year, and holds the position now. In this capacity, as in all 
others in which he has been called to act, he has proven to be a competent, conscientious and 
efficient officer, not only in the discharge of his formal duties, but in the introduction of several 
important reforms in the management of the complicated affairs of that office; reforms tending 
to greater economy and efficiency in administration, guarding against fraud and the perpetration 
of deception, and the compilation of such statistics, records and history as will clearly show the 
workings of this means of dispensing outdoor charities, w-hich will be of permanent interest, and 
a guide to his successors in continuing the good work in which he has been so preeminently suc- 
cessful. He is a gentleman universally respected by all who know him; a stalwart republican; a 
man of good instincts, and possessing the elements of true manhood; a good citizen. 



D 



COL. DANIEL D. T. HICKS. 

PITTSFIELD. 

ANIEL p. TOMPKINS HICKS, banker, and an early settler in Pike county, is a native of 
Bennington county, Vermont, his birth being dated August 12, 1812. He is a grandson of 
Simeon Hicks, who shouldered his musket at the breaking out of the revolutionary war, and 
bravely assisted in gaining the independence of the colonies. The parents of Daniel were Tru- 
man B. and Barbara (Hayes) Hicks, the latter being a native of Rutland county, Vermont. His 
father was an assistant surgeon, and afterward adjutant in the war of 1812-14. When Daniel was 
an infant the family moved to Saratoga county. New York. His mother died soon afterward, and 
he removed to Warren county, and lived there until seventeen years of age. He received a very 
ordinary English education, taught school one term at Luzerne, Warren county, New York; was 
colonel of the i66th regiment, New York militia ; came to Pike county in 1838, and here taught 
school two years, most of which time he boarded with an aged couple, in a little log-house four 
miles south of Pittsfield, and paid his board by doing chores at night and in the morning, and 
hauling and chopping wood on Saturday forenoons. His wages were $2 per quarter for each 
scholar. 

Colonel Hicks served as deputy-sheriff for four years ; was then elected sheriff, and served the 
same period. On leaving the shrievalty, he was engaged for a few years in merchandising, and 
during that time he was elected county treasurer two terms, which office made him iw-officio col- 
lector of taxes for the county, for four successive years, and then he continued mercantile business 
until about 1863. In 1865 he entered the First National Bank of Pittsfield, as clerk. Two years 
later he became cashier, and that position he still holds. The bank is one of the soundest and 
best managed institutions of the kind in southwestern Illinois. 

Since becoming a banker Colonel Hicks held the office of school director for some years, and 
since then has been treasurer of the school district. He is an eminently trustworthy man, and 
takes his share of responsibilities in the management of the public schools and other local matters. 

Colonel Hicks has always affiliated with the democratic party, and in i860, when his favorite 
statesman. Judge Douglas, was a candidate for president, he took the stump for the " little giant." 
Mr. Hicks has lost none of his interest in politics, but leaves to younger members of the party the 
more active work. Years ago he was a regular attendant on the meetings of the Odd-Fellows 
local lodge, and represented it two or three times in the Grand Lodge of the state, but of late 



426 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPinCAL DICTIONARY. 

years he has attended no meetings. Colonel Hicks is a member and elder of the Christian Church, 
a man of firm religious convictions, and exemplary in his manner of living. 

He was first married in 1842,10 Miss Mary Jane Burbridge, of Pike county, she dying in 1844, 
leaving one daughter, who died at eighteen years of age ; and the second time in 1845, to Miss 
Julia Ann Burbridge, a cousin of his first wife. By her he has had seven children, all yet living but 
one daughter, Emma, who died after she had married Harry Higbee. The six living children all 
reside in Pittsfield. Robert T. is assistant cashier under his father ; Fanny is the wife of George 
Barber; Barbara E., of Henry R. Mills; Florine, of E. P. Dow, and Laura and James W. are 
unmarried. 

Mr. Hicks's recollections of early days in Pike county are very vivid. He is very communi- 
cative and genial, and hence is quite interesting in conversation. 



JAMES Y. CAMPBELL, M.D. 

PAX TON. 

WHILE the lives of self-made men seldom abound in incidents of a substantial character, 
there is yet an energy, a perseverance and an underflow of character that lends to them a 
charm, an attractiveness and worth that merit admiration and careful thought. James Y. Camp- 
bell began in life a poor boy, and by his own efforts has risen to an honorable position, both in his 
profession and in his social life. He was born in Huntington, Pennsylvania, July 30, 1831, and is 
the son of Mark and Matilda (Goshorn) Campbell, the former being of Scotch descent, while the 
latter was of German and English. They led an agricultural life in the East until 1837, when 
they emigrated west, settling at Frankfort, Indiana. 

James' early life was that of a farmer's boy, and he was early taught those habits of economy 
and industry which have marked his subsequent life. His early education was gained at the com- 
mon schools, while working on his father's farm, until about the age of seventeen; then he attended 
high school for eighteen months, then went to Cincinnati, where he engaged as clerk in a store, 
taking a course in a commercial college at the same time. This he continued for about a year. 
He there developed a great fondness for study, at first giving the law his attention, but finally 
determined to prepare himself for the medical profession, in which he has since been a hard and 
close student. Being dependent upon himself, he went through the course of training so com- 
mon to young doctors, — teaching school, clerking in store, — to pay the expense of his medical 
schooling. Of such material are our sturdy American reformers made. After three years of 
study with Doctor R. O. Wilson, of Rossville, Indiana, as preceptor, he went to the Rush Medical 
College, Chicago, where he attended one course of lectures (session of 1856-57), after which he 
settled in Durand, Illinois, to the practice of his profession, at the same time continuing his 
studies and attending medical lectures at Chicago Medical College in the years 1864-65, grad- 
uating thoroughly qualified in all branches of his profession. 

In the fall of 1S66 Doctor Campbell removed to Paxton, where he practiced until 1869, when 
he moved south, settling in Mississippi. Here, in connection with his professional duties, he gave 
some attention to journalism, editing with marked success for three years "The Star of Enter- 
prise," at that time a well known journal. At the expiration of that time he went to Meridian, 
Mississippi, where he established the Meridian "Star," in connection with his practice, and at the 
same time conducted the " Star Printing House." Doctor Campbell displayed great tact and 
natural ability as a journalist, and had he continued in that line he would have ranked as high 
among our prominent journalists as he is among those in the medical profession. 

In August, 1873, Doctor Campbell returned to Paxton, where he has given his exclusive time 
to his practice and scientific study, and it is said by those who are deemed proper judges that the 
doctor's selection of books, which constitute his library, and his numerous valuable instruments, 
which have both been his pride, are second to none in the state, outside of the larger cities. His 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 429 

career has been remarkably successful, and he is classed among the leading physicians (jf the 
state. He has not only been successful in his profession, but has likewise managed his financial 
business with the same "dexterity; is a large property owner, owning, in addition to other property, 
two large residences in Paxton, besides considerable farming land. 

In his religious views he is liberal, and holds the golden rule as the rule of action. He is a 
republican in politics, and has been honored with several offices. Soon after coming to the town 
he was elected alderman, and was again elected to the same office in 187S. In 1868 he was 
elected mayor, which office he again filled in 1879, and during that same year was elected super- 
visor, which position he again filled in 1880. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and a 
Knight Templar, and has always taken an active part in the temperance movement. 

He has been twice married, first to Mary J. Slipher, of Rossville, Indiana, who only lived six 
months after her marriage. He was again married in 1856 to Miss Hattie C. Potts, of Lafayette 
Indiana. From this brief sketch it may be seen that Doctor Campbell possesses rare talent and 
ability and a vast amount of enterprise, on which may be based his success in life. He is pos- 
sessed of refined tastes and feelings, of sterling integrity and fine social qualities, and is highly 
esteemed, both as a m.an and physician, by all who know him. 



WILLIAM C. SEIPP. 

CHIC A CO. 

THIS gentleman is the son of the famous brewer, Conrad Seipp, and his wife, Marie (Teutsch) 
Seipp. He is a native of the Garden City, and all there is of him has been developed here. 
His father is a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, whence he emigrated to Chicago in 1849. Two years 
later, January 4, 185 i, William was born. Three years afterward his father began the business of 
brewing, from which the immense establishment has arisen now known as the Conrad Seipp 
Brewing Company. 

Mr. Seipp received his preliminary schooling in the public schools of Chicago. After spending 
some time at Douglas University he entered Mount Pleasant Military Academy in 1867. In 1869 
he graduated, and at once entered the law office of Rosenthal and Pence, where he remained till 
the great fire in 1871. 

Upon the change of the business into a stock company Mr. Seipp became its first secretary 
and treasurer, which position he held until July, 1878, when he was elected vice president, and 
remains such at the present time. Although deeply immersed in the management of an extensive 
business requiring his entire time, and not a politician in any sense, yet in 1879 he consented to 
allow his name to be used on the democratic ticket for the office of city treasurer, and was elected 
by the large majority of over six thousand (6,000). This was at the time of Mayor Harrison's 
first election, and in a city usually regarded as republican was looked upon as a fine compliment 
to his sterling qualities as a business man and an excellent indorsement of his character as a man 
and a citizen. It is needless to say that his financial administration was wholly satisfactory to his 
constituents. Contrary to his wishes, and much against his will, he received the democratic 
nomination in 1882 for the office of county treasurer, and after a very exciting and severely 
fought contest was elected over his competitor by about 3,000 majority. Mr. Louis Hutt, his 
republican antagonist, was a very popular man, and the election of Mr. Seipp may be regarded 
as a second indorsement by his fellow-citizens more flattering than the first. 

October 28, 1874, Mr. Seipp was united in marriage to Miss Emma A. Huck, the daughter of 
the late John A. Huck, one of the early settlers of Chicago. The union was a very happy one, 
and has been fruitful in two children. The summer of 1881 he spent about five months with his 
family in Europe, visiting the principal places of interest, returning home in the month of October. 

In personal appearance Mr. Seipp is the embodiment of a solid business man — rather under 
the medium height, but heavy set and well formed, with a pleasant countenance and a frank and 
43 



430 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

friendly eye. He makes friends readily, and is very warm and lasting in his attachments. He is 
a prominent member of numerous German and American societies, whose purposes are mainly 
social, musical and benevolent. He also is a member of the Masonic fraternity; belongs to Home 
Lodge, No. 508, Chicago Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and is also a Knight Templar, Apollo Com- 

mandery. No. i, Illinois. 

DORRIS NEWELL. M.D. 

PEC A TONIC A. 

FP^W men in any community are deserving of more respect than the self-sacrificing country 
doctor, who, regardless of the weather or the distance of the ride, rises at any hour in the 
night, and hastens away to minister to the comforts of the sick, or set, perhaps, a broken limb. 
The hardships of this class of professional men are very great, and they are fortunate if their own 
constitution is not broken down, and they are laid aside from work before they have numbered 
their three-score years. The subject of this sketch has just rounded up his fifty years, being born 
in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, October 28, 1832; and although he has been in active prac- 
tice since 1856, or a little more than a quarter of a century, he has taken the best of care of him- 
self, and notwithstanding he has endured great hardships, and been subject to severe e-xposure, 
he is in prime health, and for aught we know, is good for another twenty-five years' practice. 
His father, Alexander Newell, was a farmer, who gave Dorris an opportunity in early youth to 
develop and strengthen his muscle by tilling the soil in his native country. His mother, Marga- 
ret Dorris, was a cousin of Hon. John Scott, the Pennsylvania senator, and an aunt of W. P. 
Dorris, a lawyer and prominent coal dealer at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. 

When about fourteen our subject left the farm and a country school, and finished his educa- 
tion at the Shade Gap Academy. He studied his profession at Armagh, Huntingdon county, with 
Doctors Stewart and Barr; attended lectures at Jefferson College, Philadelphia: received the 
degree of doctor of medicine in 1856; came to Stephenson county, in this state; settled at Ridott, 
and practiced there until i86i, when he went to Dixon, Lee county, and for two or three years 
was assistant surgeon in the marshal's office. 

In 1865 Doctor Newell left Dixon for Pecatonica, Winnebago county, near the eastern line of 
Stephenson, where he was well known. Here he stepped into a good business almost immediately, 
his reputation for skill in this vicinity having already been well established. He still has frequent 
occasions to test his physical endurance, by long rides, extending ten or fifteen miles from home, 
and in cases of consultation he is often called still farther. He is one of the best known men of 
any class in western Winnebago and eastern Stephenson, and is highly respected, because, in 
addition to proficiency in medical science, under a plain exterior, he wears a kindly and obliging 
heart. 

The doctor has a second wife. His first was Marinda Hawkins, of Ridott, married in i8sy, 
and dying in 1867, leaving one son; and his present wife was Jennie Thompson, of Pecatonica, 
married in 1869. By her he has no issue. 



REV. WILLIAM D. CLARK. 

CARROLL TON. 

ILLIAM DANIELS CLARK, pastor of the Carrollton Baptist Church, and a successful 
minister for more than thirty years, dates his birth at Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, 
March 30, 1826. His parents were Ichabod Clark, D.D., and Esther (Daniels) Clark. His father 
was a self-educated Baptist minister, a fine classical scholar, and a preacher of great power, com- 
mencing his pastoral work at nineteen years of age, and continuing to preach for forty-eight years. 
His pastorates were in western New York (where the writer of this sketch first made his acquain- 



w 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 43 1 

tance) and in Illinois. His pulpit efforts and pastoral work were attended with wonderful success, 
and it is believed by people best acquainted with him that he was the means (jf the conversion of 
three thousand souls. 

His wife was a daughter of William Daniels, who was deacon of the Baptist Church of Scipio 
simultaneously with his own brother, John, for more than fifty years. She died at Rockford, Illi- 
nois, in 1854, and her husband at Lockport, Illinois, while acting as pastor of the Baptist Church 
of that place, in 1869. 

The subject of this sketch was educated mainly at the Nunda Literary Institute, where he 
prepared to enter the third year in college. He now commenced business pursuits, but after a 
short time, feeling that he was called to the work of the ministry, entered upon a preparation for 
that work, studying theology with his father. 

He was ordained at Lamoille, Illinois, in June, 1850, and there held his first pastorate of 
between three and four years. At first the church was small and weak, not numbering more than 
sixty members, and worshiping in a school house; but at the close of his pastorate it had a good 
brick church and about two hundred members, about one hundred and fifty of whom he had bap- 
tized. It was for many years the largest and strongest church in the Ottawa Association. He 
next went to Ottawa, and afterward to Morris, county seat of Grundy county. In both places 
powerful revivals attended his labors, and the churches were greatly strengthened. 

In 1859 his health and that of his family being greatly impaired, he found a pleasant home 
and enjoyed a successful pastorate with the church in Waukesha, Winconsin. Here old and seri- 
ous difficulties were healed, and during the nearly four years that he labored among them about 
one hundred were converted and baptized into the fellowship of the church. He went thence to 
the Sycamore Street (now Grand Avenue) Church of Milwaukee. There also his labors were 
blessed to the conversion of a goodly number of souls, who were added to the church. From 
Wisconsin Mr. Clark returned to this state, accepting a call to the Baptist Church in Galesburgh, 
which he found distracted by internal dissensions, but in less than a year the difficulties had dis- 
appeared, about one hundred had been baptized, their house of worship had become too strait 
for their congregations, and they hired a hall, with a seating capacity of twelve hundred, where 
they held their services for one year while they built their present elegant house of worship at a 
cost of $35,000. 

From Galesburgh Mr. C lark came to CarroUton, where he spent two of the most prosperous 
and successful years of his life. On one Sabbath he welcomed to the fellowship of the church 
over seventy new members, and baptized in all nearly one hundred. He then went to Aurora, 
and two years later to Quincy. At the latter place he was pastor of the First Baptist Church, 
which he found heavily in debt and greatly discouraged. The church was not financially strong, 
and yet a debt of $12,000 must be raised in a few months or their house of worship sacrificed. 
During the first six months $10,000 was raised, and $2,000 borrowed on extended time at a low 
rate of interest. This was soon followed by a powerful revival, which added not only to the 
numbers and spiritual power of the church, but to its pecuniary strength. 

In May, 1873, our subject accepted the pastorate of the Columbia Square Church of San Fran- 
cisco, California, and at the same time the editorial chair of "The Evangel," the organ of the 
Baptist denomination on the Pacific coast. After a residence of a little less than two years cir- 
cumstances growing out of the financial condition of the country necessitated his return to the 
East. His church offered to continue him as their pastor and give him a vacation of six months, 
but he felt that it was best to return permanently. Among other expressions of esteem the fol- 
lowing resolutions passed b)' the church will go far to show his standing in California: 

Resolved, That while he edited and controlled " The Evangel" it was a faithful exponent of Go.spel truth, a pro- 
moter of peace and harmony in our churches, and a credit to our denomination on the Pacific coast. 

Resolved, That in severing the relation of pastor we desire to express our high appreciation of Brother Clark as a 
man of rare pulpit talent, an earnest, faithful ambassador of Christ, a kind and genial Christian gentleman whom all 
can love and respect, and as such we commend him to any and all with whom his lot may be cast. 



432 



UNITED STA7E-.S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



Since returning to Illinois Mr. Clark has held pastorates in Macomb and a second pastorate in 
Ouincy, in both of which places his labors were blessed to the ingathering of a goodly number 
of souls, and he is now for a second time pastor in Carrollton, where, as in every place in which 
he has ever been pastor, he is held in warm esteem by citizens in general, as well as by his own con- 
gregation. He is a discreet and judicious pastor, as well as a pointed and pungent preacher, and 
has received in the aggregate more than one thousand persons into the churches with which he 
has labored. Indeed he has never been pastor of but one church where his labors have not been 
crowned with numerous conversions, while most of the churches have received large accessions, 
as the above sketch shows. 

Mr. Clark was married May ii, 1848, to Miss Mary S. Wright, who had a few months pre- 
viously removed from Geneseo, New York, with her parents. Doctor Ebenezer Wright and wife, 
to Schoolcraft, Michigan. To this most estimable woman, attractive in person, cultured in mind 
and manners, Mr. Clark is largely indebted for any usefulness with which his labors have been 
attended. She is possessed of the rare faculty of commanding the respect and securing the 
warmest affections of all with whom she becomes familiar. The duties and criticisms of a min- 
ister's wife are often ver}' painful, but she has known little of these. Universally beloved and 
conscientiously devoted to her work, she has scarcely had an enemy. "She looketh well to the 
ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her 
blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her." They have five children: Harriet Esther, wife 
of J. F. Fisdale, of Milwaukee; Delia M., wife of Frank N. Gay, of Galesburgh, and Lillie 
Esti'lle, William V.. and George W., who reside in Ouincy. 



c 



HON. CALVIN H. FREW. 

PAXTON. 

ALVIN H. FREW is the son of Robert and Anna S. Frew, and a native of Cleveland, Ohio. 
His life has been characterized by simplicity, sincerity, earnestness and integrity, and fairly 
illustrates what may be attained by patiently and persistently pursuing a determined and manly 
purpose. As a boy, he was fond of study and reading. He was raised on a farm, where he 
developed an independent, self-reliant and sturdy character, devoting to his books his time not 
employed in farm or other work. When seventeen years old he began teaching, giving his earn- 
ings to his father, and also in this way accumulated money to defray his expenses at the high 
school, and at Beaver Academy, in Pennsylvania, and later, at the Vermilion Institute, in Ohio. 
He was a diligent student, and from over-exertion in this direction, somewhat impaired his 
health. 

In 1862 he became principal of the high school at Kalida, Ohio, and in 1863 and 1864 occupied 
a similar position in the high school of Young America, Illinois. In this way he paid the indebt- 
edness incurred in getting his education, and was also able to gratify a desire to study law, which 
he continued in connection with his teaching. In the spring of 1865 he settled in Paxton, his 
present home, and there pursued his legal studies until December following, when he was, by the 
supreme court of Illinois, admitted to the bar. The payment of his license fee left him penniless, 
but he yet possessed a determined purpose, and by earnest application to his profession, soon 
built up a paying practice. 

His legal attainments and forensic powers gained for him a more than local reputation, and 
naturally suggested him as a fit person to represent his district in the state legislature. He was 
elected to the general assembly in 1868 from Ford and Iroquois counties, and as a member of 
that body distinguished himself by effective work in introducing and securing the passage of 
many important measures, and won high encomiums from the press throughout the state. As a 
man is judged by his acts, some of Mr. Frew's important ones will be referred to. The following 
resolution, introduced by him January 19, 1869, expresses his views respecting an important ques- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 435 

tioii touching the right of the slate to regulate railroad companies in their charges. The prevail- 
ing opinion was, that any limitation of the powers conferred by a company's charter to fix its 
rates would conflict with the provision in the constitution of the United States prohibiting a state 
legislature from passing any act impairing the obligations of contracts. One of the resolutions 

reads: 

Ri-sotved, That all privileges, powers or prerogatives acquired by railroad companies of the state government are 
subordinate to the general welfare of the people or community where constructed, and that the right of the state to 
exercise a reasonable control over such companies is one of which no power can divest the people. 

The same doctrine was several years later supported by the supreme court of Illinois, and in 
the year 1883 was confirmed by the supreme court, of the United States. Mr. Frew also intro- 
duced and secured the passage of the measure prohibiting a husband from collecting or control- 
ing the earnings of his wife; an act changing and greatly simplifying the practice relating to 
ejectment; the section of the act regulating exemptions, which provides that " no personal prop- 
erty shall be exempt from levy of attachment or execution when the debt or judgment is for the 
wages of any laborer or servant, etc." 

Prior to 1869 the state had been overrun with what were termed wild-cat insurance companies, 
for the most part irresponsible organizations, that had come to be a crying evil. Toward this 
Mr. Frew turned his attention, and introduced a bill providing that all insurance companies 
should be placed on a firm and sure foundation. The bill met with the most furious opposition 
on the part of lobbyists in behalf of the bogus companies, but despite everything they could do, 
the measure triumphed and became a law. Within one year the horde of wild-cat insurance com- 
panies throughout the state closed their business, and their place was supplied by responsible 
companies. To Mr. Frew was largely due the success of the bill, and by the New York papers he 
was given the sole credit of the victory. 

In 1870 he was reelected by a very large majority from the counties of Ford and Kankakee. 
He was active in securing the passage of the county court act; also that providing for a short 
form of deed and mortgage, and that pertaining to eminent domain, and also secured an amend- 
ment to the practice act, whereby, when mistakes occurred in the names of defendants to actions, 
the same could be amended, and the names of other defendants added, and judgment rendered 
against such as might be liable, without suffering a non-suit. He also procured amendments to 
the act relating to attachments, and was the author of an important change in the chancery prac- 
tice act, providing that where any defendant is a non-resident, the circuit clerk shall send a copj' 
of the notice of the proceedings to the defendant's address, unless it is shown by affidavit that 
such address, after diligent inquiry, cannot be ascertained, the object of which was to prevent 
l^arties froin obtaining decrees and judgments against defendants without their knowledge. 

In 1878 Mr. Frew was elected to the legislature for the third time, from the counties of Ford 
and Livingston, by the largest majority of any member. A very important measure, the passage 
of which he secured during this session, was that requiring all trust-deeds to be foreclosed in the 
courts instead of by advertisement. As a legislator, his only aim was to serve the state, and in 
all his active career in that capacity he was never known to advocate any measure actuated by 
mere personal motives or the desire to proinote the interests of a friend. As a speaker he pos- 
sessed rare qualities; was clear, concise, forcible and effective, and in addressing the assembly 
never failed to gain an interested and respectful audience. Many complimentary notices of his 
course appeared in the press, of which we select a few: 

August 6, 1869, the Chicago " Tribune " said: "' Frew is urged by his friends to become a can- 
didate for the constitutional convention. * * * During the long and trying session of last winter 
lie discharged the duties of his position with marked fidelity and intelligence." The Oilman 
"Star" said: "We often regret having opposed Mr. Frew, because after he got to Springfield he 
was determined that his constituents should know what was going on." The Saint Louis "Globe- 
DciTiocrat," April 23, 1879, said: "The able and comprehensive speech of Mr. Frew in support of 
his (lite insurance) bill was the feature of the session, * * * and rising to a grand flight of elo- 



436 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

quence, he pleaded that his bill might pass." Also the " Republican Register," Galesburgh, about 
the same date, said: " He (Frew) has presented two bills during the present session possessing 
great merit." ''His life-insurance bill should be on our statute-booli." "His cockle-bur bill is 
worthy the attention of our law-makers." "Pass them into laws." The Peoria "Democrat," 
speaking of the cockle-bur bill, said: "It would be a blessing to farmers if some stringent law 
was passed in regard to this weed." While the Chicago "Times" thus indorsed it: "Frew's bill 
to destroy cockle-burs and velvet-weeds was also lost. This was undoubtedly one of the best 
measures of its kind, and was greatly desired by the farming community throughout the state. 
* * * Another reason for killing the bill was, Frew had refused to trade his vote in favor of the 
Joliet appropriation steal." 

As a lawyer, Mr. Frew is an ornament to his profession, bringing to it a mind cultured by 
long experience, and stored with a varied fund of literary and legal lore. He is a counselor whose 
opinions are based upon authorities, and whose counsels are reliable and safe; while as an advo- 
cate before court or jury, he presents his arguments with gracefulness and ease, and at the same 
time with a clear and earnest force that is at once entertaining and convincing. 

A self-made man, he has attracted to himself many true friends, who esteem him for his manlv 
virtues and genuine worth. 

He is a republican, of broad and liberal views, though in 1878 he was elected as a reformer; 
but not because he did not indorse the only true republican principles. He always claimed he 
was a true republican, and now holds there is no longer any necessity for republicans being 
divided. 

JAMES R. DOOLITTLE, JR. 

CHICAGO. 

TAMES REUBEN DOOLITTLE, Jr., son of Hon. James R Doolittle, United States senator 
J from Wisconsin, from 1857 to 1869 ; was born at Warsaw, Wyoming county. New York, April 
2, 1845. His grandfather was Reuben Doolittle, who, with his brother Ormus, was a merchant for 
many years, at Wethersfield Springs, New York. The Doolittle family in this country settled 
originally in Connecticut, and its representatives are now found in many states of the Union. 
The mother of our subject, before her marriage, was Mary L. Cutting, whose ancestors were also 
early settlers in Connecticut. 

Mr. Doolittle received his early education at Racine College, Wisconsin, to which city the 
family had moved when he was six years of age, and in 1863 he entered the junior class of the 
University of Rochester, and was graduated at twenty years of age (1865) as senior prize essayist. 
He commenced reading law in the city of Washington ; continued his legal studies at the Har- 
vard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1866, in 
the city of New York, where he practiced his profession for four years. In 1870, when his father 
had left the senate, returned to Wisconsin, and opened a law office in Chicago, his son joined him 
in the business, and they are still in partnership. Their practice is almost entirely civil, and quite 
extensive. 

A gentleman who knows the Doolittles intimately, and has practiced at the bar with both of 
them, thus writes to the editor of this work in regard to the son : 

" Although comparatively a young man, I regard J. R. Doolittle, Jr. as a lawyer of extensive 
learning in his profession, and remarkable ability. With a mind richly adorned by nature, he is, 
at the same time, a man of good culture and great self-command. He brings to the examination 
of legal questions, a cool, patient, and nice practical discrimination, of the utmost value, in with- 
holding his ultimate conclusion until his case or problem has been studied in all its different 
bearings, and he comes to action. His style of address and argument is most convincing before 
a court, or jury, it being close, logical and free from rant, yet warm in feeling, because his empha- 
sis proceeds from a conviction that the argument he uses is of unanswerable weight. His bear- 



UNITED STATES B/OGKAPI/ICAL DICTIONARY. 437 

ins; is candid, and his integrity beyond reproach. The best evidence of his ability in a law argu- 
ment with the court was lately furnished in this city by one of the ablest judges of the United 
States court, who had but little intimacy with Mr. Doolittle's practice, and no knowledge person- 
ally of his reputation, except as a politician, and who said : 'Young Doolittle surprised me. He 
has just made an argument before me which would do credit to any lawyer I have ever heard.' 
Mr. Doolittle is about thirty-seven years of age, and has left politics to take care of law, for which 
the judge referred to thinks him most eminently fitted." 

Mr. Doolittle, like his father, is a strong politician, of the democratic school, and in 1878 was 
the candidate of his party for congress, in the tirst Illinois district, and ran several hundred ahead 
of his ticket, but was beaten by Hon. William Aldrich, the present incumbent of that office. 

Mr. Doolittle married in November, 1869, Clara S., the third daughter of J. A. Matteson, of 
Springfield, Illinois, and they have three children, one son and two daughters. 



E. H. THURSTON. M.D. 

CIIICA GO. 

EBENEZER H. THURSTON, a man of self-culture and high attainments, was born in Wol- 
verhampton, England, December 22, 1838, and was the seventh of a family of twelve 
children. His parents, Thomas and Elizabeth Thurston, with their families, immigrated to America 
about the year 1845, and settled at Hubbardsville, Madison county. New York. It was in the 
district school of this small hamlet that Ebenezer received the rudiments of his education. He 
subsequently attended the Hubbardsville Academy, under the tuition of Professor James Bush, 
remaining here until his parents removed to Utica, New York, where he continued his studies at 
the lltica Academy until 1859, when he began his professional studies with Doctor M. M. Bagg, 
of I'tica, New York, a man of great experience and high social standing. 

Before his studies were completed the war of the rebellion broke out, and he enlisted in the 
service of his countr}'. Here his native abilities and professional knowledge were soon called 
into requisition by his being appointed steward in the regular army, where he displayed great 
executive ability and presence of mind, rendering much valuable service to the country. After 
holding this position for a year, his health became greatly impaired by an attack of malarial 
fever, and he was honorably discharged from duty. 

Returning to Utica, he, after regaining his health, continued his studies with Doctor Bagg, 
and at the University of Buffalo, where he graduated doctor of medicine, with honors, in the 
winter of 1864. 

Immediately after his graduation. Doctor Thurston received a commission from the governor 
of New York state as assistant surgeon in the 8th New York cavalry, a position which he was 
well fitted to fill. Here he was much esteemed by his fellow oflftcers and soldiers, and was subse- 
quently, a short time before the close of the war, breveted surgeon. Doctor Thurston was in 
several very important engagements with his regiment, and was at one time taken prisoner, and 
confined in Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, for about five months. 

At the close of the war he settled in Bridgewater, New York, where he practiced with great 
success for three years, after which he moved to Utica, New York, where he remained until 1870, 
when, after looking for a more fertile field for his efforts, he settled in Chicago. He has devoted 
himself assiduously to to his profession, and by ignoring all class distinction, and treating rich 
and poor alike, he has becorrie known as a public benefactor, and built up an extensive and lucra- 
tive practice, and made hosts of friends, who highly appreciate his knowledge and professional 
ability. 

Doctor Thurston is an example of self-culture, having risen to his present standing by his 
own efforts, educating himself and earning his own living since thirteen years of age. In May, 
1866, he was married to Miss Julia Francis Randall, daughter of James Randall, of Utica, New 
York. They have one child, Grace. 



438 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Doctor Thurston has always been a regular practitioner, and was a member of the Oneida 
County Medical Society, of New York, and is now a member of the Chicago Medical Society, 
where his services are given frequently to the well deserving poor. He is well known to be one 
of the most liberal and kind-hearted members of the profession. 



JOSEPH F. GLIUDEN. 

DE A' A LB. 

IT has long been the opinion of political economists that barb-wire fence was cheaper than 
stone or wood, particularly where timber is scarce, and patents for such fence were issued 
as early as :<S67. There was, however, a defect in the wire fencing manufactured under such 
patents, and the subject of this sketch, who lives in a prairie state, commenced studying this 
subject about ten years ago. In October, 1873, after experimenting for some time, he made 
application for a patent, which was issued the ne.xt spring. Meantime he gave his whole mind 
to this subject, and the result was that he made further improvements, and another patent was 
issued in the autumn of the same year. Says a writer on the subject of galvanized barb wire: 

■'Mr. Glidden put his invention at once into practical use on his own farm, and demonstrated 
its efficiency as a stock proof fence, and there to this day the original product may be found doing 
duty, and always equal to every emergency. The process of manufacture was crude in the 
extreme. The barbs were cut by hand, and first a pair of flyers, and afterward the parts of an 
old coffee mill were extemporized as a machine for coiling them about the wire. When a piece 
twenty or thirty feet long had been barbed, a smooth wire was placed beside it and one pair of 
ends fastened to a tree, and the others attached to the axle of a grindstone, which by turning 
with a crank gave it the twist. About this time I. L. EUwood, who was engaged in the hard- 
ware and stove trade in De Kalb, and who had already spent much time and money investigating 
the fence problem, and had taken out several patents for various styles of fence, became associ- 
ated with Mr. Glidden, and they formed a copartnership under the firm name of Glidden and 
Ellwood, and began the manufacture and introduction of the fence. Mr. Ellwood having much 
practical experience in commercial relations was at once placed in charge of the business man- 
agement of the firm, and to his tact and business capacity may be attributed no small amount 
of the success which has followed the enterprise, though at that time it was regarded simply as a 
hazardous venture. The factory was moved from the farm to the village, and here the improve- 
ment was made of using horse power for doing the twisting, the barbs being slipped on to one 
end of the wire and then placed the proper distance apart by hand. By this method one hundred 
pounds per day was a good average to the workman. In 1875 the company built the first part of 
the old brick shop, put in a small steam engine, which was made to do the twisting, and Mr. 
Glidden and T. VV. Vaughan obtained a patent for some devices for barbing and spooling, that 
were used for some time, and proved an efficient aid to the workmen." 

In 1876 the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company, of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
noticing an increasing demand for a size wire not heretofore called for to any great extent, began 
to investigate the cause of it, and subsequently purchased Mr. Glidden's half interest in the pat- 
ents and business, and formed the present copartnership with Mr. Ellwood, who, as before stated, 
already owned the other half interest of each. The business now began to loom up, and soon 
assumed gigantic proportions. An idea of its extent may be inferred from a sketch of Isaac L. 
Ellwood, found on other pages of this work. 

By his great invention Mr. Glidden has made a fortune in less than a decade. His royalty is 
over $100,000 per year. But his marvelous success has not made his head swim. He is the same 
unsophisticated level-headed farmer that he was ten years ago, and may often be seen at the old 
homestead in his coat sleeves toiling like a poorer man. A few years ago he built the Glidden 
House, in De Kalb, a first-class hotel, and that is now his hospitable home. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. \\\ 

Joseph Farwell Glidden is a native of New Hampshire, a son of David and Polly (Hurd) Glid- 
den. and was born at Charleston, Cheshire county, January i8, 1813. When he was only one year 
old the family moved to western New York, and settled in the town of Clarendon, Orleans county, 
where Joseph was reared on a farm. In addition to the branches usually studied in a district 
school he paid some attention to algebra and the classics, intending at one period to enter col- 
lege, but gave up the plan. He taught a few terms. 

In the autumn of 1842 he came to Illinois, and bought of Russell Huntley a claim of six hun- 
dred acres one mile west of the village of De Kalb, and, with the exception of three years spent in 
Ogle county, he has been a resident of De Kalb county for forty years. He added to his original 
homestead years ago, and the farm now contains more than eight hundred acres, which is under 
excellent improvement and has first-class buildings. 

Mr. Glidden was elected sheriff of De Kalb county in 1852, the year that Franklin Pierce was 
chosen president, and was, we believe, the last democratic sheriff of the county. He has also 
served several terms in the county board of supervisors, and may have held other local offices 
wiiich we do not recall. 

Mr. Glidden has been twice married, the first time in 1837, at Clarendon, New York, to Cla- 
rissa Foster, who came to Illinois in June, 1843, and died the next year. Two sons, the only chil- 
dren born in New York state, died a short time before, and a son, born at her death, died in 
infanc)'. He was married the second time in October, 185 1, to Miss Lucinda Warne, a daughter 
of Henry Warne, an earh' settler in Kane county, Illinois, and they have one daughter, Elva 
Frances, who is married to W. H. Hush, merchant, Chicago. 



U. p. .SMITH. 

CHICAGO. 



LTZZIEL PUTNAM SMITH, lawyer, and a prominent real-estate owner and improver, dates 
/ his birth at Orange, Franklin county, Massachusetts, December 18, 1836. His father, Hum- 
phrey Smith, in his day a farmer and stock dealer, and his mother, Sophrinia Allen (Ward) Smith, 
were also born in that county. This branch of the Smith family were early settlers in New Eng- 
land, and the father of Sophrinia Ward was among the pioneers in Orange, and a large property 
owner there. Her mother was a Putnam, and a relative of General Putnam. 

Our subject attended a district school during the winter season until fifteen years of age, after 
which he took care of himself. He attended the Townsend (Vermont) Academy two years; spent 
about a year at Oberlin College, when his health failed, and he gave up his studies for a while 
and taught one year in Michigan. He then spent two years in traveling at the South, and on 
returning entered the law department of Harvard University, where he. was graduated in the sum- 
mer of 1858. Mr. Smith went directly to D-es Moines, Iowa, where he was principal of the public 
school one year, after which he formed a partnership with Eli Bates, attorney, but the law busi- 
ness was extremely dull in Des Moines, and in the autumn of 1859 he settled in Chicago. He 
was with the firm of Scates, McAllister and Jewett until the summer of 1S61. when he went into 
the army as lieutenant in McAllister's battery. 

Before leaving the East for Iowa, in 185S, Mr. Smith had married Miss Lizzie Morgan, of Nor- 
wich, Connecticut, and a few months after he went into the service she became so ill that she was 
supposed to be near the end of her life; hence he resigned his commission, and in May, 1862, left 
the army and returned to Chicago. His wife finally recovered, and they have a family of three 
children. 

Soon after returning to Chicago Mr. Smith became a partner of the law firm of Walker and 
Dexter, and on the withdrawal of Mr. Walker the firm of Dexter and Smith continued for a 
period of fifteen or sixteen years, or until January, 1879, having an extensive and highly remu- 
nerative practice. For a year or two our subject was substantially out of practice, but in the 
44 



442 UNITED RTATES lUOCRAPIirCAL DfCTW.VARV. 

sprinir of i8Si he resumed his legal business in earnest, being aloiu- in the pnifcssion, and having, 
it is reasonalile to suppose, all the business he could desire. 

For the last fifteen years or more Mr. Smith has given a good deal of attention to the buying 
of city property and improving it. He has built in all nearly a hundred dwelling houses, all on 
land of his own, and including forty-two elegant residences in Aldine Square, which covers about 
nine acres of ground, and is one of the beauty spots of Chicago, situated on the South Side, 
near the city limits. 

One of Mr. Smith's more recent ventures was the purchase of thirty acres of the old Camp 
Douglas property, just north of the university, and where he has lately built several dwelling 
houses on Rhodes, Groveland Park and Lake avenues. No other lawyer in this city has shown 
the enterprise exhibited by Mr. Smith in this direction, and the great wonder is how he could 
attend to his large legal practice while having so much otluT business on his hands. He is a good 
example of llie 1 vnical western man. who makes a success with man\- irons in the fire simiiltaneonslv. 



HON. 1)A\'II^ MrCULLOCH. 

/'EORIA. 

ONli of the most eminent jurists in central Illiriois is the gentleman with whose name we have 
headed this sketch, and who is a native of the Key Stone State; a son of Thomas McCul- 
loch, a prominent farmer, and Isabella (Blain) McCulloch, both natives of Pennsylvania. He 
was born in Cumberland county, January 25, 1832. He is a graduate of Marshall College, Penn- 
sylvania, class of '52, in which he took the highest honors; came to Illinois in April of the next 
year; taught school in Peoria until the spring of 1855, when he entered the law office of Manning 
and Merriman, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. Meanwhile, in November of the preceding 
year, he had been elected county superintendent of schools, to which office he was twice re- 
elected, holding it till 1861. It was during that period that the free-school system of the state 
went into operation, and he was just the man to give it a good start in his county. His taste, as 
well as scholastic attainments, admirably fitted him to be at the head of the public schools of the 
county, and he did a good deal to elevate their standard. 

In September, i860, Mr. McCulloch left the office of his preceptors, and opened one by him- 
self, but in less than a year, says a writer for the Chicago " Tribune," " upon the occasion of 
Merriman's elevation to the bench, he was taken into partnership with Hon. Julius Manning, 
which lasted until Manning's death, July 4, 1862. He then formed a copartnership with the late 
Charles P. Taggart, which continued until 1869, when the firm was dissolved by the failing health 
of Taggart, who then went to California. During the continuance of this firm, and especially 
the last two years, on account of Taggart's ill-health, the duties of the office of state's attorney, 
which office Mr. Taggart held, largely devolved upon Mr. McCulloch. After a partnership of 
short duration with J. M. Rice, Mr. McCulloch formed a partnership with John S. Stevens, which 
continued until the appointment of the latter as postmaster, in 1876. This was the most pros- 
perous period of his practice. During his term as school superintendent, many of his suggestions 
made to the state superintendents were adopted by them, and afterward embodied in amend- 
ments to the school system. Some amendments were drawn by himself, and are still part of 
that law. 

As early as 1876. from the overcrowded conditions of the ccjiirts, especially of the supreme 
court, it was found that legislation was imperatively demanded to increase the judicial force of 
the state. An ai^pellate court was provided for by the constitution, to be composed of judges of 
the circuit court; but there were no judges to spare for that service. The courts were in perplex- 
ity, and lawyers at their wits' end. In. view of this state of affairs, Mr. McCulloch addressed a 
communication to the 'Legal News,' of Chicago, proposing a remedy which seemed to him fea- 
sible. This letter was published October 14, 1S76, and in the same number was one from Stephen 



UNITED STATES B/OGKAP/r/CAf. DICTIONARY. 4^^ 

R. Moore, of Kankakee, proposing the formation of a state bar association. These proposals took 
hold of the minds of the lawyers throughout the state, and elicited free discussion in the public 
prints. A state bar association was formed in Springfield in January, 1877, and that body imme- 
diately took steps for the reformation of the judicial system, the legislature then being in session. 
A committee, of which Judge Puterbaugh and Judge Thornton and McCulloch were members, 
was appointed to draft the necessary bills, the work largely devolving upon Puterbaugh and Mc- 
Culloch. The result was that their bills, in their main features, became laws, thirteen new 
judgeships were created, and the appellate courts organized, all in accordance with the plan sug- 
gested in Mr. McCuIloch's letter to the 'Legal News.' The result has been most satisfactory. 
The first election under this act took place August 6, 1877, when Judge McCulloch was elected 
by a handsome majority. In June, 1879, he was reelected by a still larger vote. As soon as the 
result of the election was known he was, by the supreme court, assigned as <me of the appel- 
late judges of the third appellate-court district, which position he now occupies. At the last 
annual meeting of the state bar association, he was chosen its president for this year" (1880). 

In 1882 Judge McCulloch was the republican nominee for the supreme judgeship of the fifth 
judicial circuit, but Judge Craig, who had aln^ady hekl that seat for several years, and was giving 
good satisfaction, was reelected. 

Judge McCulloch was married in 1858, to Miss Mary V. Hemphill, of Middlespring, Pennsyl- 
vania, and they have had four children, three of whom are yet living. 

It is admitted by all parties that .the subject of this sketch possesses one of the finest legal 
minds in Illinois; that he discharges the functions of his office with marked ability, and that he 
is one of the most sterling men of the state. He has the ability to fill any civil position in which 
the people of Illinois could place him. 



FRANCIS P. ANTLE, M.D. 

PETERSBURG. 

FRANCIS PRTREE ANTLE, physician, and mayor of the city of Petersburg, i-s a native 
of Morgan county, this state, and was born six miles southeast of Jacksonville, May i, 1824. 
His father, Michael Antle, son of a German emigrant, left Bourbon county, Kentucky, in 1819; 
spent the following winter near Edwardsville, Madison county, and in the spring of 1824 settled 
in Morgan, then a part of Madison county. Illinois, as a state, was then only two years old, and 
Michael Antle was one of the pioneers in the vicinity in which he located. He married Mary Ann 
Buchanan, a cousin of ex-President James Buchanan, and daughter of Alexander Buchanan, who 
lived on Long Island at the breaking out of the war in 1775, and was a soldier under Washing- 
ton. Betrayed by a tory, he was taken prisoner by the British, kept in New V'ork city during an 
entire winter, finally stole away, got back to the army, but a price was set on his head. He had 
permission to leave, and sold out and went into the wilderness of Kentucky. 

The subject of this sketch received a fair English education in Jacksonville, supplementing it 
with careful study in private, and fitting himself for a teacher while working on his father's farm. 
Commencing at eighteen he taught four winters in succession, having meantime the medical pro- 
fession in view. He read medicine with Doctor Freeman, of Springfield; attended a course and 
a half of lectures in the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati; practiced three years at Williams- 
ville, Sangamon county; returned to Cincinnati and took another course in the same college, and 
received his medical diploma in May, 1859. Prior to that time, January 28, 1858, he had married 
Miss Dorcas Ann Mosteller, of Sangamon county. 

In June, i860, Doctor Antle settled in Petersburg, the shire town of Menard county, and for 
twenty-three years has been in practice here, making a praiseworthy record, alike as a physician 
and surgeon and as a citizen of the county. For seventeen consecutive years he was county phy- 
sician; was a member of the town board, and its president for five or six years. He was elected 



444 UNITED STATES B /OCR. ■iPI/ICA I. DICTIONARY. 



M 



the first mayor of Petersburg in May, 1S82, and was reelected in April, 1S83. Doctor Antle is a 
public-spirited, thoroughgoing business man, and it was a fitting compliment to his worth as 
such a citizen to place him at the head of the municipality of Petersburg on its being incorpo- 
rated as a city. 

Doctor Antle is a Sir Knight in the Masonic fraternity, one of the constituent members of the 
Aldermar Commandery, No. 47, and was its treasurer for a long time. He has also taken all the 
degrees in the subordinate lodge of Odd-Fellowship. The doctor is a member of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian Church, a man of highly exemplary character, and a good friend of the poor. No 
city can be over-crowded with this class of men. 

By the marriage already mentioned our subject has had four children, burying the two young- 
est. Thomas Powell Antle, the only son he has ever had, is a graduate of Illinois. College, Jack- 
sonville; of the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, and has taken an e.xtra course of lectures 
in the University of Michigan and the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York city, and 
having graduated from the same, is now located at Springfield, Illinois, practicing his profession, 
lona Olivia, the only daughter living, was educated at the academy and Methodist College, 
Jacksonville, and is a teacher of vocal and instrumental music, being with her parents. 



CAPTAIN JAMES NISH. 

CARV SIATIOX. 

THE subject of this sketch, treasurer of McHenry county, and a prominent merchant and 
the postmaster at Gary Station, first saw the light of this world in Wigtonshire, Scotland, 
May 5, 1826. His parents were Nathaniel and Jane (McGeoach) McNish, our subject dropping 
part of his name on leaving the old world. He was educated in a parish school; aided his father 
in tilling the soil until eighteen years of age, when he went into the grocery business at Newton- 
stewart, on the River Cree. Thence, a few years later, he repaired to Glasgow, and not long 
afterward (spring of 1851) came to America, and spent the following winter as a merchant's clerk 
in Peoria, Illinois. He was ready for any,kind of work, and unlike Wilkins Micawber, turned up 
business for himself, running a boat the next season on the Illinois and Michigan canal; ne.xt we 
find him engaged in railroading, and shortly afterward he became a clerk in a Chicago lumber 
yard. In the autumn of 1855 Mr. Nish purchased some property in McHenry county, and moved 
thither the following spring, with his wife, Caroline Darlington, of Chicago, whom he had mar- 
ried at La Porte, Indiana, in December, 1853. 

Mr. Nish opened a general store, and established a postoffice at what is now Cary Station, he 
being the first postmaster at that place. That office he has held most of the time for twenty-five 
3'ears; nor has he been out of trade there more than two or three years during that space of time. 
He was supervisor of the town of Algonquin -for four terms, holding that office, we believe, when 
the civil war broke out. 

In 1862 he raised a companj'; went into the army as captain of company I, 95th regiment Illi- 
nois infantry, and served three full years, making a good record. His regiment was most of the 
time in the 17th corps. Army of the Tennessee, though mustered out in the i6th. He was in the 
battle and taking of Vicksburg, and in November following (1863) was sent home to recruit, with 
headquarters at Woodstock, where he spent the winter. He joined General Sherman's army at 
Big Shantee, early in June, 1864, and under him went through the Atlanta campaign. Captain 
Nish finally joined his own regiment, under General Thomas, at Nashville; was in the fight 
against Hood at that place, and was also in the closing battles of the war; fought at .Spanish 
Fort and Blakesley, near Mobile. He served a few months as brigade commissary and was act- 
ing in that capacity when his regiment was ordered to Springfield, Illinois, where it was dis- 
charged, September 17, 1865. 

Captain Nish returned to his home, not h Living received a scar in the many conflicts in which 



rh'II'KD STATES lUOGRArilICA I. DICTIONARY. 



445 



he liad been engaged. We have ah-eady mentioned his marriage in 1853. His wife was stniclc 
bv liglitning and instantly Icilled, October i, 1857, and two months after his return from the 
South, in November, 1865, Captain Nish married* Miss Sarah R. Smith, of Cary Station, and by 
her he has two children, and also one living by his first wife, another having died several years 
ago. Since returning from the war, the captain has held the office of town supervisor two more 
terms, making six in all, and has been county treasurer since December, 1875. He is a capable, 
correct, efficient and eminently trustworthy official, and much esteemed in the county. 



EDGAR S. BROWNE. 

MENDOTA. 

EDCtAR SELWVN LJROWNE, lawyer, is a son of George il. and Lavinia J. (Shaw) Ijrovvne, 
and dates his birth at Mason, Oxford county, Maine, May 11, 1851. His father was a 
merchant, born in the same state. His grandfather, Osgood Browne, was a native of Massa- 
chusetts. His mother was a relative of General Sidney E. Johnson, of the confederate army. 
Edgar received an academic and normal-school education, was at one period an instructor in the 
higher mathematics and elocution in the academy at Bethel, Maine, where he commenced the 
study of his profession, finishing in the law school at Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was admitted 
to the bar at Oxford, Maine, at twenty years of age, and the next year, for a special purpose, in 
Coos county. New Hampshire. In 1872 he commenced practice in Portland, Maine, where he 
remained nearly five years, coming to Illinois in 1S77. 

Mr. Browne has tried cases successfully in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Illinois and 
Kansas, and very few country lawyers of his age have had a better start or more noteworthy suc- 
cess. He has defended every branch of crime excepting the two most beastly, and has gained 
much notoriety for his almost uniform good luck in that department of the profession. He is a 
well read lawyer, ambitious enough to insure studiousness, and hence is a growing man, and 
likely to make a still more brilliant record in the profession. 

Mr. Browne is a member of the democratic central committee of La Salle county, and an active 
and influential politician. In the spring of 1883 he was the democratic candidate for mayor, and 
was defeated by advocating the old charter. 

One of the most important cases recently tried by Mr. Browne is that of William Ettenger, 
the boy forger, on the First National Bank of Mendota. The preliminary examination at Men- 
dota lasted five days, and the trial at Ottawa four days, Mr. Browne being for the defense, and 
securing the acquittal of the lad. 

Our subject has dark hair, keen black eyes, and would be taken by a stranger for a shrewd 
and smart lawyer. He is five feet and eleven inches tall, weighs 170 pounds, and has a gentle- 
manlv address. 



FRANCIS M. CASAL, M.D. 

PITTSFIELD. 

FRANCIS MARION CASAL, one of the leading physicians and surgeons in Pike county, is a 
son of John Francis Casal, D.D.S., who was born in Philadelphia in 1801, and Anna Mary (Toy) 
Casal, a native of the same city. The grandfather of Francis, Juan Francisco Casal, was a Span- 
iard, who came from Seville to this country, and died in Philadelphia in the early part of this 
century. The subject of this sketch was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, September 20, 
1842, and when he was six years of age (1848) the family immigrated to Marion county, Missouri. 
The father died in 1870; the mother survives, being seventy-seven years of age. 

Francis was educated in the Saint Louis high school, and was intending to matriculate in 
Washington University, that city, being prepared to enter the sophomore year, but the breaking 



446 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

out of the civil war disturbed his arrangements. He commenced the study of his profession in 
Saint Louis; attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and from that institution 
received the degree of doctor of medicine, in February, 1864. 

Having a brother in California, Doctor Casal went there in the spring of the same year, and 
was in practice there between three and four years, most of the time at Sari Francisco. Return- 
ing to the East earl}' in the autumn of 1867, Doctor Casal spent the following winter in Bellevue 
Hospital College. In the spring of 1868 he settled in Pittsfield, and stepped almost immediately 
into a large practice. He had taken great pains to fit himself for his profession, slighting no 
branch of the healing art that would be likely to be of service to him in his practice, and confi- 
dence in his skill seems to have been inspired at once. Probably no young physician ever came 
into Pike county who had a better start, or has grown in popularity more rapidly. Doctor Casal 
is in general practice, but has given some special attention to gynecology. He has his full share 
of surgery ; is a studious and progressive man, and his practice is increasing from year to year. 

Doctor Casal is a member of the Adams county and Illinois state medical societies, and of 
the American Medical Association, and his acquaintance among the medical brotherhood is 
somewhat extensive. He is a very courteous and genial man, and well calculated to make and 
retain friends. He was president of the board of town trustees for three years, and a school 
director one term, he being willing, evidently, to take his share of such burdens. 

At the time of writing (close of 1882) he is eminent commander of Ascalon Commandery, No. 
49, of the Knights Templar, which position he has occupied from the organization of that body, 
in 1877. He is also past master and past high priest of Pittsfield Lodge, No. 56, F.A.M., and 
Union Chapter, No. 10, R.A.M., of Pittsfield. He is junior warden of Saint Stephen's Episcopal 
Church, lay reader in the same, and a kind-hearted, Christian gentleman. 

The wife of Doctor Casal is Amelia L., daughter of B. H. Atkinson, vice-president of the bank 
of Pike county. They were united in marriage August 9, 1870, and have three daughters, their 
names being Mary A., Anne H., and F. Isabel. 



COL. CHARLES F. MILLS. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

CHARLES F"RANCIS MILLS, assistant secretary and chief clerk of the state board of agri- 
culture, is a son of Bartlett H. Mills, and Delia (Halsey) Mills, and was born at Montrose, 
Pennsylvania, May 29, 1844. His father was a lawyer and journalist. When Charles was eleven 
years old, the family came to Upper Alton, where he was educated in the Shurtleff College, enter- 
ing the army at the close of his junior year. He enlisted as a private, in company C, 124th Illi- 
nois infantry, and served as a soldier, and as hospital steward in the regular army for nearly five 
years. 

Since 1866 he has been engaged in farming and stock-breeding, near Springfield, he being the 
proprietor of the well known Elmwood stock farm, which is familiar to all breeders of fine stock 
in the West. His specialties are Clydesdale horses, Jersey cattle, Cotswold sheep and Berkshire 
swine. There is scarcely a state or prominent live-stock section in the United States that has not 
representations from the Elmwood stock farm of some of the several breeds named above. He 
has been secretary of the Sangamon County Fair Association for several years ; is prominently 
connected with most of the leading agricultural and stock-breeders' associations of the country, 
and has held the presidency of some of them. He is now president of the American Berkshire 
Association, secretary of the American Clydsdale Association, director of the American Cotswold 
Association, president of the Illinois Swine Breeders' Association, and director of the American 
Southdown Association. 

For many years he has held his present position of assistant secretary and chief clerk of the 
State Board of Agriculture, a position for which he is admirably qualified, and in discharging the 
duties of which he is prompt and efficient. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. aaJ 

He is also quite active and prominent in his connection with the state militia, in which body 
he holds the rank of colonel and assistant adjutant-general of the second brigade, Illinois National 
Guard, having been promoted from the' ranks through the several grades. He is a leading Free- 
mason, and a member of the Elmwood Commandery of Springfield, Illinois; an Odd-Fellow, a 
member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and a member of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Springfield, Illinois. 

Colonel Mills was married to Mary Elizabeth Bennett, of Springfield, May 26, 1869, and they 
have three children, Minnie Bennett, William Henry and Carrie E. Mills. 

In politics Colonel Mills has been a pronounced republican, and has earnestly worked for the 
interest of his party; but has never yielded to the applications of his party associates to accept 
various prominent nominations tendered. 



GENERAL WALTER C. NEWBERRY. 

CHICAGO. 

TT /ALTER CASS NEWBERRY, merchant, belongs to a very old New England family, its 
VV progenitor in this country coming over in the ship John and Mary in 1629, in connection 
with the Dorchester colony, which removed to Windsor, Connecticut, a few years later. Stiles, in 
his " History of Ancient Windsor," says: "The Newberry family were among the most promi- 
nent of the new colony," and adds: "Thus well descended, being possessed of abundant means 
and connected by marriage with the most prominent families, they assumed a prominent and 
honorable position among the first settlers of the Connecticut colony." The family were military 
officers in that state a hundred and fifty years. One of them. Captain Benjamin Newberry, was 
commander of the Connecticut militia during King Philip's war. General Roger Newberry died 
in the Cuban expedition before the American revolution, and in our struggle for independence 
both grandfathers of our subject took an active part, serving in the Connecticut contingent dur- 
ing the entire war. Several of the family were also in the war of 1812-14. 

Mr. Newberry was born at Waterville, Oneida county, New York, December 23, 1835, his 
parents being Amasa S. and Cornelia (Fangborn) Newberry. His father, a farmer and merchant, 
was quite a prominent man — a colonel in the New York state militia, a participant in the patriot 
war of 1837-38, a member of the legislature in 1838-9, United States loan commissioner during 
the administration of President Polk, and quite an influential man among the democratic poli- 
ticians of the Empire State thirty-five and forty years ago. 

His uncle, the late Oliver Newberry, of Detroit, Michigan, was a pioneer in marine enterprise 
on the western lakes, and known to Chicago's early settlers as the first warehouse firm of New- 
berry and Dole. Another uncle, Walter L., was a prominent man in Chicago from 1833, being 
one of the founders of the now great North-Western railroad, and one of its earliest presidents. 
The Newberry Library is his gift to the city of Chicago. 

Mr. Newberry received an academic education, spending three years in the seminary at Caze- 
novia and one year at Geneva, in his native state; went on the farm at seventeen, and at eighteen 
became traveling agent in his father's interest. His father died soon after he attained his ma- 
jority, and he succeeded to the business, the conduct of which brought him to the West, and 
imbued him with the spirit and enterprise of the times. 

In i860 Mr. Newberry removed to Detroit, and entered the commercial house of Oliver New- 
berry and Company. Just before this change of business was fully consummated his uncle died, 
and our subject became one of the executors of his estate. Soon after going to Detroit Mr. New- 
berry joined the Detroit Light Guards, and when civil war broke out he returned to New York, 
enlisted August 24, i86i,as a private in the Sist regiment, state troops; was commissioned as first 
lieutenant November 4 of that year; captain May, 1862; major 24th New York cavalry, December, 
1863: lieutenant-colonel in January, 1S64; colonel in December of that year, and was lireveted 



448 UNITED STATES BfOGRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. 

brigadier-general March 31, 1865, for gallant and distinguished services at Dinwiddie Court 
House, Virginia, where he was severely wounded. The war terminated before his recovery, and 
he was mustered out June 22, 1865. Good fighting blood has flowed in the veins of the New- 
berrys for more than two hundred \'ears, and the military career of our subject indicates that 
there has been no thinning of the blood during that period. His only brother was a lieutenant- 
colonel of cavalry during the war of the rebellion, and a successful soldier. 

In September, 1865, General Newberry went to Petersburgh, Virginia, and being pleased with 
its climate he concluded to take up his residence there, and soon afterward engaged in the brew- 
ing and malt business. In March, 1869, at the solicitation of the people, he was appointed mayor 
of that city. He participated in the political campaign of that year, aiding to elect Gilbert C. 
Walker governor of the state. The following winter General Newberry was reelected mayor by 
the council, resigning a month later to accept the office of superintendent of public property of 
the state of Virginia. That position he retained for four years, and during two of them was a 
member of the city council of Richmond, and as chairman of the committee on streets shared in 
the honors of the improvements which made Richmond one of the handsomest cities in the 
Union. 

He was one of the contractors of the reservoir water-works of that city, which w'ere three years 
in building, and are among the finest of their capacity in the United States. On their comjilc- 
tion, in December, 1876, he came to Chicago and engaged in merchandising, his branch being 
brewers' supplies, malt, hops and barley. He has one-eighth interest in the estate of Walter L. 
Newberry, which fact, we presume, brought him to this city, where he is doing a thrifty business. 
He is a wide-awake man, and full of the spirit of western enterprise. 

General-Newberry, like his father, has been ranked among the democracy, but he had no sym- 
pathy with the peace branch of that party during the progress of civil war, and voted for Presi- 
dent Lincoln's reelection in 1864. He was a delegate from Virginia in 1872 to the national con- 
vention which nominated Hon. Horace Greeley, although he supported Hon. Lyman Trumbull. 
He fully believes it to be the mission of the democracy to bring the country back to substantial 
peace and honest government. 

General Newberry has been a Freemason since he reached his majority; was at one time 
master of Amity Lodge, Richmond, and was king of the chapter when he left the city. 

He married in 1867 Miss Harriet De Groat, of Utica, New York, and sister of Sheriff De Groat, 
of Jackson county, Iowa. They have buried two sons and have -two daughters living. 



HARRY C. GOODRICH. 

CHICAGO. 

THE subject of this sketch was born at Potsdam, Saint Lawrence county. New York, March 
22, 1832, the son of Levi and Hortense (Barnum) Goodrich. He has one brother, Herman 
B. Goodrich, a successful business man of Chicago. His paternal grandmother was the daughter 
of Ira Allen, a younger brother of Ethan Allen, the hero of the battle of Ticonderoga, who, with 
a force of eighty-three men, surprised and captured the fort, summoning its astonished command- 
ant to surrender "in the name of the great Jehovah and the continental congress." He was the 
author of several works, among which was "Allen's Theology; or, the Oracles of Reason," pub- 
lished in 1784. He was courageous, humane and generous, but rash and eccentric. He died 
February 12, 1789, of apoplexy. Ira Allen was a prominent and public-spirited citizen of Ver- 
mont, who, with his regiment of militia, rendered valuable service at the battle of Bennington. 
In 1795 he went to France to purchase arms for his state, but on his voyage home was taken and 
carried to England, where he sustained with success an eight years' lawsuit on the charge of 
attempting to supply the Irish with arms. Among his published works the "Natural and Politi- 
cal History of Vermont" is most noted. He died January 7, 1814. 





-^/, 6^^^"' 




UNITED STATES HtOCRAPIl ICA I. DICTIONARY. a^\ 

Wlien our subject was tibout five years old, in 1837, his parents settled at Saint Charles, in Kane 
county, Illinois, and soon after their death, which occurred within three years afterward, he was 
thrown upon his own resources, rendering his early life a severe struggle. His educational advan- 
tages were limited to the common school, but he possessed an exceeding fondness for mechanics, 
and by earnest and persistent research in that direction early became well read and thoroughly 
conversant in matters pertaining to that science. While still young he was devoted to original 
inventions, and his experiences in that line rapidly developed that inventive skill which has dis- 
tinguislied him in later life. 

Finding in the country little scope for the exercise of his genius, and having no machinery for 
constructing his devices, he, in 1850, at the age of eighteen, removed to Chicago. This was the 
turning point of his life. He first began as a manufacturer of shingles, at which he soon became 
an expert, and at the fair of the Mechanics' Institute, in 1852, his shingles were awarded the first 
premium. 

Soon after this he became an employe in the American Car Works, where he acquired a more 
extended knowledge of machinery, and a wider range of mechanical invention dawned upon his 
young mind. His desire for a thorough business education, before making a permanent settlement, 
led him to leave the car works and pursue a course of study in Bell's Commercial College, from 
which he graduated with a good knowledge of business principles. 

The fact that he has no regular trade or profession caused him to be unsuccessful in many of 
his efforts about this period, but his native energy and persistence sustained him, and if one 
scheme failed he at once tried another. After years of unremitting toil and hardships innumera- 
ble, he, in 1865, invented his celebrated tuck marker, which soon gained a world-wide fame, its 
success not only being wonderful, but unparalleled. The tuck marker and other sewing machine 
attachments invented by him, and covered by some fifty patents, have been sold in every country 
throughout the civilized world. 

His progress from 1865, though rapid, was sought to be impeded by unscrupulous parties, 
who threw many obstacles in his way, some of them of quite a formidable character, but he dis- 
tanced all competition, and though his productions are sold at a lower price than formerly, they 
are still growing in popularity. Mr. Goodrich began the manufacture of sewing machine attach- 
ments in 1867 without any capital, and during tiiat year his sales amounted to $3,000. The sec- 
ond year they were $15,000; the third $30,000; the fourth $75,000, and the fifth $125,000, with a 
corresponding increase since that time. At the present time (1881) he has a new factory, 70X 104 
feet, three stories high, thoroughly equipped, and located at Nos. 68, 70 and 72 Ogden Place, 
Chicago. 

By reason of the reduced prices of materials and manufactured goods, as well as by the com- 
petition in all sewing machines and sewing machine supplies, the amount of annual sales has been 
somewhat lessened, and now foots up about $85,000. The business now employs a capital of 
$75,000, and a working force of fifty hands. Although Mr. Goodrich has numerous patents that 
have been successful, his most notable invention, and that which has gained for him both fame 
and fortune, is the tuck marker. 

Though his chief attention has been devoted to his inventions, he has yet found time to devote 
to other enterprises. He was one of the original projectors of the Chicago, Pekin and South- 
western railway, and also one of the corporators of the Chicago Screw Company, and at one time 
owned nearly all of its capital stock. It is now one of Chicago's most thriving industries. Other 
manufacturing interests owe their prosperity to him, some of which are using his patents, while 
others are the outgrowth of his inventive genius. 

Mr. Goodrich is preeminently a self-made man, and truly the architect of his own fortune. 
Beginning life with no resources other than his own native abilities, he,- without the aid of edu- 
cation or influence, rose slowly in early life, met defeat in his manhood, and struggled against 
poverty that would have disheartened most men, and in the midnight of his misfortune suddenly 
achieved a most brilliant success. 
45 



452 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



While others doubted he persevered in the execution of his plans, and has lived to reap the 
gratifying fruits of his labors and perseverance. He is still in the prime of his manhood, and 
being surrounded by all the comforts of a happy home, he enjoys to the fullest degree the success 
which he has so nobly achieved. 

In religious views Mr. Goodrich was formerly a Baptist, but after some five years' connection 
with that denomination became more independent and liberal in his views, and is now a Univer- 
salist. In politics he is a stanch republican, and though in no sense a politician, he has ever been 
a loyal and patriotic citizen. He has no military record and has never held a public office. 

Mr. Goodrich was married March 22, 1854, to Mrs. Louisa M. (Miller) Fowler, a daughter of 
Hiram Miller, of Verona, Oswego county. New York. Mrs. Fowler had one daughter six years of age 
at that time. From this union have been born four sons and seven daughters. It is paying but a 
merited tribute to Mrs. Goodrich to speak of her faithful adherence in her husband's earlier strug- 
gles. All the noble incentives that a true wife can ever suggest are eminently due to her, who 
now beholds with pride the achievements of her husband, and gladly refers to the critical period 
when he needed only her sympathy and cooperation, and trust in his powers, to crown his efforts 
with success. 

Their eldest son, Frank L. Goodrich, is assistant manager of his father's extensive business. 
At the age of twenty-one he was fully competent to manage the entire business, and being now 
but twenty-three he gives every promise of winning an enviable reputation for business qualifica- 
tions, such as one might expect from the valuable experience gained under his father's supervision. 
The eldest daughter, Miss Eunice Goodrich, is already gaining celebrity as an actress, and is now 
winning success in every engagement. Her high standard of talent in the profession chosen has 
enabled her to retain the eminent popularity she had gained in social circles. A younger daugh- 
ter, Miss Nellie J. Goodrich, has a natural gift for music, and is now under special training by the 
best teachers for a public singer. 

Viewed from a commercial standpoint, the life-history of Mr. H. C. Goodrich is replete with 
interest, and to young men, especially those just entering upon life, his career furnishes an example 
worthy of their highest emulation. To his perseverance and his scientific researches he owes his 
fame and fortune, and having nobly and lavishly conferred their benefits upon those committed to 
his care, he has thus gained a greater triumph in the distribution of his wealth than in obtaining it. 



BENJAMIN HARWELL WALKER. 

CHICAGO. 

THE subject of this sketch comes of a very numerous people on both sides of the Atlantic. 
They have never paid much attention to governmental questions, and the ambitions of 
rulers and office-holders have little disturbed them; but they belong rather to the great agricul- 
tural, manufacturing and mechanical multitude, which constitute the solid foundation upon which 
states are built. 

If, however, successful lives are to be measured by the possession of all the solid and enduring 
virtues which render society possible and states perpetual; which secure for the individual the 
respect of his fellows, the approval of his own conscience, and the approbation of God, with 
enough filthy lucre to make life desirable and pleasurable, then Mr. Walker and a majority of his 
family name m^y be reckoned among the successful men of America. The family are of English 
descent, but are not able to trace the connection between the original stock and their American 
descendants. The paternal grandfather of Mr. Walker came to Barre, Vermont, from Massachu- 
setts in an early day. He was one of the original settlers of that town, and an influential man. 
He was a captain under Washington during the war of the revolution, and subsequently a colonel 
of the militia of Vermont. His son, Benjamin, was born in Mendon, Massachusetts, October 26, 
1777. He married for his first wife Jemima Farwell, the daughter of Rev. William Farvvell. By 



UNITED STATES BFOGRA PHICAL DICTIONARY. 453 

her he had four children, two sons and two daughters, of whom the subject of this sketch was the 
youngest. He came to Illinois about the year 181 2, and died at Macomb, Ma^' 30, 1856. The 
-fnother of Benjamin V . Walker died soon after his birth, which occurred in Irasburgh, Vermont, 
December 25, 1809. His father gave the babe to a Mrs. Burgess, whose husband had been a 
sailor in early life, and afterward became so dissipated that when the boy was eleven years old, 
he found himself thrown upon his own resources. His taste for building very early developed 
itself, and at fifteen he apprenticed himself to a builder by the name of Marston Watrous, at 
Barre, for three years. He was to receive $5 per month and board for the first year, $7 for the 
second, and $'9 for the third. He was careful only to agree to work summers, and secured the 
right to attend school winters. This he did, and acquired a good practical New England educa- 
tion. At the close of his apprenticeship he worked for one year as a journeyman, and then 
entered into business for himself. He was an enthusiast in his profession, and at the age of nine- 
teen had a fair education, a good trade, and the confidence of the commanity where he lived. It 
is no wonder, therefore, that business at once came to him, and he found all he could do. His 
special line was church architecture, and he erected many very fine houses of worship in various 
parts of the state. 

When twenty-three years old he married Miss Diana Howard, the daughter of Abijah Howard, 
residing at Montpelier, the capital of the state. She was born at Montpelier, February 18, 1810; 
has borne him three children, and still lives to share his fortunes. 

He first settled in Barre, where two of his children were born. In the year 1836 he was 
engaged to build a church in Randolph, Vermont, and found it more convenient to remove his 
family thither, and while living there he erected three more churches, and one in the adjoining 
town of Barnard. While residing in Randolph he was persuaded to form a copartnership with 
the son of the lieutenant-governor of the state, Lebbeus Edgerton, and entered into the mercan- 
tile business. The venture was disastrous, and he lost all he invested in it. The former firm, of 
which Edgerton was the remaining partner, were heavily in debt, and the business had to be 
closed out. 

In 1842, however, he threw up his temporary change of business, removed into Montpelier, 
and returned again to his legitimate work. In that year he made his father a visit, at Alton, Illi- 
nois. No railroads were built at that early day in the West, and lake, canal and stage furnished 
the only means of transit. By way of the Erie canal to Buffalo, Lake Erie to Toledo, Wabash 
canal and the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers, he reached Saint Louis first, and afterward Alton 
by boat. Concluding his visit, he took in Chicago on his way home, intending to sell his prop- 
erty in Vermont at once, and move west. He saw the vast city and the empire around it by the 
eye of faith, and longed to share its prosperity. His venerable god-mother, however, who, now 
that her husband was dead, shared his home, had such an inveterate horror of moving west, that 
he yielded to her entreaties, and gave up the project. For ten years more he followed his occu- 
pation in Vermont with success. In 185 1 he erected a church for the Congregationalists at 
Williamstown, a Universalist church at Barre, and a Union church at Montpelier, besides a fine 
passenger depot for the Vermont Central railway, at Montpelier. 

In 1852, his god-mother having died, he removed to Chicago, where his heart had been for ten 
years. Leaving Montpelier, April 6, the family reached Chicago in the following June. In May 
of this year the Michigan Southern and Michigan Central railroads had both reached Chicago, 
so that at Detroit they left the steamer, and came across Michigan by rail to Saint Joseph; thence 
by boat to Chicago. Here- Mr. Walker was soon employed by the city, superintending the con- 
struction of the old Water Works, and after its completion he remained for nine years its super- 
intendent, or until the breaking out of the war. During this period, also, he erected Saint Paul's 
Universalist Church, corner of Van Buren street and Wabash avenue. During the war, and until 
187 1, he followed his occupation of builder, and erected many important buildings. Among them 
were several of the first packing-houses, a large number of private dwellings, and business blocks. 
In June, 1882, he accidentallv broke his leg, and after his recovery, found employment. 



454 (JNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

In politics Mr. Walker, before the rebellion, was a conservative democrat, but the events of 
the war made a republican of him, and he has never deserted the party. In religion he is a Uni- 
versalist, and a member, with his wife, of the Church of the Redeemer since its foundation, and a 
deacon. 

Personally, Mr. Walker is rather under the average size, but a solid-built Yankee, with sinews 
of steel. He is affable in manners, and kind-hearted, sociable, and a warm friend. Though now 
past seventy-three years old, he is still strong and active, and young in appearance and motion. 
Christmas evening of 1882, he and his worthy wife, who is if anything his junior in appearance, 
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding. The reception occurred at the residence of 
his son-in-law, Mr. L. B. Jameson, at 151 South Morgan street, and was a most enjoyable affair. 
The daily papers of that date gave a very full account of the event. A large number of friends 
were present, and the gifts were both numerous and elegant. 

In his old age, Mr. Walker has the satisfaction of seeing his three daughters happily married 
and settled near him. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married W. N. Hinchman, and has three 
daughters and one son. His second daughter married L. B. Jameson, of the firm of Jameson and 
Morse, printers and publishers. His third daughter, Male, married A. H. V'anzwiiU, now the 
principal in the Dore public school, and has three children. 



WILLIAM DRURY. 

NEW BOSTON. 

WILLIAM DRURY, one of the princely farmers of Mercer county, and president of the 
Farmer's Bank, Keithsburg, dates his birth in Pickaway county, Ohio, September 17, 
1809. Two years afterward his parents moved to Wayne county, Indiana, where the son spent his 
youth. Seventy years ago that part of Indiana was only partially settled, and the Drury famil}' had 
its share of hardships and exposure to the dangers of frontier life, they being obliged sometimes 
to seek protection in a block-house. After securing a fair English education, and teaching several 
terms, in 1833 our subject came to Illinois on a prospecting tour, and had his first glimpse of 
prairie land. He soon made up his mind that here was a good opening for a young man who 
wished to make an honest living, and that on the eastern shore of the Mississippi he would pitch 
his tent, and try his luck, at the same time making a selection of land. The next year he returned 
to this state, made his claim, and settled at the foot of the bluffs, near where the village of New 
Boston now stands. 

When Mercer county was organized in 1835, Mr. Drury was selected for the first record<^r, a 
county office which he held for several years in succession. In 1836 he was elected coimt '• rk, 
and he held both offices simultaneously. The historian of the county states that while h ' ■;,; 
those positions he furnished all the stationery, and defrayed his other office expenses out ot ln.> 
own exchequer. 

In 1836 Mr. Drury commenced mercantile life, in company with Levi Willits, under the firm 
name of Drury and Willits, and they had a good trade. In the summer of 1840, our subject 
returned to Indiana, and, July i, was married to Vashti, daughter of Caleb Lewis, who was a 
prominent man, and served for several terms in the Indiana legislature. 

In 1848 the partnership with Mr. Willits was dissolved ; Mr. Drury settled up his business, and 
in 1849 started a cash store, which he managed with great success, until 1853, when failing health 
compelled him to sell out and change his occupation. As a merchant he bought directly from the 
manufacturer's hands, articles in that line, going himself to Boston, and other eastern cities ; 
marking his goods at a fair profit, having one price for them, and serving all alike. At one period 
he traded at Millersburgh, as well as New Boston, and held at different periods the office of post- 
master at both places. 

Through all the years that Mr. Drury was in the mercantile trade, lie aimed to make each 



UA'ITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



457 



year's income exceed liis expenses, and we believe he has never failed in ihis respect. He 
early established a high reputation for integrity, had the fullest confidence of his customers, and 
was economical as well as prudent. Mr. Drury has a farm of i,ooo acres, one and one-half miles 
from New Boston, and about the same amount of land nearly contiguous to the farm, and for the 
last fifteen or sixteen years has given a great deal of attention to stock breeding. In 1869 he com- 
menced importing Norman-Percheron horses, and has had some of the best stock of this kind 
ever owned in this part of the state. He now has about a hundred horses and fifty cows, and is 
doing all he can to improve the breed of stock. 

Directly in front of his house is a park of thirteen acres, in which are (autumn, 1882) three 
buffaloes, one of them a calf, six elk. eighteen deer, three of them California black-tail, twenty-five 
cashmere goats, a spotted sheep, etc. In the copses are also wild gray and fox squirrels, and Mr. 
Drury is soon to introduce swan. The park is well supplied with water, and every convenience 
for sheltering the animals, both summer and winter. Antelope do not do well in this latitude. 
They have died in this park. He has recently added to his collection a Sicilian monkey, two 
southern red deer, a tiger cat, ant eater, gray foxes, coons, badgers, etc. " Verdurett " is visited 
by thousands of people from all parts of the country. Some days over two hundred persons have 
been here. 

Mr. Drury has six barns, surrounding a $12,000 brick house, a farm-house with all the conven- 
iences of a city, gas (home made), out-doors as well as indoors, hot and cold water, steam-heating 
apparatus, conservatory, pictures, a library of perhaps 2,000 volumes, a cabinet of minerals, etc., 
making quarters corrlfortable enough for a governor of the state, or a farmer in Mercer county. 
Many a duke and duchess in the old world might envy Mr. and Mrs. Drury their prairie home. 

Mr. Drury early read the "Life of Doctor Franklin," and " Poor Richard's Almanac," and 
thinks he owes much to the perusal of these works. He started westward with a few dollars, 
obtained by teaching, and a sorrel horse, worth $40, and the rest of his accumulations are the 
fruits of industry, honest dealing, and prudent management. Let the young ponder this lesson 
of Mr. Drury's life. Starting out in the world a poor boy, with a limited education, early imbu- 
ing his spirit with the wholesome precepts of " Poor Richard's Almanac," he no doubt owes his 
success, as we once heard him intimate, to the observance of a few rules, such as strict integrity, 
and promptness in all business matters, economy in all things, including time, keeping out of debt, 
etc. He has always been ready to help young men who were disposed to help themselves, and 
has done so in multitudes of instances. Many of these persons are now independent free-holders, 
and a few arc tpiite wealthy. Again we say, let the younger reader study the life of Mr. Dnny. 



GENERAL HENRY CASE. 

U'/XC//i:STEA\ 

HENRY CASE, lawyer, is descended from a Norwich family, Connecticut, where he was born 
November ig, 1823. His father, Samuel Case, a leather and wool dealer, was born in the 
same town. His mother, whose maiden name was Sally Bailey, was also a native of Connecticut. 
Henry received an academic education at Norwich and Colchester, and is a graduate of Yale 
College, class of '46. He taught school the following year at Lyme, Connecticut, and read law 
at the same time with Judge Wait, of Lyme. He finished his legal studies with Hon. John T. 
Wait, now a member of congress from Connecticut; came to Illinois in the spring of 1848, and 
was admitted to the bar at Springfield. From that time until the civil war broke out Mr. Case 
was in practice at Winchester, his present home. 

In April, 1861, at the first call for troops, he enlisted in the 14th Illinois infantry, and marched 
to the front as captain of company K. In February, 1862, he was promoted to first major of the 
7th Illinois cavalry, which position he held until after the battle of Shiloh, resigning in April, 
1862, on account of ill Iieallli. In September following, his health being restored, he again 



458 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

entered the service, this time as lieutenant-colonel of the 129th infantry. A few months later he 
was promoted to colonel. 

In December, 1864, Colonel Case was assigned to the command of the ist brigade, 3d division 
20th army corps, and accompanied General Sherman in his famous march to the sea. In March, 
1865, while at Smith's Farm, North Carolina, he was breveted brigadier-general for meritorious 
services at that place. General Case was mustered out at Washington, District of Columbia, in 
June, 1865. His promotion, step by step, from captain of a company of infantry to the command 
of a brigade of cavalry, with the rank of brigadier-general, indicates very clearly his character as 
a soldier. 

In the autumn of 1865 General Case located at Jacksonville, in this state, and was there in the 
practice of his profession until January, 1S74, when he returned to Winchester. In law he is' 
thoroughly read, and excels as a court rather than jury lawyer. He makes a specialty of real 
estate and chancery business, and is excellent authority on these branches of the profession. 
General Case is a republican, of whig antecedents, and in i860 and 1866 he was the candidate of 
his party for congress in a strong democratic district, and was defeated, as he expected to be, both 
times. He is not an office-seeker, and was the standard-bearer of his party simply to comply with 
their wishes. He tries to keep loose from everything but the law, to which he is thoroughly 
wedded, and seems to be contented to have an honorable standing at the bar of the state. He is 
a member of the Presbyterian church. We believe he has never married. 

General Case belongs to a patriotic family, which was well represented in the late civil war. 
A younger brother of his, David C. Case, was killed by a cannon ball at the first battle of Bull 
Run, July, 1861. 

REV. JAMES H. NOBLE. 

LINCOLN. 

JAMES HENRY NOBLE, minister of the gospel, and pastor of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, Lincoln, was born at Point Pleasant, Clermont county, Ohio, the native home of Gen- 
eral Grant, October 6, 1821. His father, Jonathan Noble, a farmer, was born in Maryland, moved 
to Ohio when quite young, and married Margaret Mitchell, also a native of Maryland. Some 
members of her family were officers in the revolutionary army, and the paternal great-grandfather 
of James was a soldier in that army. In 1827 the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he 
went through the public schools, and, coming out at the head of his class, was, according to the 
rules of the city corporation, sent two years gratuitously to Woodard College. Subsequently he 
attended a classical school at New Richmond, Ohio, John W. Weakley, D.D., principal; after 
which he taught for six years, mainly in Indiana, winding up with a high school, which he fcjuiuk-d 
at Prairieton, Vigo county, Indiana. 

Mr. Noble entered the ministry in 1846, being pastor for two years each, at Lynnville, Rock- 
port, Evansville, New Albany and Indianapolis, all in Indiana. He was then presiding elder of 
the Evansville district for four years, and of the Indianapolis and Greencastle districts, each two 
years. He then returned to the pastorate, serving his former charge at New Albany, for three 
years. Transferred to Illinois, he was pastor at Champaign two years, at Decatur three, and at 
Champaign for two more years, when he again became presiding elder, and was assigned to the 
Danville district. Three years later he returned again to the pastorate, preaching three years at 
Springfield, and he is now in his second year at Lincoln. 

As a pastor Mr. Noble has been eminently successful, his labors in nearly every place being 
attended with revivals, some of them very powerful and wide-sweeping. In one year three hun- 
dred persons were gathered into the church, in the Rockport circuit, and two or three other years 
the number exceeded a hundred. 

He has been thirty-six years in the ministry, eleven of them as presiding elder, and has never 
been laid up with sickness, has never failed to attend an annual conference, nor ever failed to 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPJIICAL DICTIONARY. 



459 



rfspond to t!ie first call of the roll. Promptness with him secyws to be a virtue, and certainly it is 
a commendable one to cultivate and practice by everybody. In nearly all the places where he 
has had a pastorate, he has either built a church or parsonage, or repaired one or both. While 
presiding elder he paid special attention to church property, of which he saved a large amount to 
his denomination, particularly in Indiana. He has been for twenty years a trustee or visitor of 
Methodist institutions of learning, and has never failed to attend to such duties. 

Mr. Noble was a member of the general conference held in Philadelphia in 1S64, and is not 
unknown outside of Indiana and Illinois, where he has so long labored with marked assiduity, 
faithfulness and success. 

Mr. Noble has been twice married, first in 1841, to Miss Angeline E. Simmons, who died in 
1864, leaving nine children, one of them since deceased ; and the second time in 1S65, to Miss 
Carrie E. Simmons, a younger sister of his first wife, and by her he has two children. The ten 
children living have all been reared while their father was in the itinerancy, and have been well 
educated. He has been highly favored by Providence in being able to rear such a family, in see- 
ing seven of them married and well settled in life, and all members of the church. 

Mrs. Noble is quite skillful in crayon work, to which she occasionally devotes a leisure hour. 
Her father, who is living with her, was once captain of a company of which the father of General 
Grant was one of the privates. 



•ROBERT W. McCLAUGHRY. 

JOLIET. 

ROBERT W. McCLAUGHRY was born July 22, 1839, at Fountain Green, Hancock county, 
Illinois, and is the son of Mathevv McClaughry and Mary (Hume) McClaughry. His mother 
was a daughter of Robert Hume, of a noted family, who resided near Abbotsford, Scotland, and 
whose father was an intimate friend of Sir Walter Scott. 

The early life of Mr. McClaughry was spent on his father's farm, receiving his first education 
in the common schools; and while still young he entered Monmouth College, from which he 
graduated with honor at the age of twenty-one years. Upon graduation, he was appointed to 
the chair of Latin in his alma mater, and held the position with good success for one year, when, 
owing to the breaking out of the rebellion, he resigned his professorship, and assumed the edito- 
rial chair of the Carthage "Republican," a paper which strongly advocated the prosecution of the 
war. 

In 1862, upon the call of President Lincoln for 300,000 men, by his earnestness and enthusias- 
tic patriotism, he succeeded in raising a company of volunteers in his native town, known as 
company B, ii8th regiment of Illinois infantry, of which he was elected captain. Soon after, 
while the regiment was rendezvoused at Camp Butler, Captain McClaughry was elected major. 
His military career was marked with honor and zeal. He participated in Sherman's campaign, 
in the assault on Chickasaw Bayou, in the expedition to Arkansas Post, and the assault and cap- 
ture of the fort; subsequently in the Vicksburg campaign, engaging in the battles of Thompson's 
Hill and Champion Hill, and in the assault at Vicksburg, May 19 and 22. Afterward, with his 
regiment, he served in the Department of the Gulf, until May 13, 1864, when he resigned, and 
accepted the ap]X)intment of assistant paymaster for the United States army, being stationed 
at Springfield, Illinois. He served in this capacity with entire satisfaction until October, 1865, 
when he received an honorable discharge, and returned to the walks of private life. About this 
time he was elected clerk of his native county, and held the office to the entire satisfaction of his 
constituency during a term of four years. 

Having now become interested in the stone quarries of Hancock county, he secured a con- 
tract, and furnished the stone for the foundation of the state house at Springfield, Illinois. In 
187 1 he removed to Saint Louis, and engaged in the same business at Saint Genevieve, Missouri. 



460 UNITED STATES BlOGRArFffCAl. DICTIOXARY. 

Soon, liowever, his healtli became impaired, and he returned to Monmoutli, Illimiis, for the pur- 
pose of studjing law, toward which his mind had previously been inclined. Accordingly, with 
this purpose in view, he entered the office of Hon. John J. Glenn, and began his studies. His 
course, however, was soon changed by receiving from Governor Beveridge the appointment of 
warden of the state penitentiary, at Joliet, for which position he was eminently fitted by his 
experiences and natural qualifications, having combined in a most happy manner those moral and 
intellectual qualities which have made the prison a place of reform as well as of punishment. 

Major McClaughry was married June 17, 1862, to Miss Elizabeth C. Madden, eldest daughter 
of J. G. Madden, a lawyer of Monmouth, Illinois, and by her has had eight children, five of whom 
are now living. Personally, he is a man of regular habits, of generous disposition, of decided 
integrity, firm yet kind, and in all his dealings with men endeavors to leave upon them the 
impress of his own true manhood. 



, JOHN LOGAN, M.D. 

CARLINVILI^E. 

THE subject of this sketch, a native of Hamilton county, Ohio, was born December 30, 1809, 
and is the son of James and Mary (Cooper) Logan, the former a native of Monaghan county, 
Ireland, and the latter of English descent. John had but few school privileges in his boyhood, 
but by his own etTorts acquired a fair English education. When six years of age he removed 
with his parents to Missouri, and settled near the Grand Tower, among the Shawnee and Dela- 
ware Indians. He first began business for himself in New Orleans as clerk in the commission 
house of McManis and McAdams, but in the spring of 1830, owing to ill health, he left his posi- 
tion and returned to Illinois, and spent two years in blacksmithing. His health would not allow 
him to continue longer, and he next engaged in the study and practice of medicine. 

At the breaking out of the Indian troubles in 1831 he was elected major of the 9th regiment 
Illinois militia; also served in the Black Hawk war of 1832, and was elected colonel of the 44th 
regiment Illinois militia in September, 1S36. At the close of the war he settled in Carlinville, 
and resumed his medical studies. He attended a course of lectures at Kemper College, Saint 
Louis, in 1840; in 1841 at the Saint Louis Hospital, under Professor Joseph N. McDowel, and at 
once began his practice, continuing with growing success till 1861. At the opening of the civil 
war, when a meeting was called in his town to devise means for raising troops, he was appointed, 
with G. W. Woods and Richard Rowet, to raise a company. The work was accomplished in three 
days, and the company was known as company K, 7th regiment Illinois infantry, with Mr. Rowet 
as captain. 

Immediately thereafter he raised another company, but the quota of the state being filled. 
Governor Yates at first declined to accept it. While interviewing the governor a telegram was 
received from General Fremont announcing the death of (xeneral Lyon at the battle of Wilson's 
Creek, and the colonel asked the privilege of raising a regiment at his own expense. His request 
was granted, and his regiment soon organized, with one company of artillery and one of cavalry. 
At the time of mustering into the service, however, the latter were mustered in as detacliments 
of the 32d regiment Illinois infantry. 

He first reported with his men to General Grant at Cairo, in January, 1862, and after the bat- 
tles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson, he was put into the fourth division of the Army of the 
Tennessee, under command of General S. A. Hurlbut. The regiment made for it itself a most 
honorable record, being continually at the front. After the battle of Shiloh, out of its five hun- 
dred and forty men who entered the engagement, two hundred and five were killed or wounded, 
including Major William Hunter, disabled, Lieutenant-Colonel John W. Ross, mortally wounded, 
and himself so severely wounded as to be obliged to leave the field. 

After the close of the war, in 1866, he was appointed United States marshal for the southern 





^2- 



"V 




UN [TED STAFFS KIOCKA PHICA L DrCTIONARY. 



46: 



district of Illinois, having been promised the position by President Lincohi before his death. He 
held the otfice till 1870, and during his term of office reported five thousand dollars excess of 
fees, the first money ever paid into the United States treasury from the office. After retiring from 
his duties as marshal, he resumed his profession at Carlinville, and has continued to the present 
time with good success. Doctor Logan is the only physician in the country who has made a per- 
fect success of the radical cure of reducible hernia, of which branch of surgery he is now making 
a specialty, and in which he is having astonishing success. 

In politics he was raised a democrat, and supported that party until 1844, when James K. 
Polk was nominated to the presidency. He considered the adopted platform a departure from 
true democratic principles, and has since voted with the anti-slavery party. In 1856 he was a 
delegate to the convention at Bloomington, in which the republican party was organized, and 
served on the committee that drew up the platform of the party for that canvass. He has no 
sympathy with partisanship, and always places the man above the party, refusing to support a 
candidate who cannot show a clear record and fitness for office. 

His sympathy and care for the down-trodden has been a marked feature in his life, and he has 
taken a prominent stand in lecturing against slavery and intemperance, and, glorying in the 
abolition of the former, he hopes yet to see an end of all laws licensing the sale of intoxicating 
liquors. 

In religion he is a Methodist, and for more than fifty years has been a firm adherent of the 
principles of that church, and has revealed, in a blameless life, the virtues and genuineness of 
his religion. 

Doctor Logan was married in 1841 to Miss Ann Eliza Banks, of Saint Louis, Missouri, by 
whom he has had ten children. The eldest, W. C. C. Logan, lost his life in the late war at Young's 
Point, Louisiana. 

In his character he illustrates the most sterling qualities. Prompt and zealous, he is at the 
same time generous and warm-hearted. As a soldier his service was marked by an efficiency sur- 
passed by none. As a civil officer he was honest, capable and popular, while in his professional 
career he is eminently skillful, and in the performance of his work combines the noblest charac- 
teristics of a true Christian manhood. 



MAJOR HENRY W. WELLS. 

PKORIA. 

HENRY WARD WELLS, lawyer, and a resident .)f Illinois since 1839, is a son of John H. 
and Julia (Tracy) Wells, and was born in the village of Richland, Oswego county. New 
York, June 20, 1833. His father was born in England, and was a son of Rev. John Howard 
Wells, a Unitarian preacher; and his mother was a native of Connecticut. Her father was a 
surgeon in the revolutionary army. In 1839 John H. Wells, who was a merchant, brought his 
family to Wethersfield, Henry county, this state, and there died in 1843, when the widow moved 
to Galesburgh, where she is yet living. 

Henry received a common-school education only; in 1849 came to Peoria, and for two years 
held a clerkship in a store; in 185 1 went to Balston Spa, New York, and studied law, finishing 
at Poughkeepsie, whither the school was removed, in 1853, and he was in practice at Cambridge, 
Henry county, until after the civil war had begun. 

While in that county, in 1857, he was married to Miss Demarius Showers. In September, 1862, 
Mr. Wells enlisted as a private in company D, 112th Illinois infantry; was soon afterward 
appointed adjutant of the regiment, and in 1863 was promoted to the rank of major and chief of 
artillery of the 23d army corps, in which position he served until mustered out at the close of the 
rebellion. Since that time Major Wells has been in the general practice of his profession in the 
city of Peoria. He attends very closely to his business, is painstaking and reliable, and has the 
46 



464 iwiTED sr,vn-.s biocrapiiicai. dictionary. 

fullest confidence of the community, both in his abilit\- and trustworthiness. He has been attor- 
ney for the Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company for the last ten years, and for the Rock 
Island and Peoria for six or seven years. 

Major Wells is the author of "A Treatise on the Law of Replevin," a volun^e which he pre- 
pared with great care, and which was published by a Chicago house in 1S80. It is regarded as a 
standard work on that subject, and is having a rapid sale. 

The major is a stockholder of the Fort Clark horse railway, and secretary of that company. 
He is endowed with a liberal share of enterprise and public spirit, and ranks among the most 
useful class of citizens. He was in the constitutional convention of 1869-70, and was a highly 
serviceable member of that body. His politics are republican. In Freemasonry he is a member 
of the Consistor}'. We believe he has not held many offices in this order, or of a civil or political 
nature. His profession seems to absorb his time mostly, and he is always ready for business; yet 
he is not a man to encourage litigation where it is needless or can be avoided, he being a discreet 
and safe counselor. 



DUNCAN MACKAV. 

MOUNT CARROLL. 

DUNCAN MACKAV is of Highland Scotch parentage, and was born in Sutherlandshire, 
Scotland, in 1812. His parents were James Mackay and Anna (McDonald) Mackay, and 
were both descended from families famous in the annals of Scotland. His father was, however, 
a man of peace, and famous only for his fine cattle, horses and sheep, of which he was a very suc- 
cessful breeder. Duncan was reared to the same gentle occupation, and assisted his parents on 
the Highland farm until he was fifteen years of age. His education was only such as boys in his 
station usually got in Scotland at that time, except a term or two at high school. In 1833, when 
twenty-one years of age, he came to Nova Scotia, with an elder brother and a sister, and estab- 
lished themselves in the business of fine carriage making, a business they had successfully fol- 
lowed for some years in Scotland. Not meeting with the proper encouragement in that country, 
in 1835 they moved just across the line, and established themselves in Milltown, Maine. Here 
they met with better success, until the panic of 1837. This was the first financial revulsion of 
which they had ever heard, and it was a surprise indeed ; the greater part of their goods had 
been sold on credit, and it was a new experience when their debtors refused to pay or return the 
goods. The crisis prostrated their business, and they were compelled to close it up. 

His brother John came west at once, while Duncan remained to settle up the affairs of the 
firm, and collect what he could. It took over two years to do this, but he had the satisfaction in 
1840 of bringing with him west the greater part of the amount due them, aggregating about 
114,000. The elder brother had originally started for the Pacific coast, intending to embark in 
business once more, at Vancouver's Island, or somewhere in the vicinity of Puget Sound, Init 
passing over the matchless prairies of the West, he received a new revelation, and could get no 
further than Carroll county, Illinois. Thither Duncan followed, and they invested every dollar they 
could raise in the fine prairie soil of what is now Salem township; and stock of various kinds to 
grow upon it. The visions of possible wealth to be realized in stock-raising upon Illinois prairies 
where the soil was inexhaustible, and hay and pasturage free, must have been dazzling in the 
extreme, to the young Scotch herdsmen ; yet as the events proved, fully capable of realization. 
The land had not yet been surveyed or come into market, and the brothers bought out the claims 
of seven squatters, amounting to about 1.120 acres. Of this amount Mr. Mackay still owns about 
600 acres in a body. 

Duncan had married Jessie Mackay, his cousin, while still in Nova Scotia. His parents and the 
rest of his father's family had come over, and to the new home in the Far West they all came. A 
huge three-story log-house at first gave shelter for a time to the entire company, numbering 
twenty-four grown persons, besides children, until houses could be built, and homes provided for 



rxi'ii-i) sTAi'j-.s Hiiu-.RArrnrjr nrcTioMARv. 



465 



all. In this ()ri,iJ;inal home, sanctified by religiim, sj;iiar(ied by integrity, and supported by indus- 
try, such peace, happiness and contentment reigned as rarely falls to the lot of man. For several 
years the family carried on the business of farming and stock-raising, and grew rich, yet no mem- 
ber of the prosperous and happy community being hardly able at any time to say "this is mine, 
and that is thine." But a young man by the name of John H. Manny had in process of time 
invented a reaper, and used up all his funds and those of his father and friends, and mortgaged 
ail their lands to bring it out and place it properly before the public. To Duncan Mackay this 
young man appealed for aid in his extremity, and enlisted him in its favor. Mackay loaned him 
money, bought his machines for cash, and being a good workman himself, went with the machines 
to the fields and instructed the farmers how to use them, overcame, by his skill, any imperfections 
in their construction, quieted the apprehensions of the buyers, and overcame their objections. He 
took upon himself for a time the management of their sale, employed many salesmen in the North- 
west, and kept no less than thirteen adjusters to follow the reapers into the hands and to the 
fields of the buyers, until the invention had overcome all difficulties, and fought its way into de- 
served popularity. 

This was the first effort Mr. Mackay had made to turn his hand to any other field of enterprise 
since coming west, and this was prompted originally rather by his natural willingness to help a 
worthy enterprise in need than an expectation of realizing a fortune by it. However, he was not 
the loser in the end. In 1843 a couple of Germans had built a flouring mill at Mount Carroll. 
Their names were Halderman and Rhinwalt, and Mackay a couple of years later entered into co- 
partnership with them, and organized the Hydraulic Company. The design was to utilize the 
water power of Plum River in the establishment of a grand series of factories of all sorts. The 
company was established, a charter obtained, and business began. However, the venture was an 
unfortunate one from the start. The original projectors were in the majority, and carried every- 
thing according to their own will. Mr. Mackay did not approve of their plans or methods of busi- 
ness, but could only enter his protest from time to time, and place it upon record. As he foresaw, 
the enterprise failed, an assignment was made, their affairs got into the courts, and after several 
years of costly litigation, in which the most talented lawyers in the West were engaged, the whole 
business was wound up at a loss to all concerned. 

Mr. Mackay had been from youth an anti-slavery man, and took a keen interest in the growing 
contest between the two gigantic forces of freedom and slavery. He was opposed to the doctrine 
of squatter sovereignty advocated by Douglas, while a great admirer of the abilities of that great 
man. When the war cloud burst upon the country he was an enthusiastic and very efficient sup- 
porter of the government. He was at all times ready with his counsel and his cash to aid the 
good cause, and when the National Bank act was passed, was among the first to aid the govern- 
ment by applying for a charter. Uniting with Mr. Mills, Mr. Mark, Mr. Green, his brother-in-law, 
and others, the First National Bank of Mount Carroll was established, with a capital of $50,000. 
Confederate bonds and currency at that time were bearing a higher price than those of the gov- 
ernment, and the outlook for the National cause was very grave, yet from purely patriotic motives 
these gentlemen came to the assistance of the government in her darkest hour, as fortunately did 
thousands of others, and with a rescued nation they have their reward. James Mark was the first 
president of this bank. He was succeeded the year following by Mr. Mackay, who has remained 
the chief officer till the present time. It has since doubled its capital, and continues one of the 
soundest and most successful banks in that part of the state. 

Doctor Leander Smith, of Morrison, Illinois, solicited Mr. Mackay to join him in a private 
bank, at the latter place. He consented to do so, and the bank was formed, with a cash capital 
of l{tl6o,ooo. June 26, 1882, he joined Henry Ashway, George Hay, his brother John Mackay, 
and others in the bank, established at Savannah. He has thus a large interest in three banks, in 
the establishment of every one of which higher motives than usually prevail in such matters 
were the ruling element. But with all his banking business on his hands, he has never relin- 
quished his interests in farming. He at one time owned twelve farms, all of which he either 



466 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



worked or rented, but for various reasons has sold off six of them, and will still further reduce 
their number to relieve himself of the burden of their care. 

Without solicitation on his part he received from Governor Beveridge appointment as 
one of the United States commissioners to the Vienna Exposition. Without any expense to the 
government he attended to his duties there, and afterward made the tour of Europe. Subse- 
quently, he made two successive trips to Colorado for his health, which with his excessive labors 
and advancing years is at times somewhat precarious. Mr. Mackay, as might be supposed, is a 
stanch temperance man. The death of one of his workmen while in Maine, from exposure while 
under the influence of liquor, opened his eyes while yet a young man, to the awful character of 
the liquor traffic, and he solemnly took a pledge, and put it into writing, thereafter neither to use 
it himself nor furnish it to his men. To that pledge he has sacredly adhered through a long life, 
and to it ascribes much of his prosperity. The danger of freely signing his name to other men's 
paper early caused him to make it a rule never to do so except in cases of necessity or charity, 
and although ready at all times with a helping hand for the needy or deserving, he has found 
other means to aid them without violating a very wise and useful pledge. 

In religion, Mr. Mackay is a Presbyterian, in politics a republican, and everywhere a gentle- 
man. He has never sought office, but always discouraged any effort to force it upon him, \'et 
when elected has faithfully discharged its duties. 

March 23, 1882, he had the misfortune to lose by fire his elegant stone mansion with the greater 
part of its contents at Oakville, where he has resided since first coming to Illinois. Some of his 
many warm friends at once furnished an elegant residence at Morrison, and presented it to him 
with the request that he should at once occupy it. Yielding to their earnest solicitations he has 
for the time, at least, abandoned the project of relnulding on his farm at Oakville, and, June 27, 
moved into the new residence at Morrison. 



It 



JOHN H. HARRIS. 

MENDOIA. 

JOHN HAMILTON HARRIS, one of the early settlers in the vicinity of Mendota, and long 
one of the leading men in this city, is a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, a son of 
Stephen and Sybil (Clark) Harris, and was born August 19, 1807. His grandfather, John Harris, 
was one of the minute men of the revolution, and a participant in the battle of Monmouth. His 
paternal grandmother, Mary Hamilton, was of Scotch descent, and a blood relation of Gavin 
Hamilton, a friend and patron of Robert Burns. The family moved to .Stark county, Ohio, in 1809. 

In his early youth our subject acquired some knowledge of the ruflimentary branches, includ- 
ing the "New England Primer" and the "Shorter Catechism;" later attended an academy at 
Canton, Ohio, and spent one year in the military academy at West Point. In his boyhood he 
did some work on his father's farm, but did not then take to agricultural pursuits. He read law 
with John Harris, his uncle, at Canton; was admitted to the bar at Millersburgh, Holmes county, 
in 1828; practiced there for two years, and from 1830 to 1854 was in practice at Wooster, Wayne 
county. While a resident of that city he was auditor of the countv one term, and a member of 
the state senate the same period, being in those days an earnest worker in the ranks of the 
democracy. 

Mr. Harris made a success in the legal profession in Ohio, and having accumulated a fair 
property, he came to Illinois in 1854, and settled on a farm near Mendota, on which he lived until 
1862, when he moved into the city, retaining his farm until 1882. 

Mr. Harris is in very comfortable circumstances, and latterly has done little more than take care 
of his garden. He has been a justice of the peace most of the time since coming into the state, 
having an office in town while on the farm, and resigning a fejy years ago. He also served for 
years on the county board of supervisors, and has always been a man of much public spirit, will- 



UNITED STATES PIOCRA PHICA I. DICTIOXAKY. 



46; 



ins^ to help forward any cause likely to benefit the community. When the democratic party allied 
itself with the slave power, Mr. Harris joined the great republican phalanx, in which he has 
trained since its formation. 

He was formerly an active Knight Templar in the Masonic order, and an Odd-Fellow, but is 
not now an affiliated member of either order. His religious connection is with the Methodist 
Episcopal church, of which he was long an official member. He took the Washingtonian pledge 
fifty years ago, and has lived a life of strict temperance, not even using tobacco in any manner. 
The young will do well to mark his course and follow it. No man in the city of Mendota is more 
cordially esteemed than he is. 

The wife of Mr. Harris was Harriet Fogle, daughter of William Fogle, M.D., of Canton 
where they were married January 15, 1833. They have had five children, only one of them, Mary 
Hamilton, wife of Collins A. Harbaugh, merchant, Mendota, now living. The oldest daughter 
married Rev. H. Sturgeon, a Presbyterian minister, and she died while he was at Nashville, Ten- 
nessee, in 1864, acting as provost marshal. Adeline died at Mendota after she had grown to 
womanhood, and the other two when quite young. 



HON. THOMAS CLOONAN. 

CHICAGO. 

THOMAS CLOONAN, of the eleventh senatorial district, was born in Rockland county, New 
York, August 1, 1851, his parents being Edward and Bridget (Morris) Cloonan. They were 
from Galway, Ireland. In 1855 the family went to Chicago, where Thomas was educated and 
learned the bricklayer's trade, at which he worked for several years. Subsequently he kept a 
butcher's shop on the West Side. For the last three vears Mr. Cloonan has been connected witii 
the office of the water-works. 

In 1880 he was elected to the lower liouse of tlie legislature from the old third senatorial dis- 
trict, and in 1882 he was elected senator from the new eleventh district. He is now serving in the 
upper house, l)eing on the democratic side, and on the committees on municipalities, railroads, 
corporations, mines and mining, agriculture and drainage, miscellany, printing, etc. 

Mr. Cloonan has always voted the democratic ticket. In religion he is a Catholic, and is a 
member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. He is a single man, and he and his parents are 
living together in Chicago. . Mr. Cloonan is an active and efficient business man. 



T 



HON. SAMIIKL M. MOORE, LL.lJ. 

CH!CACA\ 

HE subject of this sketch, Hon. Samuel McClelland Moore, LL.D., was born August 23, 
182 1, in Bourbon county, in the state of Kentucky. He was the youngest child of James 
and Peggy (McClure) Moore. He had five brothers and one sister, all of whom are dead except 
one brother and the sister. His father died when he, Samuel, was but little over one year old ; 
his mother died in May, 1861. Judge Moore is of Irish descent. In politics of democratic pro- 
clivities. In religion, a Presbyterian of the strictest sect, adopting the confession of faith as the 
essence of God's word, yet tolerant toward all sects and creeds not tainted with immorality. His 
early education was obtained in the common schools of his native county. When preparing for 
college he was under the tuition of Hon. T, Lyle Dickey, now one of the judges of the supreme 
court of Illinois, and Ebenezer Marston, a graduate of I'nion College, at Schenectady, New York, 
two splendid educators. He entered Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, where he graduated in 
1841, with Doctor George L. Andrew, of La Porte, Indiana, Rev. John M. Bishop, D.D., of Cov- 



468 UNITED STATES BrOGRATHICAI. DICTIONARY. 

ington, Indiana, Hon. Charles H. Hardin, late governor of Missouri, Hon. Samuel Shellabarger, 
of Springfield, Ohio, and others, who have not only occupied high positions, hut were qualified 
to occupy such positions. 

In the autumn of 1841 he entered the law office of Judge James R. Curry, at Cvnthiana, Har- 
rison county, Kentucky, and was admitted and licensed to practice law in the vear 1842, and com- 
menced the practice at Cynthiana. 

In April, 1842, he married Martha Wilson, a most estimable lady, the daughter of Rev. Robert 
and Elizabeth (Harris) Wilson. Rev. Robert Wilson was one of the earliest Presbyterian minis- 
ters in northeastern Kentucky. Judge Moore has had nine children: Margaret Elizabeth, wife of 
Rev. and Professor Robert A. Condit; Robert Wilson, a very promising young lawyer, died De- 
cember 25, 1872; Samuella; James Curry, who died September 13, 1863; Mary Hall, who died 
when five years of age; Herman Groesbeck, who died when seven months old; French, who is 
now city physician of the city of Chicago; Rosina Bennoist, and Nona. 

In 1844 he removed to Covington, Kentucky, where he continued the practice of his profes- 
sion (the law) until 1856, when he was elected circuit .judge, with the exception of a short time 
when he was publisher and editor of a democratic newspaper. There probably never was a more 
popular judge on the bench in Kentucky than Judge Moore during the six years of his judgeship 
there. His term expired in 1862, during the war of the rebellion. There were then in Kentucky 
several parties, one calling itself Unconditional Union, another, which desired and believed that 
the preservation of the Union might be secured without war or bloodshed. To the latter party 
Judge Moore belonged. 

Judge Moore's reelection was considered absolutely certain, with scarcely a show of oppo- 
sition. At that time, 1862, General Jerry Boyle was in command of the department of Kentucky, 
and issued an order that none but the nominees of the Unconditional Union party should be can- 
didates for office, and that votes should be counted for none others. General Boyle years after- 
ward told Judge Moore that there was no act of his life that he regretted as much as he did that 
order. Upon the issuance of General Boyle's aforesaid order, Judge Moore declined to be a can- 
didate for reelection, and commenced disposing of his property in Kentucky preparatory tn 
removing to Chicago with his family. 

His services as a member of the legislature of Kentucky were alike laborious and honorable. 
He served the people of Kentucky with zeal and fidelity. Early in 1865 he with his family came 
to Chicago, where he has since resided. Soon after his arrival here he became a partner of Hon. 
Bernard G. Caulfield, in the practice of the law, which partnership continued until November, 
1873, when Judge Moore was elected judge of the superior court of Cook county. During the six 
years in which he served as judge of the superior court he had charge of the chancery branch of 
the court. When he took charge of the chancery department of the court the docket was fear- 
fully in arrears, but when his term closed every case ready for trial was disposed of. During the 
last three years of his term any case could have been tried within thirty or sixty days after the 
issues were completed. In 1879, at the expiration of his term as judge of the superior court, he 
resumed the practice of his profession, and is now actively engaged in such practice. In 1878 
Wooster University conferred upon him the well merited honorary degree of doctor of laws. 

In Kentucky and in Chicago his friends have persistently urged him to enter the political 
arena, but he has as persistently declined. His ancestors, for so long a time that the memory of 
man runneth not to the contrary, have been Presbyterians, with scarcely an exception. He is a 
Presbyterian by prescription and election. He has been the continual recipient of distinguislied 
honors conferred upon him by his church, and has served the church in nearly every capacity, 
except that of an ordained minister. 

A purer judge never sat upon the bench, and the writer of this sketch is of the opinion that if 
he should be sued by the name and style of " Old Honesty," it could be proved that he was known 
as well by that name as by the name of Samuel M. Moore. 

A kinder hearted man never lived. He has alwavs been ton anxinus to serve his friends, so 



rxiri-.n stai'f.s biogk.m'iiic.m nicrioNAKV. 469 

mucli so that his own interests have materially suffered thereby. As a lawyer he has always stood 
in the front rank of liis profession, which is an honor achieved by but few. 

As a citizen he is always on the moral side of every .question. In summing up the character 
and reputation of Judge Moore, it is eminently proper to pronounce him a gentleman, a Chris- 
tian and a scholar. 



WILLIAMSON DURLEY. 

HENNEPIN. 

AM()N(i the older class of settlers in Putnam county, and its best representative of business 
^ interests, is Williamson Dnrley. a native of Caldwell county, Kentucky. He was born Janu- 
ary 7, 1810, his parents being Jehu Durley, a native of North Carolina, of P^nglish lineage, and 
lane (Rankin) Durley, whose father was from Scotland. In 1819 the family came to this state, 
and settled in Sangamon county, near Springfield, where our subject was educated in a log school 
house, with split logs for seats, hewed' puncheons and other furniture to match. In that primitive 
college he laid the foundation of -his knowledge, on which he afterward built by the economical 
use of spare hours in private study. 

In August, 1831, Mr. Durley came to Putnam county, taking part that season in the first year 
of the Black Hawk war. He and his uncle, James Durley, opened a small stock of goods in Hen- 
nepin, and under the firm name of J. and W. Durle)', continued to trade together about four 
years. In iSjy the subject of this sketch went on his farm, two miles from town, and in 1841 into 
the mercantile trade with Andrew Wardlaw, under the firm name of Durley and Wardlaw. Mr. 
Durley remained on the farm until the autumn of 1880, when he left it in charge of his third son, 
Lyle H. Durley, and moved into town. The farm consists of a little over four hundred acres, and 
is under excellent improvement, Mr. Durley being of that class of men who believe that anj'thing 
worth doing at all is worth doing well. There is nothing slip-shod about his farm or himself. 
Although two miles away, and seventy-three years of age, in the busy season and in good weather 
Mr. Durley visits the old homestead daily, and has a mind to work, although he has not the 
activity of middle life. The farm is well stocked with cattle, horses and hogs, well fenced, with 
good barns and other buildings, and every indication of thriftiness. 

Mr. Durley held at an early day the office of county commissioner for a period of eleven con- 
secutive years, being elected on the liberty ticket. He has also been township treasurer, township 
trustee, school director, etc., willing at all times to serve in any position where he could be useful. He 
was one of the foremost men in organizing the so-called Buel Institute, in Putnam county, the first 
agricultural society, we understand, in Illinois, and he was its president two or three years. He 
was also active in getting up the Farmers' Club of Putnam county, of which he has also been presi- 
dent, and the interests of which he has labored hard to promote. His study thus far in life seems 
to have been to aim at self-improvement, and to encourage all enterprises calculated to benefit 
others. 

The wife of Mr. Durley, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Winters, of Miami county, Ohio, 
and whom he married December 2, 1834, is still living. She is the mother of nine children, one 
of whom died at four years of age. The other eight are well settled and are doing finely. Mr. 
and Mrs. Durley also raised an adopted daughter. We are inclined to believe that the parents 
are proud of their children. If they are not, they have reason to be. Their eldest son, Preston 
B., was formerly a merchant and postmaster at Hennepin, and is one of the proprietors of Faulk- 
ton, Dakota, and postmaster of the place. The second son, Albert W., is a lawyer at Le Mars, 
Iowa. The fourth, Edwin M., is a large and prosperous farmer in Butler county, Kansas, and the 
fifth, Chester M., is a merchant at Princeton, Illinois. 

Mr. Durley is a true patriot. Too old to shoulder his musket when the South undertook to 
destroy the Union, he spent time and money in helping forward the good cause; served as internal 
revenue assessor from 1862 to 1865; assisted in filling out the township quota, and was active in 



470 UMTED STATES BIOGKAPHICA I. DICTIONARY. 

organizing the Union League. Long prior to the rebellion he was in full sympathy with the lib- 
erty party; acted with the free-soil party in 1848-52, and has trained in the republican ranks 
since that great party sprang into existence. 

Mr. Durley has been, since its organization, reporter for the agricultural bureau at Washing- 
ton, and we understand that his opinions on agricultural matters have much weight at head- 
quarters. He also reports for the State Agricultural Society. 

He and his wife are members of the Congregationalist Church, and liberal supporters of the 
same, Mr. Durley having often been an office-bearer. He is a consistent advocate of temperance, 
and in many respects an example for young men to imitate. 



7 



ROBERT M. EDDY. 

CIIICA GO. 

'HE subject of this sketch is descended from one of the oldest New England families, and 
can trace his ancestry back through eight generations,* to an Episcopal clergyman who 
officiated in Saint Dunstan's chapel, Cranbrook, Kent county, England, about the year 1550. He 
himself is a native of Picton, Province of Ontario, Canada, and was born August 16, 1822. His 
parents, Alfred P. Eddy, and Charlotte (Day) Eddy, were both natives of Rhode Island, and were 
people of sterling virtues, to whose teachings and example our subject is indebted for many les- 
sons of sturdy integrity and persevering industry, whose influence on his early life left an impress 
that has signally marked his later business career. 

Robert enjoyed the advantages of a good common-school education, and in 1840, being then 
eighteen years of age, went to Buffalo and apprenticed himself to George Jones, an iron 
founder, with whom he served for three years. After learning his trade, he was employed by the 
same party for four 3'ears as a. Jci/r workman, and in 1847, with a capital of about $600, began 
business at Buffalo on his own account, as an iron-fence manufacturer, and continued the same 
until 1852, personally supervising his works, and employing one or two hands to assist him in 
his operations. His liusiness was necessarily limited, but he conducted it on a safe basis, and 
during the time of its continuance managed to accumulate a small capital. 

Upon the decease of L. H. Larkin, an iron founder, which occurred about this time, Mr. 
Eddy, associating with himself Robert Bingham, who furnished $500, purchased the estab- 
lishment, paying for the same $3,000, $500 cash down, and the balance on time, payable in install- 
ments. This business was conducted under the firm name of Eddy and Bingham, until 1865, a 
period of about twelve years, during which time it attained to a very high standing among man- 
ufacturing industries, and yielded large profits. 

During the year 1865, Mr. Eddy retired from the firm, selling his interest in the business to his 
partner for $16,000, and invested in seven canal boats which were running on the Erie canal. 
The investment proved very unfortunate, it being a line of business in which Mr. Eddy was 
wholly inexperienced, and before he closed his relations with the enterprise he had lost b)' the 
operation some $5,000. After looking about, and finding in that city no chance for making good 
his losses, he determined to take the capital which he had left, about $11,000, and go west. Ac- 
cordingly, in 1865, he settled in Chicago, and after casting about with a view to making the most 
satisfactory investment, he established the foundry business, which has since that time engaged 
his constant attention, locating his works on the corner of Franklin and Illinois streets. Upon 
establishing this enterprise Mr. Eddy associated with himself as partners A. F. Buschick, G. E. 
Buschick, and James Gardner, under the firm name of James Gardner and Company. 

The business represented a capital of $6,800, of which Mr. Eddy furnished $3,000, $3,200 was 
supplied by the Messrs. Buschick, and the balance bv Mr. Gardner, who failed to fulfill his part 
of the agreement in reference to furnishing a proportionate amount of the capital. 

During the next three years the business was continued uninterruptedly, meeting with good 




r /' 



L.C Coaper Sl lu 




^: 



r^^^^ crX^^*^ 





UNITED STATES BIOGRA I'lIICA L DICTIONARY. 



47- 



success, but in 1868 a change in the management occurred, Mr. Eddy purchasing the interests of 
the Messrs. Buschick. Two years later, in 1870, he bought out Mr. Gardner, and assumed the 
sole management of the business, and has continued to control its affairs until the present time 
(1881). The operations of the concern were, at that time, in a most thriving condition, and yield- 
ing products ranging in value from $40,000 to $50,000 per annum. It was in the midst of this 
prosperity that occurred the great fire of October 9, 187 1, and in that general conflagration which 
left a prosperous city but a mass of smoldering ruins, Mr. Eddy was compelled to see the accu- 
mulation of years of careful toil, swept away in an hour. 

The foundry was a total loss, and of the $4,200 insurance which he held, he realized but $170, 
the greater part of the insurance companies being ruined by their heavy losses. It was at this 
crisis that Mr. Eddy's true spirit asserted itself. Though his loss was heavy and the misfortune 
was a severe blow to him, he faced it with undaunted courage, and before the smoke had fairly 
cleared away from the ruins, he commenced to rebuild his foundry, and in eight weeks after the 
fire, had his establishment completed, and in full operation. Since that time the business has 
been greatly extended, improved appliances have been supplied, as necessity has required, so that 
the foundry is now, in every respect, a model establishment. Mr. Eddy now (1883) employs a 
working capital of $40,000, and with a force of thirty hands produces goods amounting in the 
gross to $60,000 per annum. 

The special feature of this business is the manufacture of castings for machinerj% and iron 
buildings, products which have become widely known for their universal excellence. 

Mr. Eddy's policy has always been to put upon the market onl}' a first-class quality of goods, 
and to spare neither money nor pains in meeting the wants of his patrons. He is a man of very 
decided character, and engages with his whole soul in whatever he attempts, and has made a suc- 
cess of his life by perseveringly following a well defined purpose. 

Aside from his superior business qualifications, he possesses fine social attainments, and by his 
many excellent personal qualities has attracted to himself a very large circle of warm personal 
friends. 

In political sentiments he is a stanch republican, but has never taken any active part in politi- 
cal affairs, having found in his legitimate business ample scope for the gratification of his high- 
est ambition. 

He was formerly a Baptist in his religious views, but has come to entertain very liberal views 
on that subject. Mr. Eddy was married in 1845, at Buffalo, New York, to Miss Sarah M. 
Ouackenbush, by whom he has had seven children, of whom two sons and two daughters are now 
living. 



MAJOR-GENERAL SMITH D. ATKINS. 

FREETOKT. 

SMITH DYKINS ATKINS is a son of Adna Stanley and Sarah Dykins Atkins, and was born 
near Elmira, Ciiemung county. New York, June 9, 1835. His father was a tailor by trade, 
born near New Haven, Connnecticut. He immigrated to Orange county, New York, and after- 
ward to Chemung county, where he engaged in conducting the tailoring business until 1848, 
when the family came to Illinois, and settled on a farm in Loran township, Stephenson county, 
where Smith D. Atkins remained until 1850, when he became an apprentice at the printing busi- 
ness in the office of the "Prairie Democrat," the pioneer journal at Freeport. Subsequently he 
went to Mount Morris, Ogle county, became a student in the Rock River Seminary, and at the 
same time paid his way by working in a printing office. In 1852 he had assigned to him the fore- 
manship of the Mount Morris "Gazette," he being still a student, and in June of the next year 
he became a partner of C. C. Allen, in the publication of that paper, which he soon afterward 
purchased. In 1854 he established the "Register," at Savannah, Carroll county, and in the 
autumn of that year commenced the study of law with Hiram Bright, of Freeport. He was 
47 



474 UNITED STATES BIOGRATHICAL DICTIONARY. 



\ 



admitted to the bar in July, 1855. Wishing to prosecute his legal studies a little farther before 
opening an office of his own, Mr. Atkins went to Chicago, and spent a year in the office of Good- 
rich and Scoville, commencing practice at Freeport, September i, 1856. 

Like many young lawyers, he early became imbued with politics, being a decided republican, 
and we first hear of him on the stump as a canvasser in the great campaign of i860, when Abraham 
Lincoln was elected President. We learn from the "History of Stephenson County" that an 
address of his delivered in that campaign, and which Contained a trenchant review of the Dred 
Scott decision, in which Chief Justice Taney stultified himself, was published, and passed through 
several editions. 

In November, i860, Mr, Atkins was elected state's attorney for the fourteenth judicial circuit, 
which embraced three counties, and we learn from the source already mentioned that, "on the 
17th of April, 1861, while trying a criminal case in the Stephenson county court, a telegram was 
received stating that President Lincoln had issued a call for troops to suppress the rebellion. 
Mr. Atkins immediately drafted in the court-room an enlistment roll, which he headed with his 
own name, being the first man to enlist as a private soldier in the county. He then announced 
to the court and jury his decision to prepare without delay for service in the Union army. Leav- 
ing the half finished case in the hands of a brother attorney, he hastened out of the court-room, 
with his enlistment roll, and went into the streets of Freeport to find men to join. Before dark 
one hundred had signed the roll, and in the evening a company was formed, with him in the posi- 
tion of captain. That body of brave young men hastened to Springfield, and was soon mustered 
in as company A, nth regiment Illinois infantry, their enlistment being for ninety days. At the 
end of that period Captain Atkins reenlisted for three years as a private, and at Bird's Point, 
Missouri, was again mustered in as captain of the same company in the gallant nth. At Fort 
Donelson he was in the thickest of the fight, leading in sixty-eight men and coming out with 
twenty-three, and for gallant service on that occasion he was promoted to the rank of major of 
his regiment, and was placed by General Grant on the staff of General Hurlburt, as acting assist- 
ant adjutant-general. In that position he was with General Hurlburt at Pittsburgh Landing, 
where he showed so much coolness and courage that especial mention was made of him in the 
general's report. 

On account of ill-health Major Atkins was now obliged to seek a respite from duty, and spent 
two months on the sea coast. When the call was made in 1862 for six hundred thousand men, 
he was again ready for the field, first taking the stump to aid in rousing the patriotism of his 
countryman. He enlisted in the 92d Illinois, which was mustered in September 4, 1862, with him 
as its colonel. He commanded it till January 17, 1863, when we find him at the head of a brigade. 
Not long afterward, while the 92d was at Mount Sterling, Kentucky, negroes began to flock into 
the camp of the Yankee regiment and asked for protection, and when the owners appeared and 
demanded their surrender, and when a Kentucky colonel, who had at that time command of the 
brigade, ordered Colonel Atkins to return the slaves, he would not do it, declaring, at the same 
time, that his men "had not enlisted to act in the capacity of bloodhounds, to hunt them down 
and drive them back." 

June 17, 1863, Colonel Atkins was placed in command of the 2d brigade, third division. Army 
of Kentucky, which he commanded while in the department of the Ohio, and when his regiment 
was ordered to the department of the Cumberland he was placed in command of the ist brigade, 
first division of the reserve corps. A little later, when the 92d was mounted, and transferred to 
Wilder's brigade of mounted infantry, he commanded it until transferred to General Kilpatrick's 
cavalry division. When this heroic cavalry officer reformed his division, preparatory to the cele- 
brated march with General Sherman to the sea, he placed Colonel Atkins in command of the 2d 
brigade. It will be recollected by the reader familiar with the history of that great march that, 
when General Sherman advanced southward, he aimed to throw his army between the rebel 
forces and Savannah, and the task of deceiving the rebels, and holding them while this move- 
ment was being effected, was assigned by General Kilpatrick to Colonel Atkins' brigade, and he 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTJONARY. 47c 

accomplished it with great adroitness and skill. He also made a brave charge on the enemy at 
Clinton; drove them to Macon, a distance of fourteen miles; forced them into their works at that 
city, and held them until General Sherman swept to the eastward, leaving him with the enemy in 
his rear, and nothing before him to impede his rapid progress. Colonel Atkins greatly distin- 
guished himself at Waynesboro, where Wheeler, with his army, met with a sad defeat. While 
charging with his troops against the rebel columns, Colonel Atkins had his color-bearer shot down 
by his side, and at that moment his brigade flag caught the eye of the enemy, who poured in a 
terrific flood of fire, but the brave colonel halted not for a moment, but coolly kept at the front, 
and soon heard the deafening cheers of his victorious troops. 

On reaching Savannah the colonel was brevetted brigadier-general for gallantry, and was 
assigned to duty under his brevet rank by special order of President Lincoln, and at the close of 
the war, when mustered out, he was brevetted major-general, these honors being conferred by 
order of President Lincoln. 

"In all stations as a commanding officer," writes the historian of Stephenson county, "he was 
popular with both the rank and file. He was a perfect disciplinarian, and was kind and consid- 
erate to the men under him. His courage and his judgment as a strategist won their confidence, 
and they readily and heartily supported him wherever he led them." 

At the close of the war General Atkins returned to Freeport, and was editor and proprietor of 
the Freeport "Journal" from 1867 to 1874. He was appointed postmaster at Freeport upon the 
recommendation of Hon. E. B. Washburne, the congressman at the commencement of President 
Johnson's term of office, and was successively reappointed, twice by President Grant, once by 
President Hayes, and again by President Arthur, and still holds that position. He is one of the 
proprietors and editors of the Freeport " Republican." In August, 1865, he was married to 
Eleanor Hope Swain, daughter of Hon. David L. Swain, ex-governor of North Carolina, and 
president of the university at Chapel Hill, that state. Mrs. Atkins departed this life at Raleigh, 
North Carolina, June 12, 1881, leaving three children: Eleanor Hope, Smith Dykins, Jr., and 
Susan Annie, 

WASHINGTON E. COOK. 

LA CON. 

WASHINGTON EBENEZER COOK was a son of Ebenezer and Leonora (Combs) Cook, 
and was born in the town of Augusta, Oneida county. New York, December 29, 1808. His 
grandfathers on both sides were early settlers in Augusta, that part of the town being called 
Cook's Corners. When Washington was eleven years old his father died, and the son went to 
Clinton, having no schooling after that age. He became an apprentice at the hatter's trade, but left 
it just before his time had expired, on account of poor health. He held clerkships in stores and 
hotels in New York city till of age; then went to Honesdale, in his native state; became a mer- 
chant's clerk, and May 16, 1832, was married to Miss Eunice A. Kellogg, daughter of Eliphalet 
Kellogg, of Bethany, a prominent citizen, and for several years a county officer. Mr. Cook kept 
a large hotel in Bethany for four years, and then moved to Dunkirk, in the western part of the 
state, where he assisted in the preliminary surveys of a railroad between Buffalo, New York, and 
Erie, Pennsylvania. 

In 1837 our subject came as far west as Birmingham, Ohio, where he was a merchanut until 
the spring of 1846, at which time he came to Marshall county, and settled on land three miles 
west of Henry. He sold out, and. May i, 1849, moved into that village. In the following 
autumn he was elected clerk of the circuit court, and in the following spring settled in Lacon, the 
county seat, holding that office for three terms, or twelve years. On retiring from that post of 
official duty, he devoted his time to the supervision of his own affairs, having accumulated a 
handsome property. 

Mr. Cook was a supervisor for ten years, and held various other local offices, being for years 



47( 



UNITED STATES BIOGKATll ICAL DICTIONAR 



one of the foremost men of tlie place. He was a candidate for the legislature while in Ohio, and 
for the lower house and the senate of this state, and was the leader of the democratic party in 
Marshall county for a long time. He died at the Matteson House, Chicago, January 7, 1879, and 
was buried according to the rites of the Masonic order, he being at the time of his death the last 
charter member of the Peoria Commandery. His funeral was very largely attended by the fra- 
ternit)' of that order, and by the citizens generally of the city of Lacon and vicinity, the circuit 
court adjourning for that purpose. He was a man greatly esteemed by everybody who knew 
hirn; was a member of the Congregational church, a warm friend of the poor, and in all respects 
a true and valuable citizen. Self-taught and self-disciplined, he was well trained and well 
informed, and emphatically a manly man. 

Mr. Cook left a widow and three children to mourn his loss, one son, Martin K., having died 
at twenty-six years of age. That son was a captain in the late civil war; was at first on the staff of 
General Hurlburt, and then of General Canby, and married a Miss Buchanan,. of Memphis, Ten- 
nessee. George W. E., the eldest child, is on the homestead with his mother, faithfully attending 
to the large property left by his father. Helen J. is the wife of D. W. Warner, of Radersburgh, 
Montana Territory, and Belle V. is the wife of S. M. Garrett, lawyer, at Lacon. 



ARTHUR J. GALLAGHER. 

DECA TUR. 

OF the many able men who have graced the legal profession with eminent learning and judi- 
cial ability no one surpasses the late Arthur J. Gallagher. He is a native of Tyrone county. 
North of Ireland, and was born at Strabane, May 2, 1828, the youngest of eight children, seven 
sons and one daughter. His father immigrated to America when Arthur was about a year old, 
and settled in the city of Philadelphia, where he resided, enjoying excellent school advantages 
until twelve years of age. His mother having died seven years previously, he came west with an 
elder brother, who established himself in the dry goods business at Saint Louis, Missouri. 
Arthur soon afterward lived a short time on a farm in Illinois, below Saint Louis, and for a brief 
period was employed in a store in that vicinity. Not fancying the life of a farmer, he returned to 
Saint Louis, and for several years was a student in Saint Joseph's College, studying the classic 
languages and becoming well acquainted with French and German. Here he acquired a good 
education. His mind was strong, comprehensive and active, and he acquired much useful knowl- 
edge by the reading of books in his youth, which his strong and retentive memory enabled him 
to retain for future uses. 

The Mexican war broke out in 1846, when he was but eighteen years of age. He enlisted in 
the 2d regiment of Illinois infantry, commanded by Colonel Bissell, afterward governor of the 
state. He enlisted for one year; was in the memorable battle of Buena Vista, and was honorably 
discharged after serving fourteen months. He then entered the office of Judge Underwood, at 
Belleville, where he assiduously pursued the study of the law, making rapid progress. He studied 
nineteen hours per day, and as a natural consequence with one of so keen perceptions and clear 
mind he was soon prepared, and was admitted to the bar at Belleville. He removed to Vandalia 
in 1848, where he made good progress in his profession, and had the good fortune to secure sev- 
eral valuable friends, who adhered to him through life. He was appointed register of the land 
office at Vandalia by President Pierce, and in 1852 was elected to the legislature from Fayette 
county. In 1854 he removed to Chicago; acted as attorney for the Illinois Central railroad, and 
began the practice of the law, remaining there about six months, when he accepted an offer of 
partnership with Hon. Richard J. Oglesby and Sheridan Wait, under the firm name of Oglesby^ 
Wait and Gallagher. 

He was but twentj^-seven years of age at this time, with brilliant talents, vigorous and studious. 
He prepared his cases with great care, and investigated every subject of litigation with great 
patience, and he soon attained a high position at the Macon county bar. 




H.C,Co»p«r Jr.i Co 




o-t^^^tL^y^i^-n^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



479 



In 1862 he raised a company of cavalry, and was attached to the 7th Illinois infantry, com- 
manded by Colonel William Pitt Kellogg, afterward governor of Louisiana. He remained in the 
army about a year. The bar unanimously urged him to become a candidate for judge of the old 
sixteenth circuit, to which office he was elected without opposition in 1867. He held that office 
until 1S73, presiding with a clearness, candor and ability that won for him many high encomiums 
by all having business in his courts. He then resumed the practice of his profession, which he 
followed up to the time of his demise, practicing exclusively in the higher courts, always uphold- 
ing the highest standard of professional ethics. He was an effective speaker, logical and pro- 
found, lucid and luminous, true to himself, his clients, the courts and his brethren at the Ijar, who 
hold him in affectionate remembrance. His kindness to younger members of the bar is often 
remarked by the recipients of favors from his generous hand. He never spoke unkindly of a 
brother lawyer, and always treated his opponents with the utmost fairness. 

He was married June 27, 1865, to Miss Rachel Smith, a lady of culture and refinement and 
excellent attainments, the daughter of Hon. E. O. Smith, one of the early settlers of Macon county. 
They had one son, Arthur, born in November, 1870. 

Previous to the war Judge Gallagher was a democrat, but subsequently became an earnest 
republican. He died of heart disease suddenly in his office on the afternoon of June 23, 1879. 
His death spread a universal gloom over the whole community. All realized that his family, 
friends and community had met with an irreparable loss, and the bar its brightest intellect. 

At a bar meeting held after his demise high tribute to his memory and resolutions of condol- 
ence to his bereaved friends were passed. 

An estimate of his character as a lawyer may be drawn from the remarks of his successor 
on the bench of the si-xteenth circuit, made when the resolutions of the Macon county bar were 
placed upon the records of the court: 

"As a lawyer, it is not hazarding too much to say that he was the peer of any lawyer in the 
state. With a marvelously clear and comprehensive mind, habits of industry, a large and varied 
practice, involving great interests, he rose rapidly to a just and honorable distinction in his profes- 
sion, until at last he stood among the foremost of its known and recognized masters. The law to 
him was a goddess, at whose shrine he constantly worshiped with the most unrelenting devotion. 
He drank deeply and freely from the fountains of learning and wisdom of the ages, until his 
mind became a store-house filled with the ripest knowledge of his profession, from which he 
might always draw without stint and to the advantage of those he sought to instruct. He was 
never boisterous or rude to his antagonist or the court. Conscious of his strength and power, he 
was dignified and courteous in his intercourse with all men. Brave and determined in all things 
as Jove, he was yet modest and gentle as a woman. In nothing did his high character as a lawyer 
appear more clearly than in his sincere and honest purpose to be a faithful and correct adviser of 
the court." 

After receiving the rewards, distinctions and honors of his profession as a lawyer, he 
was called to the bench by the almost unanimous voice of his district to discharge the more 
arduous and responsible duties of a judge. Here it was that he justified the partiality and dis- 
cernment of his friends. Every trait of his character and education were but so many arguments 
in favor of his fitness for the bench. He brought to the discharge of the duties of his office the 
learning and experience which a large and varied practice gave him. He loved justice and right, 
and hated all wrong, fraud and injustice with a perfect mind. He carried to the bench that same 
gentle and patient quality of heart and mind which had distinguished him at the bar above his 
brethren. His face was as immovable on the bench as the sphinx. No lawye'r could ever tell 
from any manifestations of his while hearing an argument what the judgment would be. He 
had that rare quality of listening patiently and quietly to what was said, and determining at once 
between possible error and naked truth. No man ever sat upon the bench who was more justly 
beloved by the bar and the people than Judge Gallagher, nor more deeply mourned by those who 
knew him best. 



480 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



m 



As a citizen he had no superior. He believed in the supremacy of the law and its strict 
enforcement to maintain good order in society. A brave soldier, he fought in the first instance 
in defense of his country's honor, and secondly to preserve inviolate the greatest and noblest 
republic on earth. 

His reliance upon the Supreme Being he retained from his youth up, as may be seen from an 
incident which occurred: When a boy in Saint Louis, through an act of courtesy to older people, 
he was prevented from taking a ferryboat from the shore. He saw tke boat blown to fragments 
in mid-stream. And once in Mexico a slight circumstance prevented the assassination of himself 
and a comrade. These circumstances made lasting impressions upon his mind. 

He had great self-control, and never allowed the contests in the court-room to provoke his 
anger or draw from him an unkind remark, and in no place was the warmth of his heart more 
noticeable or more highly appreciated than in his home, where his loss is most keenly ielt. 

His is the true fame ; not lying in broad rumor nor in the glittering foil set off to the 
world, but that fame based upon good works, upon duty done, and a life beyond reproach, which 
grows and blossoms in immortal soil. 



JOSEPH GIBSON ENGLISH. 

DANVILLE. 

THE subject of this biography is a native of Ohio county, Indiana, and was born December 
20, 1820, the son of Charles English and Ann (Wright) English. His father was a carpen- 
ter and blacksmith by trade. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, whence he went with his 
parents to Nova Scotia ; later he settled in Pennsylvania, where he was married. The mother of 
our subject was a native of England. In 1829, his parents having settled near Perryville, Indiana, 
Joseph began attending school, at the old log school-house at that place. When fourteen years of 
age, with the meager education which could be afforded by the schools of that day, in a newly 
settled country, he was thrown upon his own resources, and going to La Fayette, Indiana, he en- 
gaged to work in the store of Mr. John Taylor, receiving for his services, his board and clothes, 
until he should attain his majority, after which he was to receive a salary. After five years of 
faithful service, Joseph being then about nineteen years old, his employer failed in business, and 
he was again thrown upon the world, with no means other than his own native ability, the knowl- 
edge which he had gained, and a determined purpose to succeed. His first move was to return 
to Perryville, where he was employed as clerk for different parties for some six years, during 
which time, in 1843, he was married to Miss Mary Hicks, a daughter of George Hicks. In 1844, 
in partnership with his father-in-law, he opened a store of general merchandise, and built up an 
extensive trade, which he conducted with eminent success, until 1852, when he sold his interest 
and removed to his present home in Danville, Illinois. In the following year he associated him- 
self with J. L. Tincher, and opened a dry goods store, which they conducted with marked 
success for three years. In 1856, the Stock Security Bank having become insolvent, Mr. English 
was appointed one of the assignees; and while engaged in closing up its affairs, seeing a demand 
for more banking facilities, he again associated himself with Mr. Tincher, and together they 
opened the Danville bank, and conducted a private banking business for about seven years. In 
1863 he organized the First National Bank of Danville, and from that time until the present, 
1882, has been president and general business manager of the same, and it is but just to say that 
to his executive and financial ability, and thorough integrity, must be attributed the success of 
the institution, and the unbounded confidence in which it is held by the community. Aside from 
his banking enterprise Mr. English, in 1866, organized and put into successful operation the Dan- 
ville Gas Light and Coal Company, and during the same year organized the Spring Hill Ceme- 
tery Company, of both of which he has since continued to act as president. 

Public-spirited and generous, he has liberally contributed of his means, and unsparingly 



UNITED STATES RIOGRA riUCAI. DICTIONARY. 48 I 

devoted his time to all enterprises of a public nature. Upon the building of the Indinapolis, Bur- 
lington and Western, and the Cincinnati, Evansville and Indiana railroads, he was most active in 
securing their location most favorable to his city, and of the latter he has been a director since 
1876. 

Although often solicited, Mr. English has uniformly declined political preferment, finding in 
his legitimate business more congenial employment and ample scope for the exercise of his abili- 
ties. He was formerly a democrat in political sentiment, but in 1862, when that party adopted 
the peace platform, and declared the war a failure, he withdrew from it, and has since been iden- 
tified with the republican party. In his religious views he is a Methodist, having united with that 
church in 1856, and gives his most earnest support to every movement tending to the religious or 
educational welfare of the community in which he resides. 

Mr. English has been twice married; by his first wife, who died November 17, 1864, there 
were born to him four sons and two daughters. In 1865 he was married to Maria L. Partlow, of 
Joliet, Illinois, by whom he has had two sons. 

Such in brief, is an outline of the life of one, who by his own energy, enterprise and unaided 
effort has risen to a position of honor, and made for himself a name worthy to be classed among 
the self-made men of Illinois, and in its perusal there is found an example most worthy of emula- 
tion, 

RICHARD JAMES HANNA. 

KANKAKEE. 

THE subject of this sketch was born on the old John Jay farm, Staten Island, New York, Octo- 
ber 24, 1835, of a hardy race of sons of Neptune, on the maternal side. His mother was 
Elizabeth (Bird) Hanna, of the well known Bird family of Carlisle, Cumberland, England. His 
father, Thomas Hanna, was of Scotch origin, and a descendant of the well known active partici- 
pators, on the English side, during the Irish rebellion. With a limited education, but with a 
brave heart, young Hanna started on tlTe sea of life, entering upon an apprenticeship to a house 
carpenter, a capacity in whicii, even at this early age, he exhibited an aptitude and assiduity 
which has followed him through all his subsequent career, in all that he has undertaken, and 
which might well be emulated by others. 

At the expiration of his apprenticeship, he removed to the West, and settled at Kankakee, 
Illinois, having previously (August 7, 1854) married Miss Ann Freth, daughter of James Freth, of 
New York, a gentleman of English descent. During 1855 and 1856 he was engaged in building 
and contracting, after which, until 1862, he devoted himself to mercantile pursuits, in both of 
which enterprises he worked with a will and energy, and attained a degree of success that im- 
pressed all who knew him. His zeal and integrity were manifest in all his transactions, and with 
such attributes, Richard James Hanna may be, and is, numbered among the few who have attained 
their popularity and position by their own endeavors, combined with the strictest honesty. He 
is conceded to be one of the most successful merchants in the city of Kankakee, hence it is not 
surprising that he has been called to represent that city in its council. He is a member of the 
board of education; a member of the board of supervisors, and a leading member of the Metho- 
dist Church. As a Master Mason, he is esteemed by his brother Masons. He was a delegate to 
the Chicago republican national convention in 1880, and was one of the 306 to whom was given 
the medal. 

In August, 1862, he enlisted in the 113th regiment Illinois infantry, and was advanced to the 
rank of captain of the 51st United States colored infantry, July 16, 1863, and promoted to major. 
Mays, 1865, which position he retained until the regiment was mustered out, in June, 1865, at 
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. During the whole time he served with the army, although he was 
slightly wounded on two occasions, he never absented himself a day from duty, or was placed on 
the sick list. He served with his regiment at the battles of Walnut Hills, Vicksburg, December, 



482 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

1862; Arkansas Post in January, 1863; and took part in the hard fighting of June 19 and 22, and 
in the forty days'' siege of Vicksburg, which followed. In July, 1863, he was transferred to the 
colored service, which was utilized for garrison duty, and the keeping open of the Mississippi, 
which was successfully accomplished, until January, 1865. At that time he was ordered to New 
Orleans, and thence to Brancas, Florida, to take part in the Mobile campaign, under General E. 
R. S. Canby, who was more recently murdered by the Modoc Indians, while attending a peace 
conference. At length, however, he arrived with the troops in front of the Old Spanish Fort 
works, opposite Mobile, April i, 1865. There they had some nine days' hard fighting, and even- 
tually captured the forts by storming, April 9. Finally, he was moved with the.troops to the Red 
River country, Alexandria, for the purpose of keeping quiet the turbulent elements of the com- 
munity — a very necessary measure, considering the tumult which was rife at that time. 

Mr. Hanna is a man of robust physique, and commanding stature, with a line of feature which 
would indicate a determined will, which no difficulties could daunt, and that nothing could deter 
him when having undertaken and determined to carry out a purpose. He is a gentleman of the 
highest integrity, and both in business relations, and official position as postmaster of Kankakee 
(a position he was appointed to in March. 1882), he is held in the highest estimation for his civil 
and aft'able manner; and within his social circle he is esteemed for his affectionate, beneficent and 
pious characteristics, as well as for his ever-ready and willing hand to help the poor, the sick and 
needy. In a word, he is a thorough representative of the American gentleman. 



GEORGE WILLARD. 

CHICAGO. 

GEORGE WILLARD, lawyer, o( the firm of Willard and Driggs, came of very early New 
England stock. The progenitor of the family in this country. Major Simon Willard, was born 
at Horsmonden, Kent county, England, in 1605, and came to Boston in 1634. He was early called 
into public service, and during a period of forty years hetd important public trusts, such as legis- 
lator, judge and militarj' commander, until his death in 1676. His second son, Samuel, graduated 
from Harvard College in 1659, and was installed as pastor of the old South Church, in Boston, 
in 1678, and continued until his death in 1707. He was also president of Harvard College from 1701 
until his death, but with title of vice president, because of his residence in Boston instead of Cam- 
bridge. Major Simon Willard's nine sons, and five of his eight daughters, were married, lived 
to mature age, and left numerous descendants, of whom we may mention Rev. Josiah Willard, 
a tutor in Harvard College in 169S, and afterward secretary of the province of Massachusetts 
Bay, judge of probate and one of the executive council of Suffolk ; Rev. Joseph Willard, a 
graduate of Yale College in 1714, and master of arts in Harvard College in 1723; Rev. Joseph 
Willard, graduate of Harvard College in 1765, and for many years after president of that insti- 
tution; Colonel Josiah Willard, commander of Fort Dummer in 1750; Daniel Willard, a mer- 
chant in Boston, and son-in-law of Rev. Cotton Mather; Colonel Samuel Willard, of Lancaster, 
who was in command of a regiment at the reduction of Louisburgh in 1745; Doctor Nahum 
Willard, of Worcester, Massachusetts, with whom President John Adams resided when a student 
at law with Mr. Putnam in 1756; Colonel Abijah Willard, commander of a regiment under Lord 
Amherst in 1759, and a brother-in-law of Colonel William Prescott, of Bunker Hill fame; Solo- 
mon Willard, architect of Bunker Hill Monument; Major Willard Moore, who was fatally wounded 
at the battle of Bunker Hill while commanding a new regiment raised in Cambridge; Robert 
Treat Paine, one of the signers of the declaration of independence; Doctor John Willard, of Ver- 
mont, member of the constitutional convention of 1793, a member of the council of censors in 
1799, and United States marshal from 1801 to 1810, and Judge John Willard, of Saratoga, New 
York. 

Benjamin, the eighth son of Major Simon Willard. was a prominent citizen of Worcester 



UNITED ST.irES B/OCRAl'IIICAl. DICTIONARY. 



4S5 



county, Massachusetts. He died in 1732. Joseph Willard, a son of Benjamin, held the rank of 
major in the military service of Massachusetts colony. He died at Grafton in 1774, where he had 
lived more than fifty years. His son, Lieutenant Isaac Willard, died at Worcester in 1806, leaving a 
son, Johnson, who was born in 1786, and who became one of the pioneers of northern New York, 
settling in Jefferson county in 1815, where, in 1833, he married Margaret Becker, a native of 
Johnstown, New York, and the mother of our subject. She died in 1849. 

George Willard, who was the youngest son and next to the youngest child in a family of sev- 
enteen children, was born at Natural Bridge, New York, April 15, 1839. His father was a farmer 
and lumber dealer, well advanced in years when George became old enough to assist, and the 
principal care of the farm and mill devolved upon him. He had long desired the advantages 
which a liberal education would bring to him in after life, but all his brothers having gone 
west, he yielded to his sense of duty to remain at home and add to the comfort of his aged 
sire. George was ten years old when his mother died, and upon his father's death, in June, 
1858, an older son, who had returned from the West, was induced to remain and manage the 
estate until the youngest daughter should arrive at legal age, when the property might be 
distributed. George soon entered Gouverneur College, in Saint Lawrence county, but at the 
expiration of the fall term, 1858, went to Saint Charles, Illinois, where several of his sisters 
resided, and there continued his studies until the March following, when he procured an outfit 
and joined a company gotten up by ex-Sheriff B. C. Yates, of Kane county, Illinois, who pro- 
posed to go to Pike's Peak by water route from Chicago in a steamboat built for that purpose, 
the engine and boiler of which were to be used in running a quartz mill to be set up in the new 
Eldorado. Accordingly, March 30, 1859, Captain Yates' improvised steamboat, with the full com- 
pany on board, started from the dock below Lake street bridge, and amid the cheers of a large 
crowd steamed up the south branch of the Chicago River. After reaching the Missouri River 
the progress of the boat was slow beyond expectation, and long before reaching Leavenworth the 
boat's machinery was nearly worn out, and would soon be incapable of propelling the boat fur- 
ther up the rapid current of that stream. The captain concluded, therefore, to sell his boat, 
settle with the members of his company, and return to Chicago, which he did. The subject 
of our sketch continued the journey as far as Leavenworth, where he met the returning tide of 
gold seekers, and after a few months' stay in Kansas returned to Illinois. The expenses of this 
venture largely exceeded the amount received on leaving home. To pay the excess, and^ acquire 
a sufficient surplus to continue his studies, he labored until the autumn of 1861 — in the summers 
on his brother's farm, near Janesville, Wisconsin, and in the winters in the pine woods of that 
state. George had early conceived a desire" to become a lawyer, but it was not until the fall of 
1859 that he fully determined to do so. His purpose then became fixed, and he took a few well 
chosen volumes with him to the lumber camp that winter. In the autumn of 1861 he entered 
upon a course of studies at Bryant and Stratton's college in Chicago, and completed the same 
in 1862. The next year he commenced keeping the accounts of a mercantile firm, and by arrange- 
ment was allowed to spend a portion of the time reading law, which he did, first in the office 
of S. B. Perry and afterward, in January, 1864, in the office of Hon. H. W. Blodgett, in whom he 
found a most valuable friend. 

In June, 1864, our subject responded to the call of the government for volunteers for ninety 
days' service, enlisting as a private in company B, i32d Illinois regiment, and was afterward elected 
first sergeant of the company. Returning in October he resumed his studies in the office of Judge 
Blodgett, and having attended a sufficient course of lectures before the law school of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, was graduated from that department of the institution in June, 1865, and was 
immediately admitted to practice. In 1870 he was appointed local attorney for the Chicago and 
North-Western Railway Company in Chicago, and in 1873, assistant solicitor of the Pennsylvania 
Company, holding both offices until 1874, and the last-named office, with but slight intermission, 
until February, 1881, when a copartnership was formed with Mr. Driggs, of Pittsburgh, and the 

4S 



486 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

firm were appointed solicitors for the Pennsylvania Company and the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati 
and Saint Louis Railway Company. 

Mr. Willard was secretary and treasurer of the Western Railroad Association for five years, 
and master in chancery of the circuit court at Chicago for six years. 

He joined a Congregational church at Allen's Grove, Wisconsin, in i860, and is now a member 
of the First Presbyterian Church of Hyde Park, where he has resided since 1868, and for which 
municipality he was treasurer in 1879 and 1882. 

He married, November 6, 1865, Miss Fannie J. Rodden, of Burlington, Vermont. They have 
four children, named, respectively, George Rodden, William Blodgelt, Bessie and Grace. 



HON. WILLIAM E. MASON. 

CHICAGO. 

WILLIAM ERNEST MASON, attorney-at-lavv, and state senator, is a son of Lewis J. and 
Nancy (Winslow) Mason, and was born at Franklinville, Cattaraugus county. New York, 
July 7, 1850. Both parents were also born in that state. Nancy Winslow was a lineal descendant 
of Edward Winslow, who came over in the Mayflower in 1620, and was governor of the Plymouth 
colony in 1633, 1634 and 1646. He was the man who offered himself as a hostage to the Indian 
chief, Massasoit. In 1857, when our subject was seven years old, the family immigrated to Iowa, 
and settled at Bentonsport, Van Buren county, nine miles from the Missouri line, where Lewis 
Mason worked part of the time at his trade, that of a wagon-maker, and part of the time at hotel- 
keeping. He was a prominent man in Van Buren county, at one period president of the board of 
supervisors, and always an active politician of the abolition school. Naturally warm hearted, and 
of a kindly and humane disposition, he hated oppression with a perfect hatred, and never hesi- 
tated to aid the slave in trying to obtain his freedom. Living in southeastern Iowa, only nine 
miles from the boundary line of slavery, he kept, from 1857 to 1S63, the first station in a free state 
on the underground railroad, and helped many a poor fugitive on his way to Canada, sometimes 
whole squads of them at a time. 

He was a speaker of great power, and sometimes held public meetings in school houses and 
other j^aces, when he would portray the cruelties of slavery in a very vivid manner, and with all 
the sarcasm of the keenest invective. Sometimes he was threatened to be turned out by the pro- 
slavery democrats in his audience, but that only emboldened him, and raised the pitch of his elo- 
quence. He lived to see all the slaves free, and died at the close of the slaveholders' rebellion, 
when William was about fifteen years old. The widow died a few years later. 

Mr. Mason was educated in the common schools of Bentonsport; taught school from sixteen 
to twenty years of age in Van Buren county and at Des Moines; read law with Hon. Thomas F. 
Withrow, then of Des Moines, and now general solicitor for the Chicago and Rock Island rail- 
road, with residence in Chicago, and he was admitted to the bar of Des Moines in 1870, before 
he had reached his majority. Mr. Mason practiced in Des Moines until the spring of 1872, being 
in the oflice with Mr. Withrow, and then settled in Chicago, where he soon built up a large prac- 
tice. A gentleman who has often met Mr. Mason in court thus speaks of him: 

"As a lawyer Mr. Mason is successful beyond the average practitioner, by reason of a combi- 
nation of qualities and qualifications, which would, in any business or profession, insure success, 
namely: a certain aggressive force, coupled with a keen but never playful humor; an incisive 
manner of cross-examination, aided by a marvelous memory, which, in the case of a contuma- 
cious or smart witness, is especially effective; a clear, ringing voice, under perfect control, and, on 
occasion, a peculiar, pathetic quality, which blends admirably with the earnest and almost aggres- 
sive manner referred to. In short, there is in his manner or matter no nonsense or filigree work 
whatever. He never resorts to any pedantic tricks or highflown periods in argument before court 
or jury. Though naturally gifted with sentiment of the emotional quality, he yet never descends 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA PlflCA I. DICT/O.VA R V. 



487 



to the usual niL'thods of working up a jury. His style, if any he has, is distinguished for almost 
a blunt directness of utterance. Though never commonplace in his language, the suspicion of 
preparedness or previous elaboration would not occur. The temptation, so commonly yielded to 
by lawyers, old and young, of startling emphasis or mountebankish attitudes in speaking for 
effect, he never yields to. He never indulges in elaborate arguments before either court or jury; 
nor obtrudes many authorities, but speaks right on, and to the point, and to the merits. And 
last, but not least, and therein he holds his greatest popularity, he makes his client's cause his own, 
and because of these qualifications — a combination of heart, brains and conscience — he has 
never lost a jury case in the course of ten years' practice." 

He is the Chicago attorney for the Illinois Central railroad. Mr. Mason was a member of the 
thirty-first general assembly from the old ninth district, and in November, 1882, was elected to 
the state senate from the new fifth district, which embraces the northwestern part of the city of 
Chicago. He is chairman of the committee on warehouses, and on the committees on judiciar)', 
judicial department, corporations, insurance, military affairs and miscellany. 

Senator Mason became thoroughly imbued with his father's political sentiments when quite 
young, and was a free-soiler and a republican long before he had a vote. He could not be any- 
thing else without doing violence to the manliest instincts of his nature. Senator Mason intro- 
duced the bill in the thirty-first general assembly for the establishment of the industrial school 
for girls, and is now a director of that school. He is a Knight Templar in Freemasonry, an Odd- 
Fellow, and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. 

The wife of Senator Mason was Edith White, daughter of George White, now living in Des 
Moines. They were married June 11, 1873, and have four children: Lewis Francis, Ethel Wins- 
low. Ruth White and Winifred Sprague. 



R 



REV. ROBERT I). MILLER. 

PE TEA' SB URGH. 

OBERT D. MILLER, superintendent of schools in Menard county, was born near Sedalia, 
Pettis count}', Missouri, February 3, 1838. His father. William A. Miller, was born in 
Kentucky in 1804; immigrated to Missouri in 1820; was a member of the Missouri constitu- 
tional convention at twenty-two years of age, a farmer, politician, and legislator, and died in 1847. 
He married Agnes C. Mitchell, who was born in 1805 in Tennessee, and is now living with a 
son in Oregon, being in her seventy-ninth year. She is a woman of strong mind and tenacious 
memory, and still writes long letters devoid of interlineations or misspelt words. They are 
models in penmanship and composition. Her father, Captain Thomas Mitchell,, moved to Mis- 
souri in 1814, and there died. 

Our subject attended a district school until fifteen years old, and finished his education at 
Chapel Hill College, Missouri, leaving in the early part of the senior year. He taught school nine 
years in Missouri and five in Illinois. While teaching he studied medicine for eighteen mt)nths 
and then abandoned it. He also read law in 1858-60, and was admitted to the bar in Septemlier. 
i860. 

Mr, Miller joined the Cumberland Presbyterian church in September, 1861; was ordained at 
Easton, Missouri, in 1864, and held pastorates in that state at Piatt City and Barry, and in Menard 
county, this state, at Greenview and Petersburgh. Since January, 1882, he has been filling the 
pulpit the second time at Greenview, his residence remaining at Petersburgh. His first pastorate 
at Greenview was in the early period of his ministry. 

Mr. Miller was appointed county superintendent of schools in January, 1877; elected to the 
same office in the autumn of the same year; was again appointed for another year, and reelected 
in 1882. He is one of the most popular men in that office that the county has ever had, and is 
admirably adapted to perform its duties, being an experienced teacher and a studious and pro- 
gressive man. 



488 UNITED STATES RIOGRAPinCA !. DICTIOhWRY. 

Mr. Milk-r is not only a good general scholar, but has paid considerable attention to the sci- 
ence of geology, and has made a specialty of the study of archaeology and zoology. There are 
very few, if any, men of better culture in Menard county than the subject of this sketch. With- 
out any tinge of pedantry, he is very interesting in conversation, and is a modest listener when 
others are talking. 

While a resident of Missouri, December 24, 1856, Mr. Miller was married to Miss Charlotte A. 
Riche, of Buchanan county, and they have six children living, all at home, and had one son, 
George Mitchell, killed by the cars in March, 1879, aged ten years. The living are Sarah M., 
Mollie A., Km ma E., Leyria A., Rosa P. and Robert D. F. 



LEROY B. FIRMAN. 

CHICAGO. 

THE subject of this sketch is widely known throughout the country, particularly in the West, 
first in connection with the Gamewell fire-alarm telegraph system, which he introduced into 
all the principal cities west of New York, and afterward as the originator of the American Dis- 
trict Telegraph of Chicago, and latterly as the efficient manager of the Chicago Telephone Com- 
pany, a consolidation of the Bell and Edison Telephone Companies of Chicago. These various 
systems of inter-communication are largely indebted to his ingenuity and persistent energy for 
the marvelous efficiency which have rendered them well-nigh indispensable in our modern life. 
From the time when he learned telegraphy, in 1858, at odd intervals while buying grain for a 
flouring mill at Bloomington, to the present time, his life has been devoted to the study and 
development of the telegraph and telephone, and their adaptation to the needs of municipal life. 
Remove from private residences alone in the city of Chicago the comfort, convenience and secu- 
rity which the telegraph and telephone service has brought by his hand, and it would be like 
returning to the days of the stage-coach and weeklv mail. 

His life has thus far been a quiet and uneventful one, but an exceedingly busy and useful one. 
He has never interested himself in politics, but is nevertheless a pronounced republican in senti- 
ment. Leaving others to the doubtful honors or profits of political life, he has devoted himself 
assiduously to his business, which has secured to him the most enviable hondr of a public bene- 
factor, and very satisfactory profits as well. 

Mr. Firman is a native of Otsego county. New York, and of American parentage. His father's 
name is Horace Firman, a farmer, and his mother, Laura B. (Brown) Firman. He was born Decem- 
ber 4, 1836, and spent his early life on the farm. He received what education he could get at the 
district school of his native place till fifteen years of age, when he determined to begin life for 
himself. 

In 1851 he was seized with the western fever, which shortly carried him off, and he landed in 
Beloit, Wisconsin. Here he soon found work suited to his years, and not only supported himself, 
but laid up monej-, and in 1854 invested it in a small grocery store at the little village of Elroy, 
in Stephenson county, Illinois. Here he remained for about two years, when he sold out and 
started overland for California. He was not destined, however, to reach the Golden State, but 
was prostrated by sickness on reaching Christian county, Illinois, which effectually checked the 
western fever by one of a more serious nature. Partially recovering therefrom, he decided to visit 
his father's home once more, and among the scenes of his early boyhood regain the health and 
and strength he had lost. Here he spent a few happy months, and in 1858 returned west fully 
recovered. This time he brought up in Bloomington, and at once found employment buying 
wheat for a flouring mill. 

While in this business he was frequently in the telegraph office, and speedily mastered the 
wondeiful art of talking by lightning. With unusual industry his spare moments were devoted 
to acquiring skill in manipulating the wires, and as soon as he was capable of^discharging its 



VNirKD srATF.S HrOi:KAPinCAI. DICI'IONARY. 



489 



duties he received an office at (jilman. Soon after entering upon liis work he added the agency 
of the American express. With economy in his expenditures he continued to lay up money, and 
invested it in the lands of the Illinois Central railroad at $10 per acre. As fast as he was able 
he put it under cultivation, and after keeping it four years sold it at $40 per acre. In 1862 he was 
transferred to Tolono, on the same road; was given charge of both the telegraph and the ticket 
offices, and his salary doubled. Here he remained until the close of the war, when he came to 
Chicago and entered into the service of the city. He was at once appointed chief operator in the 
tire-alarm telegraph office, where he remained but a few months when the board of fire commis- 
sioners gave him leave of absence, under full pay for a year unless sooner recalled, for the pur- 
pose of visiting the chief cities of the country and inspecting their various systems of fire-alarm 
telegraphy for the benefit of the city of Chicago. 

He completed his work in six months and was recalled: On his return he was offered a salary 
of $3,000 a year and traveling expenses as general western agent of the Gamewell Fire-Alarm 
Telegraph Company. He promptly accepted, and was so successful that in about eiglit months 
he was given control of their system in all territory west of the state of New York, and an equal 
share with four others in the net profits of the business in lieu of a salary. 

He was a great gainer by the change, and the business greatly increasing on liis hands, he took 
E. B. Chandler into partnership, with headquarters at Chicago. The style of the firm was 
Firman and Chandler, and investing their surplus in Chicago real estate, they were soon com- 
pelled to add the purchase and sale of real estate to their business. 

In 1872 Mr. Firman organized the American District Telegraph Company, and put it into suc- 
cessful operation. The business of this corporation was to put up private wires running to a 
central office, with a set of signals, by which private citizens could, from their residences, call for 
any service they stood in need of, from shoveling the snow from the sidewalk to the attendance 
of a physician, the capture of a burglar or the extinguishment of an incipient fire. Burglar 
alarms were attached to doors and windows, and thieves have often been captured through sig- 
nals they themselves sent to police headquarters, vi'ithout even disturbing the family slumbers. 
In this way vacant houses are cared for during the absence of the family; thieves, fires, burglars 
or meddlesome servants detected, and all without the trouble and expense of watchmen. This 
most admirable service extended so rapidly in the city that Mr. Firman was very soon obliged to 
turn his entire attention to its management, and December i, 1878, dissolved partnership with 
Mr. Chandler, and turned the old business over to him. 

When Mr. Bell sent the first telephones to Chicago for exhibition Mr. Firman with others exam- 
ined them with that care and interest which a new invention in one's own calling always develops. 
The opinions of the electricians who examined them were, with two or three exceptions, S() at 
variance with the results which have since developed that it sounds strangely now to repeat the 
remarks made on that occasion. 

The almost universal opinion was adverse to the applicability of the instrument for general 
purposes, while all confessed it a marvel and a very clever laboratory instrument. But Mr. Fir- 
man saw and applied all his energies to make others see its utility as a means of communication 
between parties at a distance. Only a cast-iron will could have carried the point as he did against 
what people believed their better judgment; but he won at last, and less than a dozen accepted 
contracts for an aggregation of wires, which was the nucleus of the present exchange, with its 
three thousand subscribers and a dozen sub-offices. The subscriber of to-day knows nothing of 
the disheartening rebuffs he received, the continuous objections he met, and the difficidties he 
overcame in his efforts to teach the people, and put upon a stable foundation this now popular 
exchange. But he was the man for the work. In his peculiar quiet and winning way, using now 
this argument, now that, adapting himself to his listener, earnest and persistent, but gentlemanly 
and dignified, he succeeded, and in a very short time the eleven original subscribers found them- 
selves notified daily, and often hourly, of accessions to their number. 

Then came Edison's carbon transmitter, and communications improved. Every subscriber 



4gO UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

brought another, and the work went on more bravely and rapidly. The opposition — the Bell — 
interest, seeing the success of Mr. Firman's exchange, commissioned and equipped an army of 
invasion, and a second exchange was brought into the field. The advent of the new company 
stirred up a brisk competition, and canvassers were put into the field by both parties. In a short 
time Chicago had outstripped every other city in the Union in the number of subscribers to its 
exchange system, in addition to which large numbers of private lines were built and equipped by 
the Edison Company under Mr. Firman. The Chicago success stirred up the whole West, and 
even New York and all the principal eastern cities sent representatives again and again to witness 
Chicago's latest triumph, who, coming armed with unbelief, returned clothed with conviction. 
But now the rivalry between the two companies assumed another phase, and appeals to the courts 
lent additional interest and added bitterness to the exciting contest. At last, however, the grand 
fight at headquarters in the East was brought to a close, and the rivalry ended by the consolida- 
tion of the opposing interests, and the door was opened for a mutual settlement in the West. 
This took place in the early part of 1881 by the formation of an entirely new company, who pur- 
chased the vested rights of both. Thus the Bell Telephone Company and the American District 
Telegraph Company both disappeared in the newer and stronger corporation of the Chicago 
Telephone Company. With this new company Mr. Firman is still identified, and it is needless to 
add brings his long experience and unrivaled ability to the management of its rapidly-increasing 
interests. There seems to be practically no limit to the usefulness or extension of this invention. 
Improvements are constantly going on, and it now seems probable that all the large cities of 
the country will soon be as effectually connected by telephone as they are now by telegraph 
service. A short time ago it was considered impossible to communicate by telephone outside of 
the city, but within the past few months all the cities within a radius of one hundred and fifty miles 
have regular communication with Chicago by telephone. Mr. Firman is an enthusiast in his 
business, and with his inventive and practical mind and undiminished energy and ardor much 
may be hoped for in the improvement and extension of this means of communication. 

In society Mr. Firman is an extremely sociable and friendly man. He is a Master Mason and 
a member of Hesperia Lodge, No. 411, and a Knight Templar of the Red Cross of Constantine. 
None make friends more readily or retain them more firmly. He is not a schemer, but makes 
friendships unconsciously on the principle that "he who would have friends must show himself 
fricndlv." 



PHILO CASTLE. 

MENDOTA. 

AMONG the Green Mountain boys who settled in La Salle county thirty years ago, and have been 
L successful in turning pennies and the soil, is Philo Castle, who was born in Wilmington, Wind- 
ham county, September 25, 1818. His father, Philo Castle, Sr., was a native of Windham county, 
Connecticut, and a son of Timothy Castle. The mother of Philo was Jerusha Dix, who was born 
in Windham county, Vermont. The son finished his education at the Shelburne Falls Academy, 
Massachusetts, where he attended for five or six terms. He taught school one winter at Jackson- 
ville, town of Whitingham, Vermont, and another in Heath, Massachusetts, and has always been 
engaged in farming. 

In the autumn of 1S53 Mr. Castle came to Mendota, and settled on a farm of one hundred and 
sixty acres, on the line of the corporation on the east side, and there he has lived for thirty 
years, improving his land and setting a good example of industry. Thirty-four acres of his farm 
he rents for the Mendota Union Fair grounds. He takes great interest in agricultural matters, 
and is a thoroughgoing business man. He owns several buildings in the city of Mendota, and is 
of the firm of Kellenberger and Company, dealers in agricultural implements, etc. He is secre- 
tary of the Farmers' Insurance Company and an alderman, and has been a justice of the peace 
for the last twentv years or more. He has also served at different times as a member of the 



UNI I ED STATES BIOGRAPinCAL DICTIONARY. ^„, 

school board, and lias held nearly every office in the township, bearing his full share of such bur- 
dens, and discharging the duties of every position with promptness and fidelity. At one period 
he was a director of the First National Bank of Mendota. Mr. Castle represented for several 
years half a dozen of the best fire-insurance companies in the United States, and was eminently 
successful in that business, as in every other to which he has devoted his attention. 

In politics Mr. Castle was originally a whig, with anti-slavery leaning; voted the republican 
ticket in 1856 and i860, and has since been quite independent, acting part of the time with the 
democratic party and latterly with the greenbackers or nationals, voting for General Weaver for 
president in 1880. Mr. Castle does his own thinking on all subjects, and consults his own judg- 
ment in exercising the elective franchise. 

Mr. Castle was first married, in 1844, to Miss Emily Myers, of Reedsboro, Vermont, she dying 
in 1856. leaving no issue. She was a daughter of Rev. Silas Myers, of Reedsboro, Bennington 
county, a well educated woman, a teacher in early life, and an exemplary member of the Metho- 
dist church. Mr. Castle was married the second time, in 1858, to Miss Frances P. Dix, of Niag- 
ara county, New York, having by her three children; Alexander P., Ida J. and Henry D. Mrs. 
Castle is a graduate of the Albany Normal University, and was a teacher for several years. She 
is a member of the Baptist Church, and a faithful worker in the temperance cause. Her father, 
Daniel Dix, is now living in Iowa, being in his eighty-seventh year. The mother of Mr. Castle 
lived to be ninety-two years old, and belonged to a family of great longevity. 



HON. WILLIAM H. HARPER. 

CHICAGO. 

WILLIAM HENRY HARPER, manager of the Chicago and Pacific elevator, and a member 
of the thirty-third general assembly, is a native of Tippecanoe county, Indiana, his birth 
being dated May 4, 1845. His parents, William and Eliza Jane (Ramsey) Harper, were natives 
of the Old Dominion. The grandfather of William Harper took up arms against George III in 
1777-83. When three years old the subject of this sketch came into this state with his fami!)-, 
which settled on a farm in Woodford county, and, as is the custom with most farmers' sons, he 
attended a district school in the winters and aided in cultivating the land the rest of the year. In 
that manner he developed and hardened his muscles, and fitted himself for tlie stern duties of life. 

In 1864, when nineteen years of age, Mr. Harper enlisted as a private in company B, 145th 
Illinois infantry, a three months' regiment, and served until mustered out. Not long after the 
rebellion had collapsed Mr. Harper came to Chicago, and took a full course of studies at East- 
man's Commercial College, fropi which he was graduated. Returning to Woodford county, he 
engaged in the stock, grain and shipping business, remaining there until 1868, when he came 
back to Chicago, and since that date has here found ample scope for his vigorous mind and 
body and his splendid business capacities. 

Mr. Harper was engaged in looking after his business affairs in the commission line until 1872, 
the year after the great Chicago fire, when he was appointed chief grain inspector, a position for 
which he was admirably qualified, and the duties of which he discharged to the unqualified satis- 
faction of the board of trade and all parties concerned. His term of service expired in 1875, at 
which time Mr. Harper entered into a contract with the Chicago and Pacific (now the Chicago, 
Milwaukee and Saint Paul) Railroad Company, and built the elevator known by the name of the 
first line. Of that large establishment he has the management, in which he is very efficient, and 
shows himself to be a first-class business man. 

In the summer of 1882 the republicans of the second senatorial district, composed of the fourth 
ward of Chicago and Hyde Park and Lake townships, in looking around for suitable candidates 
for representatives, selected Mr. Harper as one of the number, and elected him. It is one of the 
most wealthy and influential constituencies in Cook count}^ and the choice has proved a happy 



492 



r.VITF.D STATES BIOCKArillCAI. DICTIONA/iY. 



^ 



one, tV>r Mr. Harper is energetic and puhlic-spirilecl, anil limks carrtiilly alter the interests ol the 
state at large as well as the city of Chicago, being a man of broail views. He is the autluir of 
the so-called Harper bill, and is a strong advocate of high license, which he believes to be for the 
best interests of the people. 

He has taken the fourteenth degree in Masonry, and is a member of the Union League Club 
and other social and commercial organizations. July 16, 186S, Mr. Harper was married to Miss 
MoUie J. Perry, of Metamora, Woodford county, and they have two daughters and one son, their 
names being I'annie Angie. Roy Beveridge and Hazel (ilen. The family allenii the I'ifth Pres- 
byterian Chinch. 



T 



HON. MILO ERWIX. 

MARIOK. 

Hli subject of this biographical sketch is a prominent lawyer of the WilliamsLin county bar, 
and a member of the general assembly. He is a native of the county in which he lives, 
and was born October 24, 1847. while his father, Robert P. Erwin, was fighting the Mexicans. 
The mother of Milo was Elizabeth Furlong, a native of Tennessee. Her husband was born in 
Illinois. He was a merchant and mill-owner. Our subject finished his literary education in the 
Model department of the Normal University, at Normal, and his legal at the University of Mich- 
igan, .Vnn Arbor, where he was graduated in 1872. Since that time he has been in practice at 
Marion, and he has a good run of bifsiness in the several courts of the state. Mr. Erwin is well 
read in his profession, prompt and expeditious in attending to business, upright and honorable in 
all his dealings, and stands remarkably high with his people. 

He was city attorney from 1873 to 1877; was the republican candidate for the state senate from 
the old 47th district, in 1874, and again in 1878, and at the latter election reduced the usual dem- 
ocratic majority of 1500 to a little over 200. He was nominated for the lower house in 1880. for 
the same district, and was elected. He gave so good satisfaction to his constituents that he was 
renominated, and returned to the House from the new 51st district. He is so great a favorite 
with his party that his nomination has been by acclamation every time. He is known in his part 
of the state as the "' sun-burnt orator," he being quite effective on the stump. 

In the thirty-third general assembly he was chairman of the education committee, and was 
on a half-a-dozen other committees, and attended faithfully to the business of the house. 

Mr. Erwin is the author of the " History of Williamson County," including the bloody vendetta 
and the Secession movements. He is a seventh degree Freemason, and has been high priest of 
the Marion Chapter, No. 100. He is also an Odd-Fellow. 

Mr. Erwin has traveled over the western provinces of the Dominion of Canada, partly for rec- 
reation, and partly to enlarge his stores of knowledge. He has an inquiring mind, and luckily is 
never satisfied with present atrainments, either in law or in any other branch of knowledge. 



ALEX.AXDHR McCOV. 

CHICAGO. 

OV the distinguished members of the Chicago bar, we are pleased to record the name of Alex- 
ander McCoy. Well read in all the intricacies of his profession, thoroughly conversant 
with the rules of practice in all of the courts, both state and federal, possessing a comprehensive 
mind, being a logical reasonerwith keen perceptions, he readily grasps his subject, and possessing 
the power of analysis to an eminent degree, his judgment is almost unerring; a valuable coun- 
selor, and pursuing strict integrity, sincerity and true fidelity, he has won the confidence and 
esteem of the courts before whom he has practiced. By honorable dealing he has retained the 
confidence of his brethren at the bar as well as the community at large. For uprightness, straight- 



'"'-: '^^*^ .. 








UNITED STATES BfOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



493 



lorward conduct and true manhood, Alexander McCoy has no superior; so sincere and truttiful 
in his manner of presenting his cases to the jury does he manifest himself, that his words have 
great vveiglit, and his efforts are almost universally crowned with success. He is not a flashy 
speaker, but his illustrations are apt; he speaks to the point, and keeps close to his subject; being 
clear in his own mind, he never confuses his hearers by introducing matter foreign to his subject. 

He is a gentleman of fine presence, being about six feet tall, well proportioned, and dignified 
in his demeanor, courteous and kind in his intercourse with mankind, he is highly prized by his 
large circle of friends for his moral worth and intellectual endowments. 

Alexander McCoy is of Scotch descent, and was born in West Findley township, Washington 
county, Pennsylvania. His father, John McCoy, was of pure Scotch parentage, and son of Daniel 
McCoy, a captain in the revolutionary war. His mother, Jane (Brice) McCoy, was a daughter of 
Rev. John Brice, who organized, and was the first pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Three Ridges, now West Alexandria, Pennsylvania. 

At the classical school at West Alexandria, under the instruction of Rev. Doctor McClusky, 
and others, he was prepared to enter the junior class half advanced, at Washington College, Penn- 
sylvania, in the fall of 1842. Having spent some time after graduation in teaching at home, and 
subsequently as teacher of languages in Vermillion Institute, at Haysville, Ohio, he entered the 
law office of Given and Barcroft as a student, at Millersburgh, Ohio, where he made rapid pro- 
gress in the rudiments of his profession, and after a thorough preparation he was admitted to the 
bar by the supreme court of Ohio, in the winter of 1850. He then removed to Peoria, Illinois, 
where he located to practice his profession. 

A great contest was then carried on in the courts in Peoria and adjoining counties, between 
parties holding lands under tax titles accruing under the state authorities, and parties claiming 
the same under patent given to soldiers for said lands by the general government. 

To prepare himself for this litigation he spent nearly a year in the county clerk's office of 
Peoria county, where the tax titles originated. 

February i, 185 1, he formed a partnership with Henry Grove, under the partnership name of 
Grove and McCoy, at Peoria, and they at once entered upon the successful practice of the law, 
doing a very extensive business, with a still increasing practice. In the fall of 1856 he was elected 
state's attorney for the then i6th judicial district, for a term of four years. The duties of his 
office, together with the increased labor of his partnership, proved to be too severe for his health, 
and hemorrhage from the lungs compelled a dissolution of his partnership in 1858. His health 
gradually improving, he continued to discharge the duties of prosecutor in his district with such 
ability and fidelity that at the expiration of this term, he was in i85o reelected for another term 
of four years. 

Still continuing to improve in health, in 1861 he formed a partnership with Hon. N. 
H. Purple, ex-judge of the supreme court of the state, whose term of office had expiretl, under the 
firm name of Purple and McCoy. This partnership continued until dissolved by the death of 
Judge Purple, in August, 1863. 

In the fall of 1864, at the urgent solicitation of the people, he became a candidate to the leg- 
islature. During the session of 1865 he was awarded the chairmanship of the committee on judi- 
ciary, thus giving him the first place upon the floor of the house, as a legislator. Mr. McCoy was 
soon an acknowledged leader, his counsel was always sought when important matters were up for 
consideration; he devoted his time and attention strictly to the interest of his constituents. He 
was of great value to the state, and particularly to that section represented by him. 

In the spring of 1867 he formed a partnership with Judge M. Williamson and John S. Stevens, 
under the firm name of Williamson, McCoy and Stevens. This partnership was dissolved by the 
death of Judge Williamson in 1868, after which the business was carried on under the firm name 
of McCoy and Stevens. Their business was large and lucrative, embracing not only the practice 
in the surrounding counties but in the supreme court of the state, and the circuit and district 

4y 



496 UNITED STATES FtfOGRA r///CA /. DrCTlOMARY. 

courts of the I'nited States at Chicago. The domestic life of Mr. McCo\' has been one of vary- 
ing light and shade. 

He was married October 7, 1857, to Miss Sarah J. Mathews, of Lee, New Hampshire, an esti- 
mable lady, of fine accomplishments, and a graduate of the female seminary of Moimt Holyoke, 
Massachusetts. In 1863 she was suddenly taken from him, leaving an infant daughter in his care. 

He was married a second time June 23, 1869, to Miss Lucinda E. Dutton, of Chicago, a very 
worthy lady, possessed of high intellectual and social qualities, and surrounded by many friends. 
With his wife and daughter he immediately went abroad, visiting England, and making the usual 
tour of the continent. In 1870 he returned to Peoria, and resumed the practice of his profession, 
in company with J. S. Stevens, his former partner. 

In May, 1871, at the urgent-solicitations of many friends in Chicago, he removed to that city, 
and entered into partnership with George F. Harding, and with him actively engaged in the 
practice of his profession. In the great conflagration of October 9, 187 1, he lost his extensive and 
valuable library. In the year 1872^ Lorin G. Pratt, a lawyer of great experience, force, and 
remarkable quickness of perception, became associated with him and Mr. Harding, under the firm 
name of Harding, McCoy and Pratt. Mr. Harding retired from the firm in 1875. The business 
was then carried on in the name of McCoy and Pratt. From this time on their business continued 
to increase rapidly. All branches of litigation were committed to their charge. Important suits 
involving the most intricate questions of commercial law, such as arise in great cities, were daily 
intrusted to their care, and for the last five years they were largely emplo\'ed in railroad litigation. 
September 23, 1881, Mr. Pratt died suddenly of heart disease, and the firm was broken up, hut the 
business of the firm has been continued up to the present time by Mr. McCoy, who works assidu- 
ously early and late, in attending to the wants of his numerous clients, who confide in him, and 
rely upon his able counsel, and have learned by experience to respect him for his eminent ability 
in every branch of the profession which he honors by his high-minded, honorable dealing with 
all with whom he meets. 



J. B. M(KINLEV. 

CllAMPAICX. 

AMON(i tile self-made men of Champaign none deserve more honorable mention than the 
XA. subject of this sketch. He was born in Ross county, Ohio, February, 1821. His parents, 
Thomas and Alice (Barclay) McKinley, were of Irish descent, and were among the early pioneer 
settlers of Ohio, settling there in 1815, five miles from Chillicothe, which was then capital of the 
state. Mr. McKinley spent his early life on the farm, attending the common schools, and subse- 
quently attended the Salem Academy about four years, where he completed his school education. 
In 1847 he started for the West, and landed in Hennepin, Putnam county, Illinois. Here he 
taught school for about two years, and at the same time commenced the study of law. In the 
spring of 1849 he removed to Petersburgh, and completed his studies with the late William 
Macon, and in 1850 was admitted to the bar. He began the practice of his profession at Peters- 
burgh, but, after three years, removed to Clinton, De Witt county, in 1853. Here he practiced 
with success until 1857, when, seeing there were better advantages in Champaign, he removed 
thither, where he has since made his home, and become one of the most active members of the 
bar. In 1863 he formed a partnership with A. C. Burnham, a former student under him, under 
the firm name of McKinley and Burnham. Three years later Mr. Burnham withdrew from the 
firm, and the business was continued by Mr. McKinley, who devoted himself largely to chancery 
and real-estate matters, and investing money to S(jme extent for friends in the way of farm loans, 
mortgages and different investments. This branch of the business gradually increased to such an 
extent that, in 1871. he gave up the law, giving his entire attention to the mortgage and brokerage 
business, in which he has been very successful. 



CXITKD STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 4g- 

He continued alone until March, 1S71, when he formed a partnership with his former partner 
and Mr. Tulleys, under the firm name of Burnham, McKinley and Tulleys. The firm re])resented 
considerable capital, and managed an eminently successful business, and although the whole 
county shortly afterward was stricken with a financial crisis, by skillful management they carried 
on a very successful business, to the gratification and delight of the different members of the 
firm, which continued some five years. Mr. McKinley, however, continued in the same business, 
shortly afterward taking into partnership with himself Edward Heliker. Their business increased 
very rapidly, and in order to find suitable investments for their large capital they found it neces- 
sary to establish branch offices, the first of which they started at Jefferson, Iowa, which Mr. Heli- 
ker took charge of, when W. B. McKinley, a nephew, was taken into the firm, who is still in con- 
nection with the home office, and in 1879 William H. Lanning was taken into the firm, and now 
has charge of their office at Hastings, Nebraska. In July, 1881, William Stall was also taken into 
the firm, and given charge of the office at Lincoln, Nebraska. By the careful management of Mr. 
McKinley, who is the leading man in the business, they are now in a very prosperous conditicm, 
and have the promise of a bright future. 

In politics he is a republican, but has never taken an active part. In religion he has been *a 
worthy and prominent member of the Presbyterian church, with which he connected himself in 
early youth. 

He was married in i860 at Racine, Wisconsin, to Miss Jennie Sanford, a lady of high literary 
attainments. Mr. McKinley has always manifested great public spirit, and contributed materially 
to many public enterprises. He has, since early childhood, led a very industrious and busy life, 
and the high position he has reached has been due alone to his determined will and perseverance, 
and fair and upright dealing. He has not only been financially prospered, but has won to him- 
self a large number of true friends. 



FREDERICK COLE, M.D. 

EL PASO. 

OXK of the best-educated physicians and surgeons in Woodford county is he whose name 
stands at the head of this sketch, and who is United States examining surgeon for pensions, 
and surgeon for two railroads. He is a native of York county, Maine, being born in the town of 
Cornish, March 30, 1829. His father, Richard Cole, a miller, justice of the peace, etc., and his 
grandfather, Asahel Cole, were also natives of Maine. His mother, whose maiden name was 
Hannah Barker, was born in Cornish, and belonged to a wealthy pioneer family in that town. 

Frederick Cole received an academic education, and taught school in his native state until 
1852. when he came west, and after spending a short half year in Madison, Wisconsin, he came 
into this state, and taught school in Kendall and Winnebago counties, finishing at Rocktord, 
teaching in all, at the East and West, about twelve years. 

He read medicine with Doctor James McArthur, of Rockford; attended lectures at Rush 
Medical College, Chicago; received his diploma in February, 1865, and went immediately into 
the army as assistant surgeon of the 151st Illinois infantry, which was stationed in Georgia, and 
which was mustered out in January, 1866. On leaving the service. Doctor Cole located at Anna- 
Wan, Henry county, this state, and in December, 1867, settled in El Paso. In 1870 he took the 
ad einiJcni degree at Bellevue Hospital College, New York city. 

Few physicians in this section have taken as much pains as Doctor Cole in preparing for 
practice, or have succeeded as well in the profession. He does all the surgery in and near El 
Paso, performing many difficult operations, and having the fullest confidence of the community 
in his skill. He is surgeon for the Wabash, Saint Louis and Pacific and the Illinois Central 
roads, which are bisected at El Paso. 

Doctor Cole has been secretarv of the Woodford County Medical Association since its yfjjan- 



4g8 IGNITED STATES BJOCEA ri/ICA i- •D/CTIOXARV. 

ization, in 1870, and of the North Central Medical Association, which comprises five counties, 
since its organization, in 1876. He is also a member of the Illinois State Medical Society, and of 
the American Medical Association, and has a somewhat extensive acquaintance with the frater- 
nity outside, as well as inside, this state. The doctor writes more or less for periodicals devoted 
to his profession, and some of his addresses delivered, and essays read before medical socie- 
ties, have been published in pamphlet form. An address which he delivered before the Woodford 
County Association in 1871, entitled "Our Profession," lies before us in a neat pamphlet, and is 
beautifully written, and shows a fine appreciation of the dignity of the medical profession. "Con- 
servative Surgery" is another thoughtful paper from his pen, printed from the transactions of the 
state society, in 1881, being reports of two difficult cases of which he had the handling. This 
latter pamphlet must be very valuable to the profession, and is well worthy of its reproduction in 
its present form. 

The doctor is somewhat of a politician, being entirely republican, the leader, in fact, of his 
party in Woodford county, and chairman of the county central committee. He is also a member 
of the senatorial district committee, which district comprises the counties of Marshall, Woodford 
and Tazewell. He is a Chapter Mason, and has been master of the Blue Lodge, and held other 
offices in the order. 

His wife was Miss Louisa J. Wheeler, of Rockford, their marriage occurring in November, 
1862. We believe they have no children. Mrs. Cole was educated at the noted Rockford Semi- 
nary, and is proficient in three or four languages. She teaches German, is also a profuse trans- 
lator, and is regarded as one of the best scholars in that language in this vicinity. The doctor 
himself takes great interest in educational matters, and is now serving his sixth or seventh con- 
secutive year as a member of the local school board. He has been alderman, also, and was the 
chief engineer in securing the excellent water works of his city, he being very public spirited. 



ROBERT F. WINS LOW. 

C///CA GO. 

ROBERT FORBES WINSLOW, one of the oldest lawyers now practicing in Chicago, is a 
descendant of John Winslow, brother of one of the first governors of the Plymouth Colony. 
John Winslow came over in the barque, Fortune, and married Mary Chilton, the first woman who 
landed from the Mayflower. Representatives of the Winslow family have always lived in Boston. 
The subject of this sketch was born June 13, 1807. He is the fifth generation from John Winslow, 
and a son of Thomas Winslow and Mary (Forbes) Winslow, the latter being a native of the island 
of Bermuda. The late Doctor Forbes Winslow, of England, the author of several works on the 
jurisprudence of insanity, and other medical subjects, was a brother of our subject ; so was also 
Rev. Octavius Winslow, D.D., now deceased, late of England, a noted Baptist minister and 
author. The late Isaac Winslow, a well known merchant of Boston, was a cousin of Robert, and 
Lord Lyndurst, once Lord Chancellor of England, was a second cousin, and so was George W. 
Irving, who was minister to Spain under one of the early presidents. 

The subject of our sketch received an academic education in New York city, where he read 
law with William Paxson Hallet, who afterward became clerk of the New York supreme court. 
Mr. W^inslow was called to the bar in New York in 1840. He practiced in New York until 1851 ; 
in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, from 1851 to 1855 ; in Chicago, from 1855 to 1859, and in Princeton, 
Illinois, from 1859 to 1862, in this last place in partnership with M. T. Peters. While in Bureau 
county he raised (1861) a regiment of infantry, by authority from the secretary of war, Cameron, 
but before it was mustered into the service of the United States, part of the men were seduced 
away from his command, and started for Missouri, after he had drilled them three months in a 
camp of instruction, established by the government at Princeton. They were, however, arrested 
at Alton, by orders of Governor Yates, and taken to Camp Rutler, and Mr. Winslow, therefore, 




/Lc-^y^ c^f^2^ A 



o~t<- 



~>l 



I'NITF.n STATES H IOC, RA rillCA I DICTIONARY. cqi 

of necessity abandoned his military plans, but sent three of his sons into tlie field who served till 
the close of the war. 

In 1863 Mr. Winslow removed to Lacon, Marshall county, Illinois, and practiced law there until 
1872, when he returned to Chicago, where he has since remained, and now is having about all the 
legal business which a man of his age would be likely to desire. He evidently loves his profes- 
sion, and it is not unlikely that it will require death to wean him from it. His business is mostly 
civil, but he attends to both civil and criminal, and he is a sound and safe lawyer. 

Colonel Winslow has always been a most painstaking lawyer. He is physically strong, men- 
tally well balanced, and possesses great courage and continuity of thought and purpose. Rich in 
expedient, prompt in execution, he is seldom thrown off his guard, or taken unawares in a legal 
contest. He is very systematic and methodical, and prepares his cases with great accuracy and 
care. As a special pleader he probably has few equals and less superiors. His career at the bar 
has been a long and a successful one. 

Mr. Winslow has a commission framed and hung up in his office, bearing the signature of 
Governor De Witt Clinton, appointing him notary public, and being dated in 1826, just before 
Mr. Winsl(jw had reached his majority. He has held a like commission as notary public contin- 
uously for fiftv-five years, having received appointments in New York, Wisconsin and Illinois, 
and is probably the longest holding such a commission continuously of any man in the country. 

Mr. Winslow was joined in wedlock, in 1828, with Miss Caroline McKeeby, of Duchess county. 
New York, and she died in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1857, leaving nine children, two of whom 
have since followed her into the spirit world. Mr. Winslow is a member of the Second Baptist 
Church, in Chicago, and a man of irreproachable character, and much respected by all who know 
him. 

DEMAS L. HARRIS. 

MEN DOT A. 
EMAS LINDLY HARRIS, one of the prominent and successful agriculturists of Lee county. 



D 



and now a resident of Mendota, La Salle county, was born in the township of Tuscarawas. 
Stark county, Ohio, May 16. 1818, and hence is of the same age as the state of Illinois. I)emas is 
a son of Stephen and Sibyl (Clark) Harris, both natives of New Jersey, his father being born in 
Elizabethtown in 1780. Stephen Harris was of English descent on his father's side, and Scotch 
on his mother's, she being a relative of Gavin Hamilton, the friend of Robert Burns, and of the 
same family as that of Alexander Hamilton, the statesman, who was killed in a duel by Aaron 
Burr, in 1804. 

Stephen Harris settled in Stark county, Ohio, when Canton, now the county seat, had only 
three or four houses, and Massillon was a swamp with a million or two of mosquitoes, but no 
white men. He became an extensive land owner, and thrifty agriculturist, a leader among men 
in his vicinity, holding various civil and political offices of trust and honor. At one period of his 
life he was in the ginseng trade at Maysville, Kentucky. He was a large-hearted man, and not 
forgetful to entertain strangers, though probably he did not expect to find many angels among 
them. He reared a family of twelve children, of whom Demas was the eighth child, and he died 
at Chippewa, Wayne county, Ohio, in his eighty-third year. 

To the ordinary drill of a district school, the subject of this notice added one term at the 
Granville (Ohio) Academy, teaching school two winter terms before leaving his native state. In 
1856 Mr. Harris immigrated to this state, following his older brother, John H. Harris, and settled 
on a farm in Lee county, eight miles from Mendota, La Salle county, wheft he resided for twenty 
years, moving into the city of Mendota in 7876. He has 400 acres of land under excellent im- 
provement, which he is now cultivating by proxy. He has long been quite active in agricul- 
tural societies, as he is now in the Mendota Union Society. 

While a resident of Lee county, Mr. Harris held various township offices, being supervisor for 



502 



UNITED STATES BIOCRA PHrCA I. DICTIONARY. 






several terms. In the darkest days of the civil war (1862) he was elected to the legislature, and 
in the halls of legislation he seconded every measure proposed by Governor Yates, to further the 
interests of the Union cause, and the honor of his adopted state. His record in the legislature is 
that of a hard-working man, and a pure patriot. Mr. Harris cast his first vote for Thomas Cor- 
vvin, for governor, October, 1840, and a month later voted for General William Henry Harrison, 
for president, training in the ranks of the whig party until its demise in 1854. He was a free- 
soiler from principle, and naturally and promptly joined the great party of freedom, whose chiefs 
have occupied the White House since March 4, 1861. 

The author of " Lacon "declares that "the man of principle is the principal man." Mr. Harris 
has never been anything else. For more than fifty years he has been a teetotaller, and in his hab- 
its generally he has been a good model for young men to copy. 

Mr. Harris was married in 1843 to Miss Ann Louisa Eyles, of Wadsvvorth, Medina county, 
Ohio, and they have had five children, four of whom are still living. Viola M. is the wife of 
Oscar C. Merrifield, of Mendota ; Madison R. is a lawyer in Chicago, and lately a member of the 
Illinois legislature; Frank M. is a civil engineer on the government works at Kansas City, Mis- 
souri, and Clarinda H. is the wife of J. S. Edgecomb, farmer, Waltham township, La Salle county. 

The family attend the Baptist Church, of which Mr. Harris is a liberal supporter, and most of 
his familv are members. Mrs. Merrifield is a very active worker in the church, and a prominent 
member of the choir. 



EDWARD A. WILCOX, M.D. 

MINONK. 

EDWARD ALEXANDER WILCOX has been a medical practitioner at Minonk for a quarter 
of a century, and gained, years ago, a fine reputation for skill and success in his profession. 
This he has done by hard study and by close attention to business, being prompt to obey every 
call, near or remote, when not previously engaged. He was born at Wattsburgh, Erie county, 
Pennsylvania, September 28, 1830, being a son of Levi and Nancy (Rogers) Wilcox. His father 
was born in Haddam, Connecticut; his mother in Ohio. When he was eighteen months old the 
family came as far west as New Philadelphia, Ohio, and in 1838 settled in Lacon, Marshall 
county, this state, where the father died in 1831. The mother is still living at her home in Lacon, 
being nearly four-score years old. 

Edward received a partial academic education at Lacon and Mount Morris; studied medicine 
with Doctor R. B. Rogers; attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago; received the degree 
of doctor of medicine in February, 1857, and after practicing one year in Lacon, settled in Minonk, 
Woodford county. Here he soon worked his way into an extensive practice, and for twenty years 
he has been one of the hardest working men in his profession in this part of the state He has 
written a verj' little for medical journals, but has been too busy to do much with the pen. He 
was president at one time of the County medical society, and belongs to the North Central and 
State medical societies, being quite well known and much respected by the fraternity. 

Doctor Wilcox is deeply interested in the cause of education, and has done much valuable 
work as a member of the Minonk school board. He has also been mayor of the city two terms, 
and is quite public-spirited and progressive. He was in the state senate in the twenty-eighth 
and twenty-ninth general assemblies, and in the twenty-eighth, when the republicans were in 
power, he was chairman of the committee on public charities, and a member of the committees 
on penitentiary, mines and mining, railroads, education, etc. He was the only physician in the 
senate, and was very active in working for the bill legalizing dissections. The doctor was author 
of the bill revising the laws in regard to state charities, which bill passed and became the present 
law. He made a practical and very efiicient legislator. He is an influential man in his party in 
Woodford county. 

Doctor Wilcox was first married January 23, 1857, to Miss Carrie Mathis, of Oxbuw, Putnam 



UNITED STATES lUOGRA TIIICAL DICTJONARV. 



503 



county, Illinois, she dying March 11, 1877, leaving four daughters and three sons, one child hav- 
ing previously died. S. Elcie, the oldest daughter, is the wife of William H. Haggard, of Bloom- 
ington: Carrie E. is the wife of Clay Forney, of Minonk, and most of the others are attending 
school. His second marriage was July 17, 1878, to Miss Victoria Boyle, of Clear Creek, Putnam 
county, by whom he has had two daughters, burying one of them. 



HON. JAMES A. TAYLOR. 

CHICAGO. 

JAMES ADMIRAL TAYLOR, real-estate dealer, and one of the youngest members of the gen- 
eral assembly, is a son of Augustine and Mary E. (Grogan) Taylor, and was born in Chicago 
April 26, 1858. His father was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and settled in Chicago just after 
the Black Hawk war, which closed in 1832, he being a veteran of the war of 1812-14. He is the 
oldest settler in this city now living, the patriarch of the Calumet Club, the meetings of which 
he usually attends. He was a trustee of Chicago when it was a village, at one time the assessor 
of the whole city, at another the sole city collector, being the first person who held that office. 
He was a contractor and builder, and erected the old court-house which preceded the one that 
was burnt in October, 1871. His father-in-law was Colonel Grogan, an officer in the Canadian 
rebellion of 1837-38. 

The subject of this biographical sketch finished his education at the Notre Dame Universit)', 
near South Bend, Indiana, where he took an English course of studies, and atter leaving that 
institution he traveled extensively over the southern and western parts of this country, partly for 
recreation, but largely in pursuit of knowledge. 

In 1881 Mr. Taylor engaged in the real-estate business, his oiTice being in the Metropolitan 
Block, La Salle street. He has made a good start in that line. In 1882 his democratic friends in 
the fifth senatorial district nominated him for the lower house of the thirty-third general assem- 
bly, and in that capacity he is now serving the state, being, with one exception, the youngest 
member of that body. He is inexperienced, but quick to learn, and is a young man who does his 
own thinking. 

He is on the committee on contingent expenses, county and township organizations and 
militia. When the time came for the nomination of candidates by each party for the I'nited 
States senate Mr. Taylor was designated as one of the democrats to nominate General J. M. Pal- 
mer, which he did in a speech for which he was highly complimented by the press. 

In religion Mr. Taylor is a Roman Catholic. He possesses a tolerant spirit and an excellent 
moral character. Seemingly his future is full of promise. 



JAMK.S W. CRAIG. 

MATTOOX. 

THE subject of this sketch was born June 29, 1844, in Coles county, Illinois, a few miles north 
of Charleston. His father was Isaac N. Craig, a farmer by occupation, and the maiden 
name of his mother was Elizabeth Blozer. They were among the»early settlers of Illinois, and 
were married in Coles county, where they still reside. 

Mr. Craig received his early education in the country schools while living on the farm. He 
left home at an early age, and passed through several years of hard struggle for an education. 
When he had reached twenty years of age he entered the law office of Colonel O. B. Ficklen, of 
Charleston, where he studied, and subsequently attended the law department of the Michigan 
Tniversity, and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He then formed a partnership with Colonel 
Ficklen, and practiced with him in Charleston one year, going to Mattoon in May, 1868, the part- 



504 UNITED STATES BFOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

nership continuing, he having charge of the Mattoon office. This business was carried on very 
successfully until 1872, when the firm dissolved. In the fall of the same year Mr. Craig was 
elected state's attorney for Coles county, being the only democrat elected on his ticket, and 
became widely known throughout the state, there being at that time an unusual amount of crime. 
At the expiration of his term of office he gave his attention again to his practice, which has been 
gradually on the increase. 

In 1872 I. B. Craig, his younger brother, who had previously been a student of the old firm, 
and who was also a graduate of Michigan University, was taken into the business, which has since 
been conduct^ under the firm name of Craig and Craig. This is now one of the leading law 
firms in Mattoon, having a well known reputation throughout eastern Illinois. They also carry 
on, in connection with the law business, a mortgage, brokerage and loan business, which is prin- 
cipally under the supervision of the younger member of the firm. 

The firm have also been among the most active workers in the coal enterprise of Mattoon, 
being large stockholders, and I. B. Craig being secretary of the company, which promises to be 
one of the most successful of Illinois, as the coal is superior in quality to any found in the state, 
and is said to be in abundance, and it was found by three years' hard labor and after many dis- 
couragements in sinking a shaft 9,004 feet deep, at an expense of something over $150,000. 

In politics Mr. Craig has always been an active worker with the democratic party, and was a 
delegate to the Cincinnati convention, which nominated General Hancock for president in 1880. 

Mr. Craig was married June 17. 1868, to Miss Mary Chilton, near Charleston. Mr. Craig is 
eminently a self-made man, and one who has toiled hard, and fully appreciates the success which 
he has attained. His great determination and perseverance, and the confidence of a large client- 
age, betoken for him a bright future, as the firm may be said to now be just starting their business 
career, which promises to soon stand at the head of the leading law firms of eastern Illinois. 



HON. ROBERT M. A. HAWK. 

MOUNT CARROLL. 

ROBERT M. A. HAWK, late representative of the sixth congressional district, was born in 
Hancock county, Indiana, April 23, 1839. His parents, William H. Hawk and Hannah 
(Moffitt) Hawk, were natives of Abingdon, Washington county, Virginia. The early life of the 
subject of this sketch was spent in his native town, where he received the rudiments of an educa- 
tion at the public schools. 

After the death of his mother, in 1844, and one year's residence with his uncle. Captain Will- 
iam Moffitt, of Rush county, Indiana, he removed with his father's family to Carroll county, Illinois. 
Major Hawk was emphatically a product of the Great West, and grew up under the most favorable 
conditions furnished by its purity, simplicity and social equality. He resided in Mount Carroll 
almost without interruption since his first removal there, in 1846. Until 1856 he attended the 
common schools of Carroll county, when he was placed under the tutelage of his cousin, who kept 
a private school, and by whom he was prepared for college. In 1861 he entered Eureka College, 
but upon the breaking out of the war, abandoned his studies to enlist in the Union army. While 
at home spending his summer vacation, he helped to raise a company, and was mustered in as 
first lieutenant of company C, 92d Illinois infantry. He was made captain of his company in 
February, 1863, and breveted major for meritorious services, April 10, 1865. He served with his 
regiment in central Kentucky during the winter of 1S62, and in the T\illahoma and Chattanooga 
campaigns in the summer of 1863. He was detailed with his company for duty at General Rose- 
crans' headquarters for two months during and after the battle of Chickamauga, September 19 
and 20, 1863. In the spring of 1864 he was attached to Kilpatrick's division of cavalry, and took 
an active part in the battles and marches of the Atlanta campaign. He made the grand march 
with Sherman's army from Atlanta to the sea, and through the Carolinas, his regiment being 




M A^ TTAWK 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. -n- 

constantly on duty, and almost daily skirmishing with the enemy. At Deep Creek, North Caro- 
lina, April 12, 1865, he was severely, and it was supposed mortally, wounded, his wounds result- 
ing in the amputation of the right leg above the knee. He has never been able to wear an 
artificial limb, but relies upon a peculiarly constructed cane of his own invention. 

After the war was over, he married, July 21, 1865, Miss Mary G. Clark, of Eureka. Although 
always a busy man, he found time since the war to complete a full course of law studies. At the 
November election in 1865 he was elected, by his republican friends, clerk of Carroll county, 
which office he filled with such satisfaction that he was reelected successively in 1869, 1873, and 
[877. In 1877 he was elected a member of the forty-sixth congress on the republican ticket. He 
took part in the proceedings of the extra session of 1878, making a speech on the army appro- 
priation bill, April 2, 1879. He served also on the committee on expenditures of the war depart- 
ment, and on the militia. His principal speeches were made March 20, 1880, on the bill to 
facilitate the refunding of the national debt; February 25, 1881, on apportionment of representa- 
tives under the tenth census; and March 3, 1881, on the reorganization of the militia. He also 
delivered a fine oration at Oregon, Illinois, September 4, 1S76, on the occasion of the reunion of 
the 92d regiment of infantry, and one at Byron, May ^^o. 1877. on decoration day, both of which 
were considered as very fine efforts, and widely read. 

Major Hawk was a man of very fine presence, of commanding appearance, full of personal 
magnetism, and made a very effective and convincing speech, without laying claim to cultivated 
and polished oratory. His honest and manly course in congress gave such universal satisfaction 
that upon the expiration of the forty-sixth, he was triumphantly returned to the forty-seventh 
congress. At the republican convention held at Freeport in June, 1882, Major Hawk was renom- 
inated, and died a few weeks afterward. 



COLONEL ROBERT H. McFADDEN. 

MA TTOON. 

THE subject of this sketch settled in Illinois as early as 1850, a poor boy, with very limited 
resources, and built the first house in the now prosperous city of Mattoon. He was born 
September 13, 1833, where now stands the city of Zanesville, Ohio. His father was Robert 
McFadden, a cabinet-maker by trade, and the maiden name of his mother was Nancy Burrel, 
whose parents were old Virginia people, who moved to Ohio at an early date. His paternal 
ancestry is traced back to the North of Ireland, whence his grandfather emigrated to America, 
settling first in Pennsylvania and subsequently in Ohio. 

Robert received his education at Farview, Ohio, where he improved every advantage afforded 
by his limited means, and at the same time worked with his father, learning the trade of a cabi- 
net-maker. At the age of sixteen he left home and started for the Great West to seek his fortune. 
He reached Illinois in the spring of 1850, and worked at different points, and traveled on foot to 
Shelby county, where he spent some time. 

In 1853 he removed to Coles county, settling in the village of Paradise, which was then a 
small settlement. There he followed his trade until 1855, when he removed to Mattoon, con- 
tinuing in the same business, and erected the first building, the same being raised March 28, 1855. 
In September of the same year he married Miss Sarah A. Noovell. of Mattoon. Theirs was the 
first wedding that had ever taken place in the village. 

April 19, 1861, he entered the army as second lieutenant, company B, 2d Illinois infantry, for 
three months' service, and at the expiration of his term he assisted in organizing another com- 
pany, and entered the service for three years as first lieutenant, company U, 41st Illinois infantry, 
and served faithfully in the Army of the Tennessee, under General Sherman, and through all the 
important battles of the South, his regiment participating in twenty-eight regular engagements. 
From the position of first lieutenant he was promoted from time to time for bravery, and at the 
5" 



5o8 UNITED STATUS BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

end of his three years' service he was made lieutenant-colonel, and assigned to the 53d Illintjis, 
and was soon promoted to colonel, in which position he served until the close of the war. 

Since the close of the war Colonel McFadden has been an active and useful citizen of Mat- 
toon, taking a great interest in all public enterprises and objects tending to the general good of 
the town, which owes a great deal to his influence. 

He is a republican and an active politician, and was one of the originators of the republican 
party, casting his first vote for Fremont in 1856. He has been alderman for two terms, mayor 
one term, also police magistrate, and is now justice of the peace, and one of the most respected 
citizens of Mattoon. 



SAMUEL L. GILL. 

PEORIA. 

SAMUEL LINCH GILL, late sheriff of Peoria county, is a son of James and Rebecca (Linch) 
Gill, his birth being dated March 4, 1833. in Gloucester county. New Jersev. His father was 
born in the same county, and his mother in Salem county, that state. Her father was a captain 
in the continental army. James Gill was a farmer, and reared the son in the same pursuit, giving 
him a district-school education. When he had reached his majority, in 1854. the subject of this 
sketch came to Peoria county, and settled on a farm near Elmwood, improving it until 1865, when 
he came into the city of Peoria to accept the post of deputy sheriff under George C. McFadden. 
Disposing of his farm, in 1866 he moved his family into the city, where he has since resided. In 
1870 he was elected sheriff, and held the office one term, remaining in the office as deputy under 
Frank Hitchcock until 1880, excepting one year (1872), when he was chief of police, when he was 
again elected sheriff. He made an active and efficient official, always on the alert in the line of 
duty, but in 1882 party spirit ran very high; the lines were very closely drawn, and Mr. Gill was 
defeated for reelection. The contest, however, was very close, he coming within less than one 
hundred votes of an election in a county usually having about si.x hundred democratic majority. 
He is one c>f the most popular men in Peoria county. His politics are republican, and it is doubt- 
ful if any other man in the county has spent more time and money in working for the interests of 
his party, he believing that the welfare of the country depends upon its perpetuation in power. 
He is a Master Mason. 

Mr. Gill was married in 1857 to Miss Anna Elizabeth Hurff, of Elmwood, and they have two 
children, Carrie May and Wellington E., the latter being in the stamp department of the revenue 
office, Peoria. 

Since leaving the office of sheriff Mr. Gill has been ticket agent in the interest of the Wabash, 
Saint Louis and Pacific railroad. About ten years ago he bought a second farm, which he sold 
in 1882. Most of his property lies in the city of Peoria and in a silver mine in Georgetown, 
Colorado, which he owns in company with several other parties. He is a first-class business man, 
and a highly useful citizen. 



HON. THEODORE STIMMING. 

CHICAGO. 

THEODORE STIMMING, one of the members of the legislature from the sixth senatorial 
district, was born in Prenzlau, near Berlin, Prussia, April 2, 1830. His parents were Gott- 
lieb Stimming, hatter, and Friedricke (Langmeier) Stimming. He was educated at the Joachims- 
thal Gymnasium, at Berlin, one of the largest and best institutions for educational purposes in 
that city, and was graduated for the purpose of qualifying himself for one year's military service. 
Mr. Stimming was a clerk in a mercantile house for two vears, and then participated in the revo- 
lution of 1848, being a youth of eighteen summers. He became an exile, coming to this country 
in the spring of 1849; worked a while on the Lake Shore railroad, east of Cleveland, Ohio, and 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



509 



tlien went to Cincinnati, where he engaged in the mercantile business, and was the owner of a 
riding school. 

September 26, 1854, Mr. Stimming was married to Miss Frederikee Arns, and went to Dubuque, 
Iowa. He was a merchant there when the stars and stripes were stricken down in Charleston, 
South Carolina. Prompt to obey the call of his adopted country for volunteers to save the Union, 
he enlisted April 19, 1861, in company H, ist Iowa infantry, and served in that regiment for one 
hundred and fifteen daj's, the regiment generously offering to remain in the service until after the 
bloody battle of Wilson's Creek, ii) which the brave General Lyon fell. He reenlisted in August, 
1862, as first lieutenant of company B, 31st Iowa infantry. He was promoted, step by step, for 
meritorious conduct on the field of battle, until he became lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, 
which was mustered out Julv S. 1865, at Louisville, Kentucky, with only three hundred and thirty- 
SIX men. 

On leaving the service Colonel Stimming returned to Dubuque, bought out the Continental 
Hotel, and was its proprietor until the autumn of 1872, when he went to Chicago, and became 
a traveling agent for a San Francisco house. 

In 1878 the colonel was appointed superintendent of the north division postoffice, which post 
he held until elected to his seat in the legislature, in November, 1882. He is chairman of the 
committee on federal relations, and on the committees on license, militia, municipal affairs and 
education. He is one of the most diligent men in the house, punctual in his attendance in the 
committee rooms and always in his seat when the legislature is in session. He evidently believes 
in earning all the money which the state pays him. 

Colonel Stimming came to this country as a lover of freedom, and a free-soiler from instinct, 
and was one of the first Germans in the United states to join the great party of freedom, which 
finally unriveted the chains from 4,000,000 slaves. In Dubuque, where the writer first knew Col- 
onel Stimming, he was an indefatigable laborer in the interests of his party, which could always 
rely upon him for heavy work during a canvass and at the polls. He is an upright, strictly hon- 
orable man, and has great influence, particularly among countrymen of his nativity. 

Colonel Stimming has been an Odd-Fellow for many years, and has passed all the chairs in 
the encampment. He has a family of six children living and has lost two. 



LEONARD WELLS VOLK, 

CIIICA GO. 

THE old adage, "There is no excellence without labor," never found a more faithful iUustra- 
tion than in the history of Leonard W. Volk. It is the old story of genius confronted with 
the impossible, yet scaling its walls by the force of its own inspiration. Hugh Miller found the 
dumb granite of his native hills instinct with reason and full of wisdom, bat dumb and without 
an interpreter. He gave it a voice; he placed it upon the stand, and the world in astonishment 
read, "The Testimony of the Rocks." But in the hands of Miller the stubborn granite spoke its 
own tongue and gave its own record ; he could only interpret it, while in the hands of the 
sculptor it becomes as plastic as the clav, speaks at his command, and utters all his thoughts. He 
gives it life, he clothes it vi'ith beauty, he teaches it his native tongue, and it interprets him. 
Hugh Miller found the angel in the stone, gave him liberty and became his interpreter. Leon- 
ard W. Volk changed the stone into an angel, gave it life and speech, and made it speak for him. 
Leonard W. Volk had genius, and it could no more be repressed than the bursting bud in spring. 
The early years of his boyhood spent in drudgery upon the little stony farms in Berkshire, 
Massachusetts; the long apprenticeship with mallet and chisel in the marble shop of his father; 
the years of patient toil at his trade of marble cutter to earn bread for his family; the bitter dis- 
appointments, the hopes deferred, the years of waiting, the heavy losses, and the sorrows that are 
the heritage of all — these were but as the frosts of winter; the spring must come at last. 



i^io VXITF.D STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Mr. Volk was born in Wellstown, Hamilton county. New York, November 7, 1828. and is 
descended from some of the earliest settlers of that state. His father. Garret Volk, worked at his 
trade for many years in New York city, and finished one of the ten marble Corinthian capitals sup- 
porting the dome of the old New York city hall. Leonard was one of a family of eight sons, sev- 
eral of whom followed the occupation of his father, and four daughters. Much of his youth was 
spent on his father's '' Hager's Pond " farm in Berkshire, Massachusetts, but from the age of 
sixteen till twenty he spent the time mostly in the marble quarries and works of western Mas- 
sachusetts and New York. 

While engaged with his brother Cornelius at Bethany, New York, he made the acquaintance 
of Miss Emily C. Barlow, cousin of the future Senator Douglas, who, seven years afterward, 
became his wife. She was the star of his empire, and with her parents moved west to Saint 
Louis, whither he followed her in 1848. 

In 1849 or 1850 he first attempted modeling, and copied in marble Hart's bust of Henry Clay, 
supposed to be the first work of the kind executed west of the Mississippi in that material. He 
also received a commission from Archbishop Kenrick to execute two alto-relievo medallions of 
Major Biddle and wife for their mausoleum. But this branch of his art did not prove remunera- 
tive at that early day, and he was forced to depend chiefly on his trade for his support. 

In 1852 he married, at Dubuque, and settled in Galena, Illinois, where he soon after received a 
visit from Judge Douglas, who strongly urged a removal to Chicago. He did not, however, heed the 
advice, but returned after a time to Saint Louis, and thence to Rock Island, where he engaged in 
business with his brother Cornelius. In 1855 he received another visit from his distinguished 
cousin, who then generously proffered the necessary means to enable him to go to Italy, and spend 
a few years in the study of his art. " I do not ask you," said Judge Douglas, "to accept it as a 
gift, but beg you to consider it as a loan, to be repaid when you are able; but never give yourself 
any concern about it." 

This generous offer occasioned the utmost joy to the struggling artist, who, leaving his wife 
and infant son to the care of his brother Abram in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, set sail from New 
York for Europe, on the ship Columbia, September, 1855. Taking in Liverpool, London, with its 
museum, Elgin marbles and other fine statuary; the world's exposition at Paris; thence to Mar- 
seilles, and landing at Civita Vecchia, the old seaport of Rome. He was cordially greeted by Craw- 
ford, Ives, Rogers, Bartholomew^ and other artists from America, located in the Eternal City. 
While at Rome he executed a full-size statue in marble of the "Boy Washington Cutting the 
Cherry Tree," which was admired. The first letter fnmi home announced the sudden death of 
his little son Arthur Douglas. At the end of about two years spent in Rome and Florence in 
arduous study, he sailed from Leghorn, and after a perilous voyage of seventy-four days, landed 
in New York. From Pittsfield, with his family, he came on to Chicago at once and opened a 
studio. 

His first work was the modeling of a bust of his patron, for which Douglas gave him many 
sittings. He also executed many cameo likenesses of his friends at $30 each, and a life-size, full- 
length statue of a boy in marble, for which he received $250. In 1858, during the e.xciting can- 
vass for the Illinois senatorial seat between Lincoln and Douglas, he made a life-size statue of the 
judge for $800. This statue formed the nucleus of the first fine art exposition in the North- 
west, which, with the assistance of Rev. William Barr\r, then the secretar}- of the Chicago 
Historical Society, Mr. Volk organized in 1859. He was appointed superintendent of the 
exposition, and it proved a great success. 

The w-inter of 1859-60 was spent in Washington, publishing a statuette of Douglas, and the 
following spring he modeled a bust of Lincoln from the life. This was afterward cut in marble 
and sold to the Crosby Art Association, and sent to the Paris Exposition in 1867. The presiden- 
tial canvass of i860 created a large demand for the busts of Lincoln and Douglas, and he made 
a business of publishing them. 

Soon after the death of Douglas, he was mainly instrumental in organizing the Douglas Mon- 



UMITF.D STATES lUOGRA PHICA I. DICTIQXARY. 



5i> 



uiTiL-nt Association. He was elected secretary, and his design for the proposed monument was 
the one selected by the board of trustees. The work of collecting funds, however, was greatly 
retarded by the war, and in December, 1868, Mr. Volk resigned his position of secretary, and went 
to Europe. The original model of the design was destroyed by the great fire of 187 1, during his 
absence, but reproduced, with some changes, when in 1877 the legislature appropriated the sum 
I if $50,000 for the furtherance of the work; a year later, $9,000 more to complete it. He subse- 
quently received, successively, from the state commissioners, orders to execute in bronze a colos- 
sal statue of Douglas, to surmount the monument, for $8,000; four symbolical statues, heroic size, 
for the pedestals at the four corners of the mausoleum, representing "Justice," "History," 
"Illinois," and "Eloquence," for $6,500; and four bas-reliefs of appropriate designs for the four 
sides of the base of the shaft, for $4,800. The whole was finally completed, and the last piece put 
in place, August, 1881. 

When the war broke out, Mr. Volk enlisted in a Chicago company, but the quota of 75,000 
having been filled, they were disbanded. During the war he was busy in various art enterprises. 
He, with others, obtained a charter for an association for a public art gallery; rented for twenty 
years an elegant marble-front building on Adams street for the gallery and studios, which was 
destroyed by the great fire. He executed many works of art, and paid much attention to monu- 
ments for parks, cemeteries, etc. He spent much time to aid the two great Chicago sanitary 
fairs, in 1863 and 1865. After the assassination of Lincoln, he had a great demand for copies of 
his bust. 

The winter of i868-6g he spent in Rome. While at Rome, Miss Charlotte Cushman, then 
residing there, called his attention to a soldiers' and sailors' monument to be erected at Rock- 
ford, Illinois. He immediately returned, and competed with many others for the work, receiving 
the award. The fall of the dome of the court-house, however, indefinitely postponed the work, 
and it is not yet completed. He at the same time competed for the McPherson monument, at 
Cincinnati, and took the second premium for design, but the contract was awarded to a Cincin- 
natian. 

His life was now a very busy one. He executed a large number of orders for statues and 
busts. One of the most extensive was for the mausoleum of Henry Keep, the late president of the 
Chicago and North-Western railway, erected at Watertown, New York. He executed in fine 
statuary marble full-length statues of Mrs. Keep and her daughter, and a bust of Mr. Keep, 
finished at Rome, which were placed in its interior, the memorial costing, when complete, $100,000. 

December, 1870, he again went abroad, taking his family with him, now consisting of one son, 
Stephen A. Douglas Volk, fourteen years old, and a daughter, Elizabeth Nora, aged nine years. 
They sailed on the Pacific Mail steamer, Arizona, from New York, which passed through the Suez 
canal, and which they left at Malta, and thence to Rome, by way of Naples. While busy at 
work in 187 i, the news of the great fire reached him, and the complete destruction of his prop- 
erty on Washington street. There was very little insurance paid. This was a severe blow, and 
prostrated hiiu financially. He, however, remained in Rome till July, 1872. On his way home 
he stopped over in Paris; met a Chicago gentleman of wealth — a prominent lumberman; pro- 
posed to him to invest in Italian block-marble for the burned city in the West; received $7,000 
from him; returned to Carrara, purchased 400 tons, partly loaded on vessel at Genoa, and partly 
in the yards at Carrara, and shipped the whole to New York. This was sent forward on the New 
York and Erie railway, and delivered in Chicago,— the first cargo ever sent direct from Italy to 
Chicago. This was an opportune arrival, but the profits were indifferent, owing to a strike of the 
marble-cutters of New York, which left a glut on the market there, and lowered the price here. 
The great fire, besides destroying his building and consuming several fine pieces of work which 
had not yet been delivered, greatly injured him. The general financial ruin following caused 
the withdrawal of orders already given, and preventing the giving of others contemplated. 
He has, however, found general employment in his profession, which has greatly and rapidly 
improved within a few vears. 



1^12 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



^ 



Among his later works is the Geo. B. Armstrong memorial, at the northwest corner of the 
Custom House square, and a bust of the late Geo. B. Carpenter; also a life-size bust of the late 
senator from Michigan, Zach Chandler, taken immediately after his sudden death in Chicago. 
This is now in the possession of Hon. Jesse Spaulding. Among the last works completed by him 
are busts of Gurdon S. Hubbard, President Grover, of Dearborn Seminary, John Deere, of Molina, 
and the pioneer minister. Rev. Jeremiah Porter. 



SAMUEL H. BLANK. 

PETERSBURGII. 

SAMUEL HARRISON BLANK, attorney-at-law, is a native of Menard county, in which he 
still lives. He is a son of George Blane, a farmer from the North of Ireland, and Mary 
M. (Alkire) Blane, daughter of John Alkire, a very early settler in Menard county. Samuel 
received an academic or high-school education, including the advanced English branches, and 
was on his father's farm until the second year of the civil war. In August, 1862, Mr. Blane 
enlisted as a private in company K, io6th Illinois infantry. During the siege of Vicksburg, in 
the summer of 1863, he was promoted to second lieutenant for meritorious conduct. Some 
months afterward he was promoted to first lieutenant, and a little later to the rank of captain. 
He was mustered out at Springfield in the summer of 1865. 

While Captain Blane was in the army his father died, and the estate was divided among the 
children, and on coming out of the service he married, January 4, 1866, Mary Jane Spear, of 
Menard county, and settled on a farm of his own near Greenview, this county. He continued to 
cultivate it until 1874, reading law also during the last two or three years. He was examined in 
Springfield at the January term of the supreme court, held in 1874, and was admitted to the bar, 
January 9 of that year.. 

Since that date Captain Blane has been in constant practice, his business extending into the 
several state and federal courts. He is very studious, and is a rising man at Menard county bar. 
A gentleman who has known him intimately for years states that he is a diligent student; pays 
very close attention to his business; is a good pleader; handles his cases with ability and skill; is 
upright and honorable in all his dealings, and is making a decided success in his profession. 

The afKliatious of Captain Blane are with the republican party, and for several years he has 
been chairman of the republican county central committee. He is an earnest and influential 
worker in the interests of his party; a third-degree Mason; a member of the Disciple Church; 
superintendent of the Sunday-school, and a conscientious, thoroughgoing laborer in more than 
one good cause. 

Captain and Mrs. Blane buried one daughter (Eva Maria) in infancy, and have four children 
living: Frank E., Leonora Agnes, Lucretia lona and Myrtle. 



A.SA H. DAN FORTH. 

WASHINGTON. 

AMONG the early settlers and successful business men of Tazewell county ranks Asa Hamilton 
i\. Danforth, a native of the Old Bay State. He was born at Norton, near Taunton, June 4, 
1813, being a son of Asa and Hannah (Walker) Danforth. His father was born in the same state, 
and was a soldier in the war of 1812-14. His mother died when he was quite young. 

The subject of this sketch had an ordinary English education. In 1830 he went to Fall River, 
Massachusetts, and learned the cabinet-maker's trade, and four years later was engaged a short 
time manufacturing furniture and fanning mills at Milford, Pennsylvania. He removed thence 
to Coshocton, Ohio, where he manufactured similar mills and did considerable turning. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. :^ I o 

In 1835 Mr. Danforth came to Washington, his present home, the town then having little more 
than a local population, with few people to do the inhabiting. Needing hydraulic power, and 
there being none in the place, he utilized two large dogs, of which he was the proprietor. Con- 
structing a large cylindrical wheel, he put one dog at a time in it, and thus turned his lathe and 
made a success in manufacturing furniture for his neighbors. He continued the cabinet-making 
business for a number of years, and was subsequently engaged in several branches of industry — 
merchandising, building, operating in land, banking, etc. For some years he was connected with 
his brother, George W. Eanforth, of Iroquois county, and in that county and Tazewell, as stated 
in a Tazewell county atlas, they built "twelve stores, three warehouses, over thirty village and 
farm houses, four flouring, planing and saw-mills, and planted twenty-five orchards and two 
nurseries." 

It is doubtful if any man in Tazewell county has contributed more largely to its development 
than Mr. Danforth. He has been a man of wonderful enterprise and industry, and his accumu- 
lations are the fruit of hard work, tact and wise foresight. He has one of the finest residences 
in this vicinity, planned by himself, and a model of convenience. He built it when all his chil- 
dren were at home, and since most of them are married and away he no doubt finds it decidedly 
roomy. 

Mr. Danforth was married February 25, 1839, 'o Miss Catharine A. Rupert, of Pekin, this 
county, and they have lost one child and have two sons and three daughters living: Almond G., 
the eldest son, is of the firm of A. G. Danforth and Company, bankers, his father having a large 
interest in the institution; Henry R. is in the real estate and farming business in Danforth, Iro- 
quois county (town named for his uncle); Caroline is the wife of Herman W. Snow, of Sheldon, 
Iroquois county; Harriet is the wife of Doctor Patrick, same place, and Catharine H. is the wife 
of L. S. Rupert, of Bloomington, Illinois. 

Mr. Danforth has voted the democratic ticket from Martin Van Buren to General Hancock, 
but he has steadfastly refused all political offices. Many years ago he was a director of the east- 
ern extension of what was known as the Peoria and Oquawka railroad, and has been identified 
with other public enterprises, being a public-spirited, benevolent man, taking pleasure in aid- 
ing to develop the interests of the community, material, educational, social and moral. 



JOHN DARST. 

EUREKA. 

THE gentleman with whose name this sketch is headed was born in Greene county, Ohio, 
November 6, 1816. His father, Jacob Darsc, was born in Augusta county, Virginia, and his 
mother, whose maiden name was Mary Coy, was a native of Green county, Ohio. The grandfathers 
on both sides were from Germany. Mr. Darst received an ordinary district-school education; 
worked on his father's farm till of age; married, November 22, 1838, Ruhamah Moler, daughter 
of John Moler, who was a native of Virginia, and died at ninety-two years of age; then farmed 
for himself in Ohio until 185 i, when he brought his family to this state and settled at Eureka, on 
the farm where he now lives, the place being called Walnut Grove. The first few weeks of their 
married life in Ohio, about the year 1838, they occupied an abandoned log cabin, with puncheon 
fioor, and only one room; then adding another room, and thus living for some years. 

Mr. Darst was engaged in farming for more than thirty years, renting the homestead farm to 
his youngest son, Jacob A. Darst, in the spring of 1882. He had at one time about 1,600 acres, 
disposing of it by piecemeal, as one by one his children became of age, nine sons and one daugh- 
ter reaching their majority. One son, John W., died at eighteen years of age. The home farm, 
on which Mr. Darst settled in 1851, has about 250 acres, and like all the lands which he has ever 
owned in this state, is under excellent improvement. He has always kept his farms well stocked 
with cattle, horses, hogs and sheep, and has fed most of his grain, not wishing to see any of it 



5H 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOyAKV. 



used for manufacturing distilled spirits. His father, at an early day, was a distiller, as well as 
farmer and blacksmith, but saw the evils of such manufacture, and abandoned it. The son, too, 
was early impressed with the bad results of liquor drinking, and has been a teetotaler for more 
than fifty years. 

In politics Mr. Darst is a prohibitionist, out and out, and until slavery was done away with, 
he was an abolitionist. His life seems to have been a constant warfare with oppression and evil 
in every form. Mr. Darst joined the Baptist church when a young man, and afterward changed 
to the Christian church, which he has served in different official positions, being a deacon for a 
long time, and an elder for the last fifteen or sixteen \-ears. 

When he came to what is now Eureka there was an academy started by the Christian denom- 
ination in which school he became deeply interested. In 1855 a college charter was obtained, and 
a college building was erected a year or two later. In 1864 a second building was put up, he 
being associated in both cases with others in superintending the work. He has been a trustee of 
this excellent institution from the first, and has been its most liberal donor, having contributed 
in all about $16,000. He is a large-hearted, generous man, and an invaluable citizen of Eureka. 
Since the autumn of 1882 Mr. Darst has had an interest in the Farmers' Bank of Eureka, which 
is managed l)y his son, George E. Darst, and E. O. Lyman, it being a thriving young institution. 
Mr. Darst's family are all married but the two youngest sons, and all have made a profession of 
religion. Three are deacons of Christian churches, and all bear a good character. Five of the 
sons, Oliver P., Harrison H., Leo C, James P. and Henry R., were in the late civil war, the last 
enlisting in his seventeenth year. 

Mr. Darst has held various local offices, such as member of the town board of trustees, super- 
visor, etc., and has always stood ready to bear his share of much gratuitous work. He laid out 
the town of Eureka, in January, 1856, a postoffice having been established here three or four years 
before, and given that name. His name will go down in local history as a successful farmer, a 
warm friend of education, and a zealous worker in the cause of humanity and religion. 



THOMA.S COLLINS WHTrESIDE. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE subject of this biography is a native of Marion, Grant C(junty, Indiana, and was born 
February 28, 1837. His paternal ancestry, of Scotch-Irish origin, at an early day settled in 
Rockbridge county, Virginia. His father was a native of Chillicothe, Ohio, and was a man of 
remarkable enterprise and force of character, and commanding influence in his community. 
Beginning life as a blacksmith, he rose steadily by his own Tiard work, and later was engaged in 
mercantile pursuits, and finally turned his attention to the manufacture of woolen goods, and 
amassed a handsome fortune. 

The mother of our subject, Matilda (Collins) Whiteside, was of English ancestry, and at the 
time of her marriage resided at Indianapolis, Indiana. During his boyhood, Thomas received 
fair educational advantages, and preparatory to entering college, pursued a course of study at 
Farmers College, in College Hill, Ohio. Completing his course there, he, in the fall of 1855, 
entered Union College, at Schenectady, New York, of which the renowned Doctor Nott was at 
that time president. In college he was a thorough, earnest and close student, and graduated 
with high honors in the class of 1858. While still a youth, he had decided to enter the legal pro- 
fession, and immediately upon completing his college course, he began the study of law, at 
Logansport, Indiana, in the office of Hon. Daniel D. Pratt, afterward United States senator, and 
still later, appointed by President Grant commissioner of internal revenue. 

After being admitted to the bar in i860, Mr. Whiteside settled at Peoria, Illinois, and began 
the practice of his profession, in partnership with Leslie Robinson. During this same year he 
returned to Logansport, and married Miss Lavina Walker, daughter of Hon. George B. Walker, 




^>*~" 




' f 



UNITRD STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



517 



of that place, and a few months later settled at Wabash, where his father then resided. In the 
autumn of the following year, 1861, he was appointed by Governor Oliver P. Morton state's attor- 
ney in the eleventh judicial district of Indiana, a position to which, at the expiration of his term, he 
was elected on the republican ticket, holding th.e same with marked ability until the fall of 1864, 

During the winter of 1864-5 he represented the counties of Kosciusko and Wabash in the 
state legislature on the republican ticket, and during his term of service had the honor of intro- 
ducing before the legislature the joint resolution ratifying the amendment to the federal consti- 
tution abolishing slavery in the United States. He championed this measure with distinguished 
ability, closing the debate with a speech of great eloquence and power, and it was adopted in the face 
of a strong opposition, by a large majority. He here became known as a wise lawmaker, an eloquent 
and logical speaker, a ready debater, and a man of scholar!)' attainments. In June, 1865, he was 
appointed by Governor Morton judge of the twenty-first judicial district of Indiana, comprising 
five counties, being at that time but about twenty-eight years of age. In the fall of this same 
year Judge Whiteside was elected to the same ofiice to which he had formerly been appointed, and 
although his term of office was expected to continue but four years, through some legislative 
defect he continued in office until 1871, when he resigned on account of ill-health. Prior to this, 
in 1868, he was a candidate for congress before the republican congressional convention of his 
district, in opposition to Hon. John U. Pettit, and others, and received a complimentary vote of 
the convention. At his own request, his name was withdrawn as a candidate, and Hon. Daniel 
D. Pratt was elected to represent the district. Again in 1872, he was nominated for congress by 
the liberal republican party, for the eleventh congressional district of Indiana, being opposed by 
Hon. James N. Tyner, postmaster-general under President Grant, and subsequently assistant 
postmaster-general by appointment of President Hayes. 

In 1873 Judge Whiteside removed to Chicago, having regained his health, and resumed the 
practice of law. As a lawver he ranks among the leading members of the Chicago bar, and by 
close application and earnest effort, has built up an extensive practice in both the state and fed- 
eral courts. His personal and social qualities are of a high order; genial and generous in his 
manners and intercourse with others, he never fails to make friends. He is, in stature, above the 
medium, and has a dignified and manly bearing. Though but in the prime of life, he has 
achieved what many strive a lifetime in gaining, and has before him a future bright with hopes 
and promise. 

JOSEPH C. KALB, M.D. 

HENR V. 

JOSEPH CLABAUGH KALB, a prominent phy.sician and surgeon at Henry, Marshall county, 
is a native of Franklin county, Ohio, a son of George Washington Kalb, a farmer, and Mar- 
garet (Clabaugh) Kalb, and was born June 30, 1831. The family was originally from Germany; 
going thence to France, where it became De Kalb, the great-grandfather of our subject being a 
brother of Baron De Kalb, who figured so conspicuously in the American revolution, and for 
whom De Kalb county, this state, was named. The Clabaughs are of Scotch lineage. 

Doctor Kalb received an English and Latin education at Columbus, Ohio; attended lectures 
at Starling College, in the same city; received the degree of doctor of medicine in March, 1857, 
and practiced at London, twenty miles west of Columbus, till the rebellion broke out In June, 
1861, he went into the army as surgeon of the 42d Ohio infantry. Colonel J. A. Garfield com- 
mander, and was mustered out in November, 1864. During the last year and a half the doctor 
was division surgeon on the staff of General Albert L. Lee, who is well known as the Kansas 
"Jay Hawker," a young man of lion-like bravery. During the early part of the war Doctor Kalb 
formed a very intimate acquaintance with his colonel, who afterward became major-general and 
president, and he has letters from the martyred chief written only a few months before he was 
shot. President Garfield seems never to have forgotten a friend, whether an associate in camp- 
Si 



5l8 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

life, or in the halls of learning, or on the play grounds of childhood, and of all the friendships 
that Doctor Kalb ever formed we doubt if there is one more tender than that with the great 
statesman, orator and chief magistrate of the nation, who died in September, 1881. 

On leaving the army Doctor Kalb practiced his profession in Columbus until the autumn of 
1869, when he came to this state and settled in Henry, where he has since done a general and suc- 
cessful professional business. His experience in the army was a fine school to hitn, especially in 
surgery, most of which he does in and around his present home, his rides often extending twenty 
to forty miles away. His reputation in all branches of the healing art is excellent, and he has the 
fullest confidence of the communit)- in his skill. For six or seven years he was also in the drug- 
business, selling out in the autumn of 1882. 

Doctor Kalb is a member of the National Eclectic Medical Association and of the District 
Progressive Association, often reading papers before the latter body, its meetings being held quar- 
terly. He also writes occasionally for the medical journals of his school, reporting many truly 
interesting cases, and sometimes preparing essays on medical science and collateral subjects. 

In politics the subject of this notice is a republican to the back bone, but we cannot learn that 
he has any political aspirations. He is thoroughly wedded to his profession. He was married in 
October, 1852, to Miss Serena S. Bi^own, of his native county, and they have two children: Clin- 
ton M. and Edna E., both of whom are at home. 



WILLIAM HARVEY WELLS. 

CHICAGO. 

WILLIAM HARVEY WELLS was born in Tolland, Connecticut, February 12, 1812. His 
father was a farmer, in moderate circumstances, and the son received no educational 
advantages beyond a few weeks each year at a district school, till he was seventeen years of age. 
After spending one winter at an academy at Vernon, Connecticut, and one at an academy in his 
native town, he taught a district school, and boarded around. He was afterward associated with 
Theodore L. Wright, as an assistant teacher in East Hartford, where he commenced preparing 
for college. Most of his time during the day was spent in teaching, and his studies were gen- 
erally continued late into the night. His labors were greater than his strength, and his eyes 
became so much weakened that he was compelled to abandon his cherished plan for entering 
college just as his preparatory course was completed. 

He had already given marked evidence of ability to teach, and his ambition now turned in 
that direction. In 1834 he entered the Teachers' Seminary, at Andover, Massachusetts, which 
was in charge of Rev. S. R. Hall, and remained there eight months. He then returned to East 
Hartford, and engaged in teaching and study, but was recalled to Andover by Mr. Hall in 1836, 
and employed as an assistant in the Teachers' Seminary. He remained in this institution till it 
was merged in Phillips Academy, and then took charge of the English department of the acad- 
emy, where he continued his instructions to successive classes of teachers. During these years 
he planned and executed an extensive course of study and reading in English literature, and here 
he prepared his "School Grammar," which was published in 1846. The success of this work is 
shown by the fact that over half a million copies of it have been sold. 

In 1845 the trustees of Dartmouth College conferred on Mr. Wells the honorary degree of 
master of arts. 

In 1847 he was elected principal of the Putnam Free School, Newburyport, Massachusetts, an 
institution founded by the munificence of Oliver Putnam, a native of Newburyport. This school 
was not to be opened till 1848, but Mr. Wells immediately resigned his position in Andover, for 
the purpose of securing a little needed relaxation. A large portion of this interval was spent in 
work at teachers' institutes in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and New Hampshire. His labors 
in Newburyport were commenced in April, 1848, and he remained in charge of the Putnam Free 
School six years. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. jig 

He was an active member of the Essex County Teachers' Association, one of the oldest county 
associations in the country, and was president of the association two years. He was one of the 
originators of the Massachusetts State Teachers' Association, and was twice elected president of 
that association. He was also one of the projectors and one of the first editors of the Massachu- 
setts "Teacher." 

In 1854 he was elected principal of the Westfield State Normal School, by the Massachusetts 
board of education. Under his direction, the school rapidly increased in numbers, and in less 
than two years it became necessary for the state to enlarge the building provided for its accom- 
modation. 

In 1856 Mr. Wells was appointed superintendent of schools in Chicago, and his life at once 
became closely identified with the history of education in Illinois. In whatever position he acted, 
whether in connection with the schools of his own city, as a member of the state board of educa- 
tion, as a member of the State Teachers' Association, as a lecturer at teachers' institutes, or as a 
contributor to educational literature, he showed indomitable energy, and a mastery of the theory 
and practice of education, which gave him a recognized position among the leading educators of 
the country. 

One of the most important special results of Mr. Wells' labors in the Chicago schools was the 
development of his graded course, by which the classification of pupils, and their steps and pro- 
gress, were reduced to a carefully graded system, from their first entrance into the school-room 
to the completion of their course. This system attracted much attention outside of Chicago, and 
its leading features were soon adopted in most of the large cities and towns in all parts of the 
country. This course of study, with extracts from several of the author's educational lectures 
and reports, was afterward published in a volume entitled "The Graded School," which became 
a standard work for teachers' libraries. 

Mr Wells held the office of president of the Illinois State Teachers' Association, and in 1863 
he was elected president of the National Teachers' Association. In his inaugural address before 
this association, at Ogdensburgh, New York, in 1864, he dwelt particularly upon the importance 
of cultivating the art of conversation as a regular branch of school instruction, in connection with 
lessons in language. 

In 1864 Mr. Wells resigned the office of superintendent of schools, to engage in business, but 
his educational labors did not cease with the severance of this connection. He has been a mem- 
ber of the Chicago board of education much of the time since that date, and has also held the 
office of president of the board. He has recently returned to his labors as an author, and issued 
the " Shorter Course in English Grammar and Composition," which has received the indorsement 
of prominent educators in all parts of the country, and has already been widely adopted in 
sch(X)ls. Of Mr. Wells' labors in Andover. S. H. Taylor, principal of Phillips Academy, speaks 
as follows: 

"He was thoroughly earnest; he was alive to his work, and was impelled by a strong inward 
impulse to do whatever would secure success in it. The clear ring of his voice as he propounded, 
in quick succession, questions to his class, was sufficient to indicate to those who might not see 
the glow upon his countenance, how strong a sympathy he had with his work. Indeed, he might 
be said to be enthusiastic in whatever he taught, and his pupils at once imbibed his spirit. He 
resolutely and persistently held the pupil responsible to do for himself all he supposed to be in 
his power. Many a teacher has the same theory, but I have never known it so severely reduced 
to practice as in Mr. Wells' svstem of teaching." 

Of his labors as superintendent of schools in Chicago, Mr. Luther Haven, president of the 
board of education, bears the following testimony: 

" Mr Wells brought to the service of the board of education and to the interests of the schools 
all those admirable traits of character which had tended so greatly to enhance his success and 
usefulness in every position he had previously occupied, and these traits he has devoted with 
untiring industry and perseverance, with all the powers of his well-trained mind, to the building 



5 20 UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTTONAR^. 

up of our public schools, and placing them in such a condition as to command the confidence and 
support of our whole community. His labors have been eminently successful. For the high 
position now held by our schools in the estimation of our whole community, for the harmony 
and good feeling now existing among all parties in relation to them, we are indebted, in no small 
degree, to the prudence, care, kindness and firmness of Mr. Wells." 

The following extract from a lecture on Self-Reliance, delivered by Mr. Well:^ before the Amer- 
ican Institute of Instruction, embodies one of the principles by which his own life was governed, 
and which he never failed to inculcate in the minds of his pupils: 

"The highest and most important object of intellectual education is mental discipline, or the 
power of using the mind to the best advantage. The price of this discipline is effort. However 
much we may regret that we do not live a century later, because we cannot have the benefit of 
the educational improvements that are to be made during the next hundred years, of one thing 
we may rest assured, that intellectual eminence will be attained during the twentieth century just 
as it is in the nineteenth — by the labor of the brain. We are not to look for any new discovery 
or invention that will supersede the necessity of mental toil; we are not to desire it. If we had 
but to supplicate some kind genius, and he would at once endow us with all the knowledge in the 
universe, the gift would prove a burden to us, and not a blessing. We must have the discipline 
of acquiring knowledge in the manner established by the Author of our being, and without this 
discipline our intellectual stores would be worse than useless." 



HON. NATHANIEL MOORE. 

l\ENONA. 

AMONG the enterprising and successful farmers in the eastern part of Marshall county is 
, Nathaniel Moore, a native of Warren county, Ohio. He was born in Waynesville, August 
17, 1819, and was the youngest son in a family of five children, three sons and two daughters, all 
of whom lived to grow to manhood and womanhood. The three sons are still living. The 
parents of these children are David and Mary (Brown) Moore. The latter was born in Burling- 
ton county. New Jersey, and died in 1845; the former was horn in Trenton, New Jersey, in Jam'- 
ary, 1788, and is still living, about as old as the Constitution of the United States. He is with 
his son in Wenona, and but for his blindness, which came upon him seven or eight years ago, 
he would be quite active, his mental faculties being sound and clear. He has a sister in Ohio 
who is in her ninety-eighth year, being two years older than he is. 

In the infancy of our subject, the family moved to Preble county, Ohio, where the father was 
engaged in farming. In his younger years he had been a tailor, but lost his health, and changed 
his calling. Nathaniel was raised on a farm, receiving a district-school education. In 1852 he 
moved to Kokomo, Indiana; after being a merchant there for two short years, returned to Ohio, 
and in 1855 came to Wenona, and opened a small dry-goods store, the first in the place. He also 
dealt in grain. Two years afterward he sold out his mercantile stock, and went on his farm, 
adjoining the town, continuing to handle grain twt) or three years longer. The home farm has 
200 acres, under the best of improvement, with a large and commodious dwelling-house and sev- 
eral barns and other buildings on it, with every indication of the generous fruits of industry 
wisely devoted. Mr. Moore has other lands in the vicinity of Wenona, in all, perhaps, 375 acres. 
He has stock of all kinds, but latterly has paid especial attention to the breeding of Poland-China 
hogs. At one time he was in the real-estate business, in company with others, and is still buying 
and selling occasionally, and has made a fine success in this line, as in other branches of business. 

He has held the offices of supervisor and school director several terms; was sheriff of the 
county one term during the civil war, and was a member of the twenty-eightli and twenty-ninth 
general assemblies, his seat being on the republican side. Since leaving the legislature he has 
sedulous!}- declined all official positions. Mr. Moore was originally a whig, of free-soil leanings 



UNITED STATES B/OGRAPMICAI DICTIONARY. 52I 

and (in the demise of this party, naturally affiliated with tiie great party of freedom, whose first 
triumph placed Abraham Lincoln in the presidential chair. 

Mr. Moore was married in the autumn of 1843, to Miss Julia Banta, of Preble, Ohio, and they 
have had nine children, burying three of them, all sons: George N. is a graduate of Knox Col- 
lege, Galesburgh, an attorney-at-law, lately of Chicago, now mining in Arizona for his health; 
Job M. W., likewise a graduate of Knox, is also mining in that territory; Edward E. is in the 
medical department of Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; Mary E., the only daugh- 
ter, and Frank A. B. are at the Northwestern University, Evanston, and Willis is just finishing 
his studies in the Wenona schools, preparatory to entering a higher institution. Mr. Moore 
has taken and is taking great pains to educate his children, counting learning at a high value, 
particularly in a country like this, where the stability of its institutions depends largely upon the 
knowledge of the people. When in the legislature he introduced a bill favoring compulsory 
education, being an earh' mover in that matter in this state. He is a man who does a good deal 
of sensible thinking. 

HON. THOMAS J. HENDERSON. 

PRINCE TON. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON HENDERSON, lawyer and member of congress from the seventh 
congressional district of Illinois, is a son of William H. Henderson, and Sarah M. (Howard) 
Henderson, and was born in Brownsville, Haywood county, Tennessee, November 29, 1824. His 
father was born in Garrard County, Kentucky, 1793, and emigrated early to the State of Tennes- 
see. He was the first register of deeds in Haywood county, Tennessee, and was also at one period 
a member of the state senate of that state. His wife was a native of Sampson county. North 
Carolina, born in 1804. 

In 1836 the family moved to Stark, then a part of Putnam county, this state, and while a resi- 
dent of that county William H. Henderson served two terms in the house of representatives. 
In 1842 he was the whig candidate for lieutenant-governor. In 1845 he moved to the state of 
Iowa, and died at Marshalltown, January, 1864, his widow in 1879, at the same place. 

The subject of this sketch had acquired some knowledge of the rudimentary branches before 
leaving Tennessee, and had made some progress in Latin, attended school in a log house near 
where Toulon now stands, two or three winter terms, and in his twenty-first year entered the Uni- 
versity of Iowa, then in its infancy, and not very flourishing, and after studying there about six 
months returned to Illinois. From the age when he came into this state, up to the time just 
mentioned, Mr. Henderson devoted his energies to farm work, with the exception of one year, 
which he gave to teaching "young ideas how to shoot." From early youth he had great fondness 
for books and newspapers, and while the busiest in cultivating the soil, kept well posted on cur- 
rent events, doing also more or less solid historical and general reading, using the few books his 
father possessed. 

On returning from Iowa, in 1846, Mr. Henderson was clerk in a dry-goods store at Toulon 
about a year; taught school in the same town three months, and August, 1847, was elected clerk 
of the county commissioner's court of Stark county. This post he held till 1849, when the office 
was changed by the amended constitution, and he was elected clerk of the county court. He held 
that position until 1853. studying law, meantime, and previously, and being admitted to the bar in 
1852. For thirty years, except when in the public service, Mr. Henderson has devoted himself to 
the practice of his profession, and long ago held a fair position among the legal fraternity in this 
part of the state. He was appointed master in chancery by the Stark county circuit court in 
1851, and held that office several years. In 1854 he was elected to the lower house of the state 
legislature, and in 1856 to the state senate, serving one term in each branch. 

In 1862 he enlisted as a soldier at Toulon, where he then resided, and commenced raising a 
company, of which he expected to have, perhaps, tlie command; but he was elected colonel of the 



522 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



1 1 2th Illinois infantr\', and thus served until the close of the war, having, meanwhile, much of the 
time the command of a brigade, and sometimes of a division. 

May 14, 1864, at the battle of Resaca, Georgia, he was severely wounded by a shot with a rifle 
through his right thigh. On his return to his regiment in July following, he was complimented 
by the commanding officers of his corps and division, Generals Schofield and Cox, by the organ- 
ization for him of the 3rd brigade of the 3rd division of the 21st army corps, which brigade he 
afterward commanded, until he was mustered out of the service, June, 1865.* 

In February, 1865, the above named generals recommended Colonel Henderson for promotion 
to the rank of brigadier-general, urging such promotion in person, but there being no vacancy 
just then, the secretary of war, Mr. Stanton, said he would nominate the colonel for a brevet ap- 
pointment as brigadier-general. He was accordingly nominated and confirmed brigadier-general, 
bv brevet, for gallant services in the Georgia and Tennessee campaigns of 1864, and especially at 
the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. 

At the close of the war General Henderson resumed the practice of law at Toulon, and in 
1867 settled in Princeton. In 1868 he was one of the presidential electors-at-large on the repub- 
lican ticket; and in 1871, \)l'ithout solicitation on his part, he was appointed collector of internal 
revenue for the 5th collection district, holding that post for two years. In 1874 General Hender- 
son was elected to congress for the 6th district, and was renominated without opposition, and 
reelected three times, serving in the 44th, 45th, 46th and 47th congresses, from the sixth district, 
and is now a member from the seventh district of the 48th congress, being chairman, the last term, 
of the committee on military affairs. He was in 1882 nominated without opposition, and elected a 
representative to the 48th congress from the seventh district, under the new apportionment. His 
record in the lower house of congress has been highly honorable, and led his friends to think of 
him as a suitable man for the upper house. In January, 1883, his political confreres brought him 
forward, and he was one of the four leading candidates on the republican side of the legislature, 
for the office of United States senator, and received the vote of the members in his congressional 
district. The general has the ability and moral stamina to fill with credit any office in which his 
constituents or the people of Illinois might see fit to place him. 

General Henderson was married to Miss Henrietta Butler, of Wyoming, Illinois, May, 1849, 
and thev have four children. 



DAVID M. YOSBURGH, M.D. 

EARLVILLE. 

DAVID MARTIN VOSBURGII, one of the oldest physicians and surgeons in La Salle 
county, is the son of a physician, David J. Vosburgh, and Mary E. (Richards) Vosburgh, and 
was born in Evansburgh, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1826. His father was a native 
of Washington county. New York, and his mother of Connecticut. His grandfather, David Mar- 
tin Vosburgh, for whom he was named, was at the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, and lost 
two brothers in that battle. The family is of Holland descent. When our subject was four years 
old the family moved to Penn Line, Pennsylvania, where Doctor David J. Vosburgh was a promi- 
nent physician and politician for years, being at one lime the democratic nominee for congress, 
but would not consent to run. He was at the battle of Plattsburgh, as assistant surgeon, was with 
Colonel (afterward General) Zachary Taylor, at Fort Dearborn (Chicago), and was in the Black 
Hawk war, 1832. He practiced his profession at Evansburgh and Penn Line from thirty-five to 
forty years, and died at Iconium, Iowa, in his eighty-fourth year, being as highly respected as 
he was full of years. He lost his wife, the mother of David Martin, when the latter was two years 
old. 

The subject of this sketch finished his education at the Kingsviile (Ohio) Academy; commenced 
teaching a district school at seventeen years of age, and finished his labors in that line, at an 

*'■ Public Men of To-Dav," bv C. P. Headlev. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 523 

academy at Jefferson, Ashtabula county, a few miles from Kingsville. He read medicine with 
Doctor C. E. Cleveland, of Kingsville, who had been a student of his father ; attended one course 
(jf lectures at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and another at the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, Philadelphia, and there received the degree of doctor of medicine in March, 185 1. He 
spent two years in a hospital in that city before his graduation; practiced two years at Custard- 
ville, Pennsylvania, and February, 1853, settled in Earlville, La Salle county, where he has been 
in steady and successful practice for thirty years. When he first came into this state men of his 
profession were very much scarcer than they are now, and his rides were often long and tedious, 
extending, in most directions, from ten to twenty miles. The doctor's practice has always been 
general and good, and he has a fine reputation, alike as a physician and surgeon. He is a mem- 
ber of both the state and national medical societies, and is quite well known among the older 
members of the fraternity, particularly in Illinois. He has reported interesting cases for medical 
journals, and has read no less than three essays on diphtheria, before medical organizations, one 
of them at a meeting of the state society. 

Doctor Vosburgh was chairman of the village board of trustees years ago, was supervisor two 
(ir three terms, and has been mayor one term. He takes deep interest in the cause of education, and 
was the leader in introducing the graded system of instruction. As a citizen he is stirring and 
public-spirited, being one of the foremost men in the cause of reform. He has been very active 
in the temperance movement, as a Good Templar and Son of Temperance, etc., for thirty or forty 
years. He is a liberal supporter of the Presbyterian church, and a man of generous impulses. 

He was originally a Douglas democrat, and still affiliates with the party once led by that great 
statesman. The doctor is a Royal Arch Mason, and has held the several offices in the subordi- 
nate lodge and encampment of Odd-Fellows. 

He was first married June 21, 1853, to Miss Mary M. Hubbell, of Paw Paw, this state, she 
dying November 2, 1854, and the second time October 14, 1855, to Miss Phebe B. Breese, also of 
Paw Paw, he having by her three children, two daughters and one son. Mary E. is the wife of 
George H. Haight, lawyer, of Ottawa; Clara A. is the wife of Garnett A. Cope, a partner of Doc- 
tor Vosburgh, in the drug business, Earlville, and Charles Breese, who is engaged in farming, 
near Earlville. 

Doctor Vosburgh is a member of the Crawford County (Pennsylvania) Association, which meets 
every year, September 10, at Sandwich, De Kalb county, and of which he is and has long been the 
president. 

HON. FRANCIS M. GREATHOUSE. 

HARDIN. 

F'RANCIS MARION GREATHOUSE, the leading lawyer in Calhoun county, and a member 
of the thirty-third general assembly, is a native of this state, and was born in Pike county, 
March 26, 1837. His parents, Bonaparte and Nancy (Williams) Greathouse, were natives of Ken- 
tucky. They were members of the farming community. The father died in 1850, the mother in 
1872, both in Pike county. Francis studied law with Hon. William R. Archer, of Pittsfield, and 
Major Knapp, of Winchester, and was admitted to the bar in 1857, before he was of age. He 
practiced at Pittsfield until 1870, and then moved to Hardin, the seat of justice of Calhoun county. 
A gentleman who knows him well, being a resident of the same senatorial district, states that Mr. 
Greathouse is at the head of the bar in his county, being an excellent counselor and a first-class 
court and jury lawyer. His practice is large and remunerative, and largely criminal. He is retained 
on the defense in nearly all the criminal cases in the southern part of his senatorial district. 

Mr. Greathouse has been almost constantly in office since settling in Hardin. He was master 
in chancery for Calhoun county two years, state's attorney four years, and county judge four 
years, offices which he filled with great satisfaction to the public. In 1882 he was elected to the 
legislature from the 36th senatorial district, which is composed of Pike, Brown and Calhoun 



524 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAI DICTIONARY. 

counties. He is on the committee on militia, fees and salaries, and public charters. His seat is 
on the democratic side of the house. He was a republican until 1S66, changing during the admin- 
istration of President Johnson. 

Mr. Greathouse is a Master Mason, past grand in the subordinate lodge of Odd-Fellowship, a 
member of the Disciple or Christian church, and a man of high standing, morally as well as legally. 

He was married March 11, 1858, to Miss Isabel Morris, of Pike county, and they have buried 
two children and have four living. 

The subject of this sketch has a dark comple.vion and black eyes, and is very compactly built, 
being five feet and eleven inches tall, and weighing two hundred and fifty-five pounds. He has a 
pleasant address, and a cheerful disposition, and his fine presence would be likely to arrest the 
attention of a stranger, whether seen alone or in a crowd. He has considerable magnetism, and 
on the stump always draws a crowd. With nothing about him of the " lean Cassius," he is as jovial 
in speech as he is solid in flesh, and invariably keeps his audience in the best of humors. 



THE HOGE FAMILY. 

MORRIS. 

THE Hoge family in this country are a numerous, wealthy and respectable people. A genea- 
logical tree of the family, prepared by Miss Lucina Hoge, a member of it in Ohio, represent- 
ing nine generations, contains 3013 names. The family name is variously spelled Hog, Hogg, 
Hoag, Hoge, and Hogue. Its first representative in this country was William Hog, who came 
from Scotland during the sixteenth century, and settled in Pennsylvania. He married Barbara 
Hume, a relative of the historian Hume. His son, William, was the first Quaker in the family, 
and removed from Pennsylvania to Virginia in 1754. He had a family of seven children: Solo- 
mon, James, William, Joseph, George, Zebulon and Nancy. The descendants of Nancy alone 
now number over one thousand persons. .Solomon, with whom the genealogical tree referred to 
begins, was born May 2, 1729, at High Bucks county, Pennsylvania, and died March 7, 1811, in 
London county, Virginia. He was married twice, and was the father of eighteen children. Ann 
Rollins, his first wife, bore him eleven, and his second wife, Mary Nichols, seven. The children 
of the first wife were Sarah, Joseph, David (died in infancy), Solomon. David (the second), Ann, 
Isaac, Mary, Hannah, Jane and Rebecca. The children of the second wife were Lydia, William, 
Joshua, George, Margery, Jesse and Amy. Joshua, his third child, was born in London county, 
Virginia, February 8, 1779, and died April 25. 1854. He was a farmer, and the owner of a large 
property, about fifty miles from Washington. His wife was Mary Poole, by whom he had ten 
children: William, Rebecca, Samuel, Amy, .Solomon, Mary, Isaac Stanley Singleton, Lucinda, 
Ann and Amanda. 

The Hoges, from the time of William the Second, were all wealthy Quakers, and as such took 
no active part in the revolutionary war, or the war of 1812. In the latter war, however, a tax of 
$80 was levied on the head of every Quaker family whenever a call for troops was made, which 
stood as an equivalent for service in the army. Although he lived and died in the Quaker faith, 
Joshua married "out of meeting," and was expelled in consequence. This incident, followed by 
the perusal of the works of Thomas Paine, resulted in his whole family becoming deists. 

After his family grew up and left home, Joshua purchased some slaves to carry on his large 
estate of 400 acres, to the great horror of his Quaker relatives and friends. After his death in 
1854, they fell to the heirs, who still remained in Virginia, who permitted them to do as they 
pleased, and practically gave them their freedom, but they were not legally emancipated until 
the proclamation of President Lincoln. His widow survived him till September 4, 1871. Although 
never active in politics, owing, somewhat, doubtless, to their early training, yet the Hoges are all 
republican in principle, and during the war of the rebellion were stanch Union men. 

The family of Joshua, with whom we have particularly to do, came into Illinois at an early day, 




a^i-'i.^^-^i c ^ 



UNITED STATES RIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. ^2 "J 

and have all become very wealthy land owners and stock raisers. Their families, old and young, 
now number 134 persons. They own a total of 24,000 acres of the choicest land in the state, and 
raise annually vast herds of cattle, horses, sheep and swine. This family and the Holdermans 
intermarried, and together have owned a not inconsiderable share of Grundy county, besides 
large tracts in the adjoining counties. 

In person the Hoges are large and powerful men, both intellectually and physically. Their 
educational advantages were extremely limited in youth, and their acquirements at school gener- 
ally ended with a slight acquaintance with reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic. Neverthe- 
less, they have become men of broad, general and varied intellectual acquirements. As practical 
farmers and business men they have few superiors, and have achieved a reputation for probity 
and square dealing. In manners, they are true types of the genial, hospitable, kindly Virginia 
gentleman of the old school, and manage to make their visitors extremely comfortable. 

■f T HLLIAM HOGE, the eldest son of Joshua, was born in Loudon county, Virginia, July 5^ 
VV 1801. His youth was spent on his father's farm, and his school days in a little log school 
house where the three R's covered the curriculum, viz., "reading, riting and rithmetic." 

In November, 1826, when twenty-six years old, he married Rachel Bowles, and in 1829 came 
west in company with his father, into Illinois, on a prospecting tour. He came on horseback via 
Indianapolis and Covington, Indiana, to the country where now stands Joliet. 

He brought with him about $2,000, belonging to his father, to invest in canal lands, which 
were then surveyed and in market. After making a general survey of the country, he decided to 
locate on the great thoroughfare between Chicago and Saint Louis, and selected a section and a 
half of choice level land lying along Nettle Creek, which, rising a few miles to the northeast of 
Ottawa, empties into the Illinois River at Morris. His location gave him timber, water and 
prairie, and cheap transportation by way of the canal and river to Chicago and Saint Louis. His 
commission on this purchase for his father was his choice of a quarter section of the land he 
bought. This he selected and returned to Virginia. Two years later he was prepared to move 
his family, and in the latter part of October, 1831, reached his new home. A great Pennsylvania 
wagon, drawn by four horses, carried his household stuff, while his wife and three children, accom- 
panied by a young woman, his wife's cousin, rode in a two-horse covered buggy. His brother, 
Solomon, came with him to help him get settled, and together they made the long, tedious jour- 
ney. Through Ohio they got along very well, but when they struck the state of Indiana the bot- 
tom seemed to have fallen out, and they were left to flounder in bottomless quagmires the whole 
breadth of the state. Gurdon S. Hubbard had given him the landmarks on the route from Cov- 
ington when he came out in 1829, and following the Indian trail and Hubbard's directions he 
came through at last without serious mishap. The journey consumed seven weeks, and the 
weather began to be cold before they could put up a shelter. A huge log, fronting the south and 
east, against which they leaned a row of short poles, and covered them with bark and thatched 
with hay, served as kitchen and dining-room till a cabin could be erected. The big wagon, 
divided into two compartments, did excellent service as sleeping quarters. The cabin, built 
hastily out on the prairie, was more exposed, and proved at first not half as comfortable as the 
camp in the woods, and the women and children thought seriously of retreating to their sunny 
shelter behind the huge log, but a little mud soon stopped the cracks and shut out the wind, and 
they passed a comfortable winter. 

The following spring they put another half story on the cabin, hewed the logs inside and out, 
fixed it up and improved it in various ways, and lived in it happily for many years. This cabin, 
the second one built in Grundy county, still stands a silent witness to their early labors, their joys 
and sorrows, their disasters and successes. In May, 1832, the Sac war occurred, and Mr. Hoge, 
with the rest of the white settlers, fled to Ottawa. He started before day for Ottawa, twenty 
miles away, to get a plowshare sharpened, but, learning of the outbreak before he reached the 
place, he returned in hot haste to save his family. 
52 



528 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPIJICAL DTCTIONAKY. 

Solomon had gone to Holderman's Grove to help them plant corn, and had there received 
warning with the rest, through Peppers, the young Pottawattamie Indian, and reached home 
before William. Rachel and the young woman were singing gaily, happy as larks, when Solomon 
suddenly burst among them with the command to bundle up the children without delay and start 
for Ottawa. After a few words of hurried explanation they all sprang on the horses, and carrying 
the children before and behind, lost no time in getting out of danger. Subsequent events, how- 
ever, proved that the family were really in no danger. They and all they possessed were singled 
out to be spared from the general massacre ordered by Black Hawk. The reason of this discrim- 
ination affords a fine illustration of the Indian character. Some time previously a company of 
five Pottawattamies came to Hoge's cabin, and by signs and urgent manifestations of distress 
informed them that a companion was in trouble about five miles away in the woods, and besought 
the white men to aid him. With some trepidation, for they were as yet ignorant of the Indian 
character, they followed them down Nettle Creek to the neighborhood where Morris now stands, 
and found an Indian writhing upon the ground in great pain. He had fallen from a tree while 
coon hunting, and had broken his arm above the elbow and dislocated his shoulder. The Indians 
had splinted up the fracture nicely, but could not set the joint, a most difficult thing to do at 
any time. When in \^irginia, William at one time had occasion to assist in such an operation, and 
the surgeon had taken pains to instruct him how it was to be done. A large ball of yarn or other 
hard substance was to be pressed with much strength into the arm-pit while the arm was lifted 
away from the body. The arm brought back again as a lever over the fulcrum of the ball, the 
joint would slip into its place with a snap. 

William had no ball, but putting his arms around the Indian from behind he put his left fist 
into the pit of the arm, and clasping it with his other hand, he furnished the proper fulcrum, 
while Solomon, using the broken arm for a lever, pried it with much skill and care into its place. 
When the crack came and the job was done the overjoyed red men raised a shout, and executed 
a bear dance around the whites, hugging them and shaking hands in turn, and when the whites 
left them to return, the Indians insisted on loading them with such presents as they had at hand. 
The influence of this skillful act of kindness saved their lives, as the Indians had been camped 
several da3's in the timber on Nettle Creek, only about two and a half miles from Hoge's place, 
and had them completely in their power, but, as a Pottawattamie informed him afterward, they 
had received orders from Wauponsa to spare them on that account. The Quaker family had 
moreover, true to their principles, observed the strictest regard for honesty and fair dealing in all 
their intercourse with the Indians, and were much esteemed by them on that account. And we 
desire to place it upon record, though it has often been stated to the contrary, what all the old 
settlers of this region concur in testifying, that the Pottawattamies and not the Sacs were guilty 
of the massacres which took place in this part of the country. The young braves of Wauponsa's 
band had been frequently made drunk by the white man's fire water, and then plundered, cheated 
and kicked out by them, and they could not be restrained from seizing the opportunity few ven- 
geance. It is stated that not a house w;as burned by the Indians where some of them had not 
been thus maltreated. 

The Hoges did not, however, know of their security, but fled to Ottawa with the rest, and 
assisted in building the rude log fort for protection. They afterward also went tu Pekin, and 
remained late in August before venturing to return. 

When the storm was over, however, they were left to develop their farms in peace. Mr. Hoge 
began in a small way to raise cattle, buying cows and raising the increase, and w-as soon able to 
purchase more land. This he did as fast as his means allowed, mosth" government lands at Si. 25 
per acre, and canal lands at from $7 to $12. Corn was his principal crop, and beef cattle his 
principal stock, and between them both he grew rich. 

Nine children, four girls and five boys, grew up around him, and soon became a great help. 
As the country settled up they married and settled around him. until all have left the homestead 
but one, Albert E. Hoge, who, at the age of forty, is still unmarried, and takes charge of the large 



UNITF.n STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 529 

estate and its interests. In 1843 Mr. Hoge buried his wife, and during the rebellion lost one son, 
Ilindley, who was killed in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee. His estate now covers thirty-two 
hundred acres of land. It is mostly in one body around the old homestead, and is composed of 
tracts of fine timber, prairie, pasture and meadow, and is watered by several artesian wells and 
Nettle Creek. His house and farm buildings stand in a fine grove near the original spot on which 
his cabin was erected. Very near the center of the estate is as lovely a sylvan paradise as Grundy 
county can boast. About two hundred and fifty head of neat cattle, with horses, sheep and hogs, 
constitute the supply of stock always on hand. 

The early disadvantages under which Mr. Hoge labored in matters of school education did 
not prevent him from becoming a fast friend of schools, and he erected at his own expense, in 
1835, the first school house in Grundy county. It is a log cabin 12 x 14 feet, with clapboard roof, 
and still stands where it was first put, only a few rods from his house, just in the edge of the tim- 
ber. Large trees two feet in diameter at the butt have grown up around it, where only a hazel 
brush thicket grew when it was built. Marie Southworth, now an old lady, and a widow, Mrs. 
Marie Whitney, were its first school ma'ams. 

As before stated, Mr. Hoge is a stanch republican in politics, but takes no active part. He 
has held nearly all the usual town offices, but has always had an ambition for the quiet and peace 
of his family and home, and prefers to leave to others the turmoil and thankless labor of political 
life. In religious sentiment he has become a deist, and believes that he can serve God no better 
than to serve his fellow-man. Many efforts have been made to convert him, but all have so far 
failed. At the age of eighty-one he is in the full enjoyment of all his faculties; is in sound health, 
and though a little stiff from rheumatism is remarkably active. Unlike many old persons he has 
not become soured and misanthropic, but is genial, pleasant, mild-mannered, hospitable, warm- 
hearted and companionable. His house, once so full of young company, is not so merry now, 
but his latch siring always hangs out, and a visitor or stranger is warmly welcomed. There are 
times, however, when his eight living children, thirty-six grandchildren and three great-grand- 
children fill ever}' nook and cranny of the old homestead with laughter, and all is merry as 
of yore. 

SAMUEL HOGE, the second son of Joshua Hoge, was born in Fauquier county, Virginia, 
October 28, 1805, His early youth was spent in his native place, where he worked on his 
father's farm till he attained his majority. When twenty-one, his father gave him $1,000 in cash, 
and in company with Handley Grigg, his sister Amy's husband, he went to Belmont county, 
Ohio, and started a store. After five years spent in trade, he sold out to his brother-in-law, and 
came west into Grundy county, Illinois, where his brother, William, had already become estab- 
lished. This was in the fall of 1834. He brought with him about $2,000 in money, and at once 
invested it in government land. His first purchase was of a quarter-section in the Illinois River 
valley, about three miles west of Morris, where he erected a log cabin, and soon after entered a 
full section at the head of the timber on Nettle Creek, west of his brother William. For five 
years he made his home in William's family, but. May 23, 1839, married Matilda, the daughter 
of Abram Holderman, Sr., and set up housekeeping in his log cabin, near Morris. There he 
remained a year, during which he put up another house on Nettle Creek, to which he removed 
the following April, 1840. Both houses are still standing. The last-named was built principally 
of oak, and sided with black walnut siding, which, although moss-grown, is as sound as the day 
it was put on. The location was a good one, in the timber near its western boundary, on a rise 
of ground not far from the banks of the creek, and a splendid spring of living water near by. 
The farming land stretched away to the west and south, inviting the hand of its owner to gather 
the boundless wealth which lay locked in its fertile bosom. Cattle and corn were then, and still 
remain, the staple products, but moderate droves of horses, sheep and swine received some atten- 
tion. 

Mr. Hoge was of robust health, strong and rugged: a man of good judgment, perseverance 



530 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



and tact; unexceptionable in his liabits, and in his life pure. In his wife he had, in ever}- respect, 
a worthy companion. On the one side Scotch and English, on the other German and Irish, blood 
were mingled in their partnership of marriage, and prosperity flowed in upon them as the natu- 
ral reward of the industry and virtue which was the daily habit of their lives. Fifteen children 
came to them as the fruit of their union, nine of whom are still living, and si.x married and set- 
tled, mostly on farms in the vicinity. 

Mr. Hoge never sold a foot of land, but continued to add to his estate from time to time, till, 
at his death, he owned nearly 6,000 acres. His wife brought to him. at the death of her father, 
560 acres, and by inheritance from her brother, Dyson, 275 more. In addition to this, she has 
bought a fractional section of land in Champaign county, of 508 acres, making a total of 1,343 
acres owned by Mrs. Hoge. 

While he lived, Mr. Hoge never deeded any land to his children, but as they married or became 
of age, he gave them the use of all they could care for. At his death, however, each became the 
owner of a section, and all have put up fine residences and farm buildings. In 1841 Mr. Hoge 
began to set out fruit-trees, and continued to do so from time to time, till he had one of the 
largest and most fruitful orchards in the county. In i860 he erected a large and fine new resi- 
dence near the old, and finished it throughout, in keeping with his wealth. For about three years 
before his death he had been in failing health, which gradually declined without any apparent 
cause, till March 13, 1881, when he died. His physicians thought a tumor or cancer of the stom- 
ach caused his death, but nothing is certainly known. He was buried on his own land in a 
private cemetery, where also nearly all of the deceased relatives on both sides, who have died in 
Illinois, lie interred. His wife, now sixty-two years of age, is almost as active as in the very 
height of her labors, and the strength of her youth. She attends to her business matters, looks 
after her stock, keeps track of her hired men and tenants, with the judgment and skill of a man of 
business. 

Her youngest daughter, Lina M., is a talented and well educated young woman, of twenty- 
four. She is now completing a very thorough musical education, at Leavenworth, Kansas. Her 
youngest son, Landy, nearly nineteen, is also attending school at the same place. Charles, the 
only other remaining member of the family unmarried, is not yet twenty-one, and lives with his 
mother on the old homestead. The larger part of his inheritance fell to him at Holderman's 
Grove, which he rents; but himself farms 80 acres belonging to him, in the neighborhood of the 
old home. Hendley, the eldest son, is now forty-two years old. He married Miss Virginia Silcott, 
and has two children. Charlotte married William Reardan, and is the mother of four children. 
Jane is the wife of John Cunnea, of the firm of Janus Cunnea and Sons, bankers, in Morris, and 
has three children. Joshua is thirty-two. He married Laura Ouigley, and has one child. Isaac 
is a twin brother of Joshua. He married Mary Peacock, and they have four children. George is 
twenty-eight years old. He married Ella Quigley, the sister of Laura, his brother's wife, and has 
two children. One son, Abraham, died at Holly Springs, Mississippi, during the second year of 
the war of the rebellion. He never married. 

It is unnecessary to add, that without exception, these families are among the wealthiest and 
most respectable in Grundy county. They are all stanch republicans and public-spirited men. 
but are in no sense politicians. They can generally be depended upon to vote right, but are too 
busy to bother with office. 

SOLOMON HOGE is the third son and fifth child of Joshua Hoge. He was born in Fauquier 
county, Virginia, September 18, 1809. When his brother William moved west, in 1831, he came 
with him, and remained till the following spring, till after the Blackhawk war, when he returned 
to Virginia. After his brothers had all married and established themselves in homes of their 
own, he remained to care for his aged parents, and two maiden sisters. After the death of his 
father, in 1854, the entire management and control of his father's estate devolved upon him. His 




iyourT^vx^^)^ ^/b^zfje,^ 



UN r TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 533 

attachment to his widowed mother and sisters prevented him from marrying- until after the death 
of the former, September 4, 1871, when he came west and tool< possession of the estate left him 
by his father in Grundy county. He at once built a substantial residence, and returning to Vir- 
ginia, married Miss Sally Bashaw, March 17, 1872. This lady descended from an old Huguenot 
family of that name, who fled from France at the time of the massacre, and were people of con- 
siderable consequence in their own land. Her maternal grandmother was a relative of the histo- 
rian Hume. One son, Herman, now a promising boy of seven years, his father's hope and idol, 
is the fruit of their union. 

Immediately after his marriage Mr. Hoge brought his wife to their new home, where they 
have resided ever since. With characteristic thrift, Mr. Hoge has greatly improved his property, 
and added largely to it. He now owns about 720 acres of as fine land as the sun shines upon,- 
and, like his brothers, is largely engaged in cattle raising. His wife's brother, R. N. Bashaw, 
assists him in the management of the estate, and his sisters, Kate and Lizzie, enliven their home 
by their pleasant merry ways, and lighten the cares of the household. 

With a deeply religious organization, Mr. Hoge, at the age of seventy-three, is still, and all 
his life has been, a pure deist. The causes which have prevented him from advancing beyond 
that stage of belief have already been adverted to, and need not be repeated, but we may add 
that his practical life has thus far been such as to throw no dishonor upon the profession of the 
most devout Christian. 

Although he received but a very limited education in youth, yet his life has been one continual 
school, and he is looked up to by many men of a far more liberal education, and for general infor- 
mation on all subjects has few superiors among ordinary men. 

In politics he was an abolitionist, an old line whig, and then a republican. His first vote -was 
cast for Henry Clay. During the rebellion, although within the rebel lines, he was a noted and 
stanch Unionist. Although robbed and spoiled alternately by both contending forces, and his 
life always in danger, yet his courage never failed, nor did his devotion to the Union cause for a 
moment flag. Again and again he was compelled to leave home and hide for a time, to save his 
life. A rebel victory was always followed by threats from his rebel neighbors, and often by eftorts 
to entrap him. On one occasion the little daughter of a rebel neighbor, overhearing her father 
and others making arrangements to capture him and send him to Libby prison, slipped out un- 
observed, and ran over to his house, and after giving him warning, returned without being sus- 
pected. He wisely heeded it, and escaped, for the attempt was made the foUo-vving night, but he 
was out of harm's way. Moseby, the rebel guerrilla chief, often called on him, and oftenersent to 
get northern papers, but beyond laying him under contributions for forage or transportation, or 
an occasional mule or horse, did him no harm. Union officers were furnished with lists of stanch 
Union men within the rebel lines, and the name of Solomon Hoge was as. familiar to the authori- 
ties as that of Lincoln or Grant. In a few instances he was captured by Union soldiers and 
brought into camp only to be politely returned with an apology by the officer in command. His 
constant familiarity with danger, and his conscious integrity made him as bold as a lion, and he 
did not know what fear was. He was at one time returning from Harper's Ferry on horseback, 
whither he had gone to get supplies for the household, when he observed a horseman some dis- 
tance ahead, apparently waiting for him. They rode along some distance together, the soldier, 
who was heavily armed, but in citizen's clothes, asking him many questions about the war, and 
tile news first from one side and then the other; finally he asked him directly whether he was 
a rebel or a Unionist. Mr. Hoge, looking him boldly in the eye declared his fidelity to the Union. 
Upon this the soldier demanded his horse with an oath. But although entirely unarmed Mr. 
Hoge most positively refused, whereupon his companion seized his horse by the bridle, drew his 
pistol and ordered him to dismount or he would instantly shoot him. Keeping his eye calmly 
upon the ruffian he declared he would not do it under any compulsion whatever, and proceeding 
to back his horse he drew the fellow to the ground. Upon this he himself dismounted, and the 
soldier turned the muzzle of his pistol to the ground, exclaimed, " I too, am a Union soldier, and 



534 UNITED STATES RrOGRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. 

would not shoot you for a thousand worlds. I believe you are the bravest man on earth. What 
is your name?" It was a Michigan soldier. 

Mr. Hoge is not, and constitutionally cannot be a politician. He is of the same type of 
humanity as John G. Whittier. Calm, gentle, philosophic, poetic, a student, a humanitarian, a non- 
combatant, it is as absurd to look for him in the stormy sea of politics as to expect to find a tur- 
tle dove among carrion crows. 



JOHN R. KINNEAR. 

PAX TON. 

JOHN R. KINNEAR stands among the leading lawyers of eastern Illinois. His firm purpose 
from the beginning of his professional career has been to honor his profession, and his success 
in this regard is best attested by the high esteem in which he is held by the community in which 
he resides. A native of West Point, Indiana, he was born August 26, 1843. His parents, Charles 
and Ellen (Ritchey) Kinnear, were engaged in farming for a time at Kingston, Ohio, but in 1850 
removed to Walnut Grove, Woodford county, Illinois. Here our subject led the life of a farmer 
boy, and received a good academic education at the Washington high school and Eureka College. 
He afterward pursued the regular course of study at Knox College, Galesburgh, for three and a 
half years, from the spring of 1859 until August, 1862, and was a member of the Gnothanii 
Society. 

In August, 1862, he entered the Union army as a member of company A, 86th regiment Illi- 
nois infantry, and carried a musket for three years, during which time he participated in several 
severe conflicts, and distinguished himself as a good and brave soldier. He was engaged in the 
battles of Perryville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Buzzard Point, Resaca, Rome, Kenesaw 
Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesborough, Savannah, Averysborough and Burtonville, besides 
numerous smaller engagements; also in the advance on Atlanta and Sherman's march to the sea, 
and was at the surrender of Johnson's army to Sherman at Raleigh, North Carolina, in April, 
1865, and at the grand review of all the armies at Washington. There are few men who have 
lived under more fire than he. The most severe battle in which Mr. Kinnear's regiment was 
engaged was the battle of Kenesaw Mountain. Here the company went into the fight with some 
sixty men, and came out with but fifteen, the rest being killed, wounded and taken prisoners, and 
company A was afterward known as the little company. Our subject was on constant dutv, and 
escaped with few scratches. 

While in the army Mr. Kinnear kept a diar}' preserving facts and interesting points not only 
in his company but regiment and brigade. This was merely for his own personal satisfaction, 
but at the close of the war the fact became known to Colonel Fahnerstock and other officers of 
the regiment of Peoria, Illinois, and Mr. Kinnear was prevailed upon to write and publish a his- 
tory of his regiment. He published a very successful little work of one hundred and forty pages, 
which was fully appreciated by the veterans of his brigade in Illinois, Ohio and Indiana, as it was 
not only a history of the regiment, l)ut of the brigade, consisting of the 85th, 125th and iioth 
Illinois, 52d Ohio and 22d Indiana. 

In July, 1865, Mr. Kinnear began the study of law with Judge Chitty, now of Champaign. 
After reading and studying under his direction for two years he attended the Union College of 
Law of Chicago, and was admitted to the bar of Illinois in the spring of 1868, when he removed 
to Paxton, where he has since devoted his entire attention to his practice. 

In June, 1880, he formed a partnership with John H. Moffett, who studied under his instruc- 
tion, and was admitted to the bar in 1880. He is a native of Paxton, and a young man of remark- 
able ability, quick in perception, shrewd and energetic, and of undoubtedly brilliant prospects. 
The}^ are known as the law firm of Kinnear and Moffett. The firm c-ontrols a very large client- 
age, dealing more or less in real estate. Mr. Kinnear has been city prosecutor for three years, 



i'NITF.D STATF.S fi/OGKAPH/CAL DrCTIQNARY. 53:; 

master in chancery four years, and has been attorney for the First National Bank of Ford county 
for twelve years. 

He is a republican in politics, and has taken quite an active part in the different campaigns 
and local elections, and was appointed by the state central committee to fill appointments in a 
portion of eastern Illinois in the canvass for General Garfield in 1880. He is a member of no 
ciiurch, but is liberal in his views and a generous supporter of all good and religious enterprises. 
He is a public-spirited man, and one who, when called upon to advance any public interests of 
his community, responds liberally. 

Mr. Kinnear married, June 2, 1868, Miss Rebecca Means, of Bloomington. There are lives that 
are more sensational in their career, but none confer a greater benefit on society, and are more 
iionored in Ford county than the subject of this sketch. 



JAMES LEE REAT. M.D. 

TUSCOLA. 

AMONG the most pr(uninent physicians and surgeons of Illinois is he whose name heads this 
sketch, who has been long and honorably connected with the history of Douglas county. 
His ancestry is traced back to Scotland, where the name was pronounced in two syllables, with the 
accent on the last. Two brothers emigrated to America during the time of the struggle on the 
part of the colonies for their independence; one of whom espoused the cause of the rebels, the 
term by which the patriot colonies were then known, and served through the war with Washing- 
ton's forces. The other sided with the tories. In consequence of this the two brothers became 
alienated, ail correspondence was cut off t)etween them, and a total separation occurred between 
the two branches of the family. 

Doctor Reat is descended from the one who cast his fortunes witli those of the patriots, and 
who after the war settled in Fredericktown, Maryland, and at this place James Reat, the father of 
our subject, was born, and at a later day he found his way to Ohio, where he married Susannah 
Rogers, a Virginian by birth, and settled with his wife in Fairfield county, Ohio, which was the 
birth-place of James Lee Reat, January 26, 1834. When our subject was but five years of age 
his parents removed to Coles county, Illinois, where his father purchased a farm on which he 
lived for a number of years. He then moved to the city of Charleston, where he resided at the 
time of his death in 1868. 

Doctor Reat's early education was such as could be derived from the advantages offered in a 
log school house, but later he attended the seminary in the town of Charleston, which was a 
distance of fhree and a half miles from his father's farm, which distance he generally walked. 
Here the educational advantages were equal to any in the West, being under the supervision 
of some of our most eminent professors, and Mr. Reat soon acquired a great fondness for 
study, and before leaving the institution he obtained a good collegiate education, subsequently 
taking up the study of languages, familiarizing himself with Latin and German, at the same time 
teaching school a number of terms. His natural tastes and talent were those of his chosen profes- 
sion, which he began to cultivate soon after leaving school, by taking a regular course of studies 
at the Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, where he graduated in 1858. He also attended the 
Rush Medical College, Chicago, and graduated from the same. 

The doctor, in order to complete his education and familiarize himself with drugs, engaged for 
a time in the drug business at Charleston, Illinois, but afterward sold out his interests and traveled 
through the principal states west of the Mississippi River, seeking a favorable location for the prac- 
tice of his profession, and in 1S59, on his way home, he stopped in Tuscola, Illinois, and in August 
of the same year took up his residence, where we still find him. Tuscola was then but a small 
village, just springing into .existence. The doctor soon established a practice which has grown as 
rapidly as the now county seat of Douglas county. 



536 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

In the fall of 1862 Doctor Reat received an appointment as assistant surgeon, and was assigned 
to a post at Louisville, where he remained for some time in charge of a hospital. March 2, he 
was commissioned first assistant surgeon of the 21st regiment Illinois infantr\- (Grant's old regi- 
ment); July 22, 1864, he was promoted to surgeon of the same regiment. Returning to Spring- 
field early in 1866, he was mustered out the last of January. 

As an army surgeon Doctor Reat displayed the most admirable qualities, performing con- 
stantly difficult surgical operations, and giving what encouragement his kind, religious nature 
prompted, to the suffering and dying, and the experience which he had, in connection with his 
thorough education, fully qualifies him to hold the rank where we place him in the opening of 
this sketch. After the war he returned immediately to Tuscola, and resumed his practice, which 
is now verj- extensive, he having a large consulting practice throughout the surrounding country. 
He also holds the office of United States examining surgeon. 

In 1 861 the doctor married in Jacksonville Miss Sallie C. Callaway, a lady of fine literary 
attainments, and possessing great Christian virtues, and to whose encouragement, and kind, 
devoted nature he owes a great portion of his success. She is a native of Kentuck}', and a 
graduate of Berean College. Her father was the well known late Rev. S. T. Callaway, a Baptist 
clergyman. They have been blessed with four children, three of whom are living. The eldest, 
a daughter, is now at Evanston College, making painting her specialty', for which she has a 
natural talent. 

Doctor Reat is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, with which denomination his 
wife also united after her marriage, in order that they might tread the same path together. Both 
have also taken an active part in the temperance movement, in which they are strong advocates. 
The doctor has always manifested public spirit, and has contributed materially to his immediate 
vicinity and county. For three years he was clerk of the board of education of Tuscola, ana 
while in that position he took a deep interest in the erection of a public-school building, which is 
surpassed by few in the state, and he is a man who is widely esteemed for his intrinsic worth and 
social qualities. 

JUSTUS STEVENS. 

PRINCE TON. 

ONE of the best representatives of the agricultural and stock-raising class in central Illinois 
is the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, and who settled in Princeton more than 
forty years ago. He was born and reared in the Granite State, where boys are early taught to 
work; where habits of industry are apt to abide, and where the soiling of the hands is one of the 
least sins a lad can commit. 

Justus Stevens was born in the town of Boscawen, now Webster, adjoining Concord on the 
north, January 8, 1819, just four years after General Jackson won his victory at New Orleans, 
behind cotton-bags. He is a son of John Stevens, a native of Canterbury, same state, and Submit 
(Newcomb) Stevens, who was born in Greenwich, Massachusetts. The grandfather of Justus was 
Simon Stevens, who lost a brother in Canada in the French and Indian war. The subject of 
these biographical notes was educated at the Franklin Academy, near Boscawen, and Patridge's 
Military School, at Norwich, Vermont. His father was a merchant and general business man, 
and in due season the son turned his attention in the same direction, remaining in his native 
state until past his majority. In September, 1842, before Horace Greeley had hinted to young 
men to go west, Mr. Stevens stuck down his stakes in Princeton, then a very small village, and 
there he is to-day, in a prairie town of 5,000 well-to-do people, himself second to none of them 
in thriftiness. He came here with toil-hardened hands, and has never been ashamed to keep 
them so, though of late years he has been more economical of his energies than formerly. For 
nearly twenty years he was a merchant and general business man in Princeton, buying grain, 
packing pork, and shipping all kinds of farm products to Chicago and Saint Louis, at first by way 





ClL^<L €^ LJZ^^^-x^i^^^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 539 

of the Illinois River, and later by rail. He had at one period between two and three thousand 
customers in four different counties, and was one of the best known men and one of the most 
honorable traders in Bureau county. 

Mr. Stevens entered a large tract of land in this county at an early day, and when the civil 
war began he closed out his mercantile business, and turned his whole attention to farming. He 
has 4,000 acres in one general farm, twelve miles northwest of Princeton, and under fine improve- 
iTient, and now managed by his only son, Justus M. Stevens, a thoroughgoing, efficient business 
man. The old gentleman has spent no less than $30,000 in improvements on this farm, which is 
now devoted largely to stock raising. Six hundred acres are planted with corn annually. He 
has about (me thousand head of cattle, the same of hogs, and usually a hundred horses. He is 
one of the most successful farmers and stock-raisers in the state, and his great industry and 
shrewd management have been amply rewarded. When he built his present brick mansion in 
Princeton, thirty-three or thirty-four years ago, it was one of the best dwelling houses in the 
state, and one of the very first in which a furnace was introduced, such comforts being rare in 
this prairie state in 1850. 

Mr. Stevens has held a few local offices, such as he could not well avoid accepting, and has 
been thoroughly identified with local interests, such as the Princeton public schools, high school, 
the building of a first-class hotel, etc. He was one of the first men in the county to move in 
organizing the Chicago and Rock Island Railroad Company, of which he was a director for some 
years. He also had a contract on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy road, and has shown him- 
self at all times a wide-awake, enterprising, broad-minded citizen, — one with whose services the 
county could ill dispense. 

In June, 1842, our subject was married to Miss Lurena McConihe, of Merrimac, New Hamp- 
shire, and besides the son already mentioned, they have four daughters: Mandana, married to 
James W. Templeton, postmaster at Princeton, and Fannie Harper, Darlene and Blanche N., who 
are at home. 

HON. WILLIAM B. ANDERSON. 

MOUNT VERNON. 
ILLIAM B. ANDERSON was born April 2, 1830, at Mount Vernon, Illinois, where he has 



w 



since resided, and witnessed the growth of that place from a small hamlet of log cabins 
to the now beautiful city. His father was the late Hon. Stinson H. Anderson, who was of Scotch 
and Irish descent, and born in Tennessee. The maiden name of his mother was Candace Chick- 
ering. She was descended from a well known New York family. His father was a man who had 
an enviable reputation not only in his immediate vicinity, but throughout Illinois, where he set- 
tled as early as 1825. He served as captain of the dragoons in Florida for one year, having 
iieen appointed by President Jackson, his commission being signed by General Cass, who was 
then secretary of war. He subsequently served in the legislature during several terms of office. 
In 1838 he was elected lieutenant-governor of Illinois, under Governor Carlin, and was subse- 
quently appointed marshal of the state, which position he held for four years, Noah Johnson, of 
Mount Vernon, acting as his assistant or deputy marshal. He was a man of remarkable energy, 
and continued active and vigorous until 1857, when he died at Mount Vernon. 

The subject of our sketch remained at home on his father's farm until about twenty-one years 
of age. His early education was that of most farm boys, and obtained under difficulties. He 
attended Lebanon College for a time. 

In 1851 Mr. Anderson began the study of law under the instruction of Judge Walter B. Scates, 
now of Chicago, and in 1856 was admitted to the bar. While studying he worked in the survey- 
ing business, and was thus enabled to defray his e.xpenses. In 1S56 he was elected to the legis- 
lature, and was an active worker for Stephen A. Douglas for the United States senate, and took a 
very active part, although he was one of the younger members of that body. He was reelected 
53 



540 UN/TF.D STATES RIOGRAPHICAL OICTI0NAR\. 

to the next session. At the close of his second term of office his father died, and he then returned 
home, intending to remain only a short time, but, owing to various circumstances, he concluded 
to settle down on the farm and carry on the business, which he did, and since that time has 
devoted his principal attention to farming and stock-raising. 

Judge Anderson was married January i, 1858, to Miss Elvira Thorn, the daughter of the late 
William B. Thorn, of Mount Vernon. They have had four children, three boys and one girl. 

In the fall of 1862 Mr. Anderson enlisted as a private in the Union army, and on the organi- ' 
zation of the company was appointed lieutenant-colonel of his regiment. On the death of 
Colonel Yoler he was promoted to colonel. He served in the Army of the Cumberland, 14th 
army corps; was in Sherman's march from Chattanooga to the sea, and took an important part 
in many of the severe struggles, resigning his commission December 25, 1864, at which time the 
secretary of war (Stanton) presented him with his promotion to the rank of brigadier-general. 

After his return from the army he resumed his farming, and continued in private life until 
1868, when he was elected democratic elector of the eleventh district, and stumped the entire dis- 
trict, in joint discussion with General Ritchel, and in 1870 he made the race for the United States 
congress against Hon. John A. Logan in the state at large, but was defeated after a severe con- 
test, thereby reducing the general republican majority from 50,000 to 25,000. During the same 
year he was a member of the state constitutional convention, which framed and organized the 
present constitution. 

In 187 1 he was elected to the state senate to fill out an unexpired term of office. In 1874 he 
was elected to congress by the greenback party from the nineteenth district of Illinois, and was 
an active participant in the monetary discussions that came before the national assembly during 
that session. In 1876 Mr. Anderson was nominated by the greenback and independent members 
of the legislature as their independent candidate for United States senator, but missed the election 
by a very few votes, and Hon. David Davis was taken by the party and elected. Mr. Anderson 
then retired from public life until 1882, when he was elected judge of Jefferson county by the demo- 
cratic party, which position he still holds. 

As judge he brings to the bench a very wide range of legal scholarship, is clear and able in 
his decisions, has an eminently judicial mind, is honorable and just, has merited and won the 
esteem of the profession, and is a pattern of benevolence and a worthy citizen. 



DOCTOR WALTER A. STEVENS. 

CHICAGO. 

AMONG the leading dentists of Chicago is the gentleman whose name we have placed at the 
head of this sketch, and who has achieved a splendid reputation in his profession. This he 
has done not because of any genius in that direction, but because he acquired a thorough knowl- 
edge of his profession, to start with, and has been a close student for more than twenty years. 

Walter Augustus Stevens was born in the town of Richmond, Ontario county. New York, 
April 19, 1830, he being a son of Walter and Lucy (Osgood) Stevens. His grandfather, Jesse 
Stevens, a New Englander by birth, was a revolutionary pensioner, and lived to be nearly ninety 
years of age. Our subject received an academic education, at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, 
Lima, New York, including quite a full course in the sciences, and he taught a district school six 
months in Canadice, in his native county. He worked more or less on his father's farm until he 
had reached his majority, his father dying when this son was thirteen years old. During the period 
of youth, and subsequently, he devoted considerable time to the study of anatom)' and physiology, 
which studies have been of great use to him in his profession. 

In the summer of 1857 Mr. Stevens came to the West; visited Chicago in June of that year; 
made a trip through Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, and for four years was engaged in railroad- 
ing in the last-named state. Reared in the North, he had a very strong attachment to the Union, 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 54I 

and was early spotted by the confederates as a suitable man to leave the South. February 22, 
1861, some of them kindly waited upon him at eight o'clock in the morning, and notified him that 
he could have his choice, to leave forthwith or be hung at noon. As he had never seen any thing 
of the kind, he concluded to wait and witness the execution ! He waited till June; the hanging 
never came off, and he left in disgust. Taking up his residence in Chicago, he studied dental 
surgery for two years with Doctor Honsinger, and in 1863 opened an office by himself. Since 
that date Doctor Stevens has been a very busy man, giving his time assiduously to the study, as 
well as practice of his profession, of which he has made a grand success. It is no uncommon 
thing for him to have his appointments made out for every day except Sundays, for five or six 
weeks ahead. 

Doctor Stevens is a thirty-third degree Mason, and an active member of the supreme council of 
the northern Masonic jurisdiction of the ancient accepted Scottish Rite. He had charge of the 
Grand Consistory of the state, when it was disbanded in 1867. He is a member of the First Pres- 
byterian Church, and is a man of sterling character. 

September 22, 1862, Doctor Stevens was married to Miss Elanora Victoria Richards, of Lenox, 
Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and they have three children. 



HON. LEWIS D. ERWIN. 

RUSIII'IILE. 

LEWIS DE BOIS ERWIN, a resident of Schuyler county since 1839, and a prominent man in 
^ the county in railroad and other enterprises, hails from the Empire State, being born in 
Plattsburgh, Clinton county, July i, 1815. His father, Cornelius M. Erwin, and his grandfather. 
General David Erwin, were engaged in the iron business in northern New York, where the former 
was a pioneer settler. General Erwin was with General Washington at the battles of Trenton 
and Princeton, and was a general of the New York state militia. Cornelius Erwin was born in 
Rutland county, Vermont; married Miss Lucinda Furman, and they had a family of seven chil- 
dren, Lewis being the second son and fourth child. In 1831 the family moved to Birmingham, 
Ohio, where Mrs. Erwin died in 1833. Her husband died at Toledo, same state, in 1837. 

The subject of this sketch had very limited school privileges in his youth, but has been a 
learner all his life, and is a very well informed man on a variety of subjects. In Ohio he was with 
his father in a forge and blacksmith shop; was a clerk in a store at Toledo for four years; came 
to Schuyler county in May, 1839, and during the first year held a clerkship near Rushville for 
Rensselaer Wells. 

In 1843 Mr. Erwin purchased the first forty acres of a farm in Littleton township, eight miles 
north of town. He added to it not long afterward, and has been cultivating his farm, directly or 
indirectly, for forty years. He has 200 acres, all under excellent cultivation, except what is 
reserved for timber. Since 1850 he has resided in town. 

At an early day, while living on his land, Mr. Erwin held almost every conceivable office, and 
did a great variety of gratuitous work, such as viewer for public roads, chain carrier, surveyor, 
township trustee, school treasurer, etc. 

In November, 1843, he was married to Miss Elvira Wells, daughter of Charles Wells, of Little- 
ton township. 

Mr. Erwin was deputy sheriff in 1844-45; was elected by his democratic constituents to the 
state legislature over Judge Minchell, a very prominent man among the whigs, afterward a mem- 
ber of the constitutional convention, and at his death a judge of the circuit court; was again 
elected to the legislature in 1856, and was reelected in 1858 and i860, serving, in all, four terms and 
five sessions, including an extra one in 1861. In that last session, as we see by the records, he 
was placed by the republicans on the enlarged finance committee, and heartily cooperated with 
the friends of the government in raising money to ec[uip men and to aid in putting down the 



542 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY, 



rebellion. After the capture of Vicksburg and the battle of Murfreesboro, in 1863, money was 
voted for the relief of the wounded soldiers. Mr. Erwin was appointed a member of the com- 
mission for the disbursement of those funds, and he went to the South and faithfully performed 
his duties. Meanwhile, before being elected to the legislature the second time, he held the offices 
of sheriff and clerk of the circuit court. 

He was for years quite prominent in the Schuyler County Agricultural Society, at times pay- 
ing out, with other officers, considerable of his own money in order to keep its credit good. 

Mr. Erwin was one of the commissioners appointed to lay out what was known as the Peoria 
and Hannibal road, and which is now a part of the Buda and Rushville branch of the Chicago, 
Burlington and Ouincy road. He aided in getting the bill for its charter through the legislature, 
and in securing stock for the road; was a director for nine or ten years, then vice president, and 
finally, the last year before it passed into other hands, he was president of the company. 

Nobody who knows Lewis Erwin will question his energy, his enterprise, his public spirit or 
his executive ability. He has shown himself competent and eminently trustworthy in every posi- 
tion in which he has been placed by the people. He is not only self-educated, but in all respects 
a self-made man. 

He is an elder and trustee of the Presbyterian Church, and a man the purity of whose life is 
unquestioned. Mr. and Mrs. Erwin have ten children living, and have buried one son. 



THOMAS MUNROE, M.D. 

RUSHVILLE. 

THOMAS Munroe, physician and surgeon, has been practicing his profession in Rushville for 
forty years, and is well known in Schuyler county. He is a son of John Munroe, in early 
and middle life a shoe manufacturer and shoe dealer at Annapolis, Maryland, and later, post- 
master in that place, where Thomas was born, January 4, 1S07. His mother was Ann Wells, who 
was English on her father's side, and German on her mother's. John Munroe was a confidential 
agent of the government during the second war with the mother country. William Munroe^ 
grandfather of our subject, was one of one hundred and thirty-five men, residing in and near An- 
napolis, who, in 1774, signed a protest against certain acts of the colonial government then under 
British rule, and when war broke out the next year he espoused the cause of the colonies against 
King George. 

Doctor Munroe was educated at Saint John's College, Annapolis, taking the full classical 
course, finishing in 1826; studied medicine in that place with Doctor Dennis Claude, who had 
been a surgeon in the army; attended lectures at the University of Maryland, Baltimore; received 
his medical degree in 1829: practiced at Baltimore until 1835; came to this state in December of 
that year; practiced at Jacksonville, Morgan county, until 1843, and then settled in Rushville. 
Here he was in Steady practice till 1862, when he was appointed surgeon of the 119th Illinois 
infantry; which was in the i6th army corps, and he remained in the service until June, 1864, when 
his health broke down and he resigned. Returning to Rushville, he resumed practice, which he 
still continues, though in a restricted degree. He rarely goes into the country, but does a village 
and office practice. He has always been a careful man, the people have great confidence in his 
skill, and his old rural patrons would be glad to send for him, but he refers them to a younger 
class of practitioners. 

Doctor Munroe has been largely identified with the cause of education; was a school director 
for a number of years, was a director of a female academy, which once had an existence in Rush- 
ville, and was a subscriber to a fund for building a house for a private school, which house was 
aftervi'ard sold for a public school. 

The doctor was for years a class leader in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is now, and 
has been for a long time, a steward and trustee of that religious body. While at Jacksonville, he 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 543 

was one of the men who introduced the Washingtonians into that place, liaving hjng been an 
indefatigable worker in the cause of temperance. His heart is on the right side of every reforma- 
tory movement. 

Before settling in Rushville, Doctor Munroe was married in 1841, to Miss Annis Hinman, from 
Utica, New York, daughter of Major Benjamin Hinman, a descendant in direct line from Sergeant 
Edward Hinman, who settled in Stratford, Connecticut, about 1650. Her father was an ofHcer 
in the revolutionary army, one of thirteen Hinmans who were commissioned during the war, from 
Woodbury, Connecticut. He was aid to General Greene. He married Anna Keyser, daughter of 
Captain John Keyser, who, with two sons, was a prisoner in Canada for three years. Mrs. Munroe 
is a niece of General Ephraim Hinman, a noted revolutionary officer. 

Doctor and Mrs. Munroe have had seven children, losing their first-born, John, in infancy. 
Thomas, the eldest son living, is a lumber manufacturer, Muskegon, Michigan; James Edward, a 
graduate with honors of the Illinois College, Jacksonville, is a lawyer, Chicago; Mary Anna is at 
home; Hinman and Charles G., are in business in Rushville, and William, also a graduate of 
Illinois College, is a law student, Rushville, and local editor of the " Schuyler Citizens." 



J. H. MAXWELL, M.D. 

NEWTON. 

PROMINENT among the leading physicians and surgeons of Jasper county, is J. H. Maxwell, 
who was born December 26, 1835. His father was William Maxwell, of Scotch ancestry, 
a farmer by occupation. The maiden name of his mother was Martha Utter; she also was of 
Scotch ancestry, and both are of revolutionary stock. Samuel Utter, an uncle of our subject, 
was a companion of Hon. Samuel Houston, governor of Texas, and a member of the United 
States senate, and they served side by side in the Creek war. 

The subject of our sketch passed his early education and life on his father's farm, his experi- 
ences being those common to most farmer boys ; he worked during the busy seasons and attended 
school during the winters. Later he was sent to the seminary at Paris, Illinois. When twenty- 
four years of age he began to study for his profession with Doctor S. York, who was subsequently 
assassinated in Charleston after delivering a political address in 1864, just previous to the close 
of the war, and while he wis serving in the 54th Illinois regiment. 

At the breaking out of the war, Doctor Maxwell enlisted as private in company A, 38th Illinois 
infantry, and passed his examination, and was appointed as a steward. He served as such until 
August 14, 1863, then as assistant surgeon until the close of the war, being appointed on the 
brigade amputating staff during the Atlanta campaign. He was subsequently assigned to a de- 
tachment of troops, and afterward served with the loist Ohio regiment, the 21st Illinois regiment, 
and in various hospitals till the close of the war; and was mustered out October 8, 1864, and 
reached home in time to vote for President Lincoln. While in the service, although quite young, 
he did some brave work, which fully prepared him to bravely meet the duties of his profession. 
As a surgeon he possesses rare skill, and is known throughout a wide range of country. 

After the close of the war Doctor Maxwell entered the medical college of Ohio, at Cincinnati, 
where he graduated. He began the practice of his profession at Newton, in 1865, and in the same 
year was appointed LTnited States examining surgeon, a position which he still holds. When 
he came to Newton there were then four other physicians in the town, all of whom have either 
moved away or are dead, with the exception of Doctor Franke, who is now an invalid, and in 
a delicate state of health, so Doctor Maxwell is now the oldest practitioner of Newton, and has 
been eminently successful both financially and in his profession. Benevolent and public-spirited, 
he has done much for the improvement of his town, and erected several buildings. 

In March, 1S82, his residence and its contents were burned to ashes, and in its place now stands 
the handsomest house in Jasper county, which is a beautiful home fully enjoyed by the doctor and 



1^44 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

his family, and is the pride of the city of Newton. The doctor also takes great pride in his sani- 
tary and agricultural influence over the county, by which it has been materially benefited, and a 
great deal of malaria and other diseases avoided. 

In 1866 Doctor Maxwell married Miss Mary Hays, of Florence, Pennsylvania. They have had 
four children, three of whom are living. 

Both the doctor and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church of Newton, in which 
they are active workers. 

In politics he is a republican, and an active worker in the local elections. 



T 



IRWIN DUNLAP. 

yACKSON]'ILLE. 

HE gentleman whose name heads this sketch was recently sheriff of Morgan county for six 
consecutive years, and is now treasurer of the county. He is a popular and trustworthy 
official, and performs every duty with promptness and efficiency. He is a son of Stephen and 
Dicy (Runkle) Dunlap, and was born in Champaign county, Ohio, March 12, 1835. His 
paternal grandfather was James Dunlap, a native of Virginia, and a Baptist minister for sixty 
years, dying in Morgan county when past ninety years of age, Dicy Runkle was a native of 
Ohio, and granddaughter of a German who came to this country in the last century. 

In 1840, when Irwin was five years old, the family came to this state and settled in Jackson- 
ville. His father was born in Kentucky, and was a merchant in early and middle life, and at the 
time of his death, in 1877, was a farmer and stock dealer in this county. His widow is still living. 

Irwin Dunlap finished his education in Illinc>is College, Jacksonville, where he attended two 
years; was reared on the farm until eighteen or nineteen years of age; sold goods awhile for other 
parties, and was subsequently in the mercantile trade for himself until 1874, when he was elected 
sheriff. He was reelected twice, served three full terms; was deputy-sheriff in 1880-82; in No- 
vember of the latter year, was elected county treasurer, and is serving his first term in the latter 
office. Some years ago he was treasurer of township No. 15-9, and was alderman of the first 
ward in Jacksonville two years. 

His politics are democratic, and he never fails to draw the full vote of his party, and often 
more. He is one of the truest, most straightforward men in Morgan county. He is an Odd- 
Fellow, and has passed through all the chairs, and represented the local lodge in the grand lodge 
of the state, Mr. Dunlap is a director of the Covenant Mutual Benefit Insurance Compan\', of 
Galesburgh, an Odd-Fellow's organization. 

The wife of Mr. Dunlap was Mary T, Layton, daughter of William T. Layton, of Morgan 
county. They were married in 1857, and have one son, Millard F,, who is assistant cashier of the 
First National Bank of Jacksonville. 



JOAB MERSHON. 

VERMONT. 

THK subject of this sketch has been a resident of Vermont, Fulton county, since 183S, and 
one of the leading business men of the county for nearly forty years. He is a son of Henry 
Mershon, a native of New Jersey, and Ruth (Dilworth) Mershon, whose ancestors were from Eng- 
land. The Mershon family was from France, coming over to Long Island about 1693. The pro- 
genitor went back to France, or started to go, and was never heard of, leaving a son on Long 
Island. From that son sprang the Mershons in this country, who settled at first in New Jersey, 
and have since spread over many states of the Union. 

In his youth Joab had a fair drill in the rudimentary branches of knowledge, which he subse- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 545 

quently enlarged by private study; learned the trade of a shoemaker, and when of age became a 
(h-over, going into Maryland, purchasing cattle and driving them to Chester county, Pennsylvania, 
where he was born, January 26, 1812. 

In 1838 we find Mr. Mershon in Vermont, then hardly the beginning of a village, and having 
one shoemaker, whom our subject bought out the next spring. Between two and three years 
later he became a general merchant, and that business he has never discontinued, he being a 
partner of his son Henry. He was for many years a pork packer, putting up some years as high 
as 3000 hogs. He also held at times a great deal of wheat, and was a manufacturer of flour for 
some years. 

In 1868 he started a private bank, in connection with C. B. Cox, Jr., a nephew of his, and when 
.Mr. Cox died Mr. Mershon continued the institution under the firm name of J. Mershon and Com- 
iiany. This banking house has proved a firm, popular and very prosperous institution. No 
Financial panic has shaken it one iota. 

Farming and cattle raising and cattle feeding has been another prosperous branch of business 
with our subject, who seems to have succeeded, like Midas, in turning everything he touches into 
gold. He has given his children more or less land, and now has about 900 acres in his own name. 

Mr. Mershon was married at Vermont in 1841, to Miss Sarah Dilworth, who was from Ohio; 
and they have five children: Henry, the merchant already named; Rebecca, wife of Frank Durell, 
merchant, Vermont; Demarius G., who is at home; Rhodes D., livery keeper and farmer, Ver- 
mont, and Milton S., merchant, Vermont. 

The great success of Mr. Mershon in a business point of view, is owing, no doubt, to his 
economical habits to start with, and prudent and judicious management all his days. Honesty 
he has found the best policy, and coupled with industry it has been his exceeding great reward. 
He has lived a life of the strictest integrity; has dealt fairly with everybody; has worn his relig- 
ion as an every-day garment, and has gained not only the respect, but the highest esteem of a 
very wide circle of acquaintances. Let young men study his life. 



BENJAMIN CHADSEV. 

RUSIIVILLE. 

BENJAMIN CHADSEY is one of the patriarchs of Schuyler county, and a walking encyclopae- 
dia as regards the history of the county. Although eighty-seven years old, his memory is 
quite clear, and his mental faculties in general are active and strong. He is a well preserved man, 
and luit for a stiffness of the left leg, caused by a broad-axe cut on the knee joint, he would be 
very active for a man who is pushing on toward his ninetieth year. 

Mr. Chadsey was born at Georgia, Franklin county, Vermont, August 16, 1796, and conse- 
quently, if alive when this book is delivered (autumn of 1883), will be in his eighty-eighth year. 
His parents were Benjamin Chadsey, Sr , and Jerusha Nichols, the former a native of Rhode 
Island, and the latter of Vermont. The great-grandfather of our subject was William Chadsey, 
who was a Quaker, and came from Wales to Rhode Island, and settled where the town of 
Warwick now stands. Many of the descendants of this pioneer, who came soon after Roger 
Williams, are still found in the vicinity of Narragansett Bay. The family is remotely related to 
General Greene, of revolutionary fame. The members did not all imbibe Quaker principles, for 
one or two of them carried muskets in 1775-82. 

Benjamin Chadsey, Sr., was a farmer in moderate circumstances, and Benjamin, Jr., being the 
fourth child, yet eldest son, in a family of nine children, had to abandon his mental training at an 
early age, and help support the family, which moved to Essex county. New Vork, in his infancy. 
A few years later, they went to Ohio, and thence to Indiana. The father died near Vincennes, in 
August, 1 812, and the mother in February, 1813. 

At the age of seventeen our subject enlisted {1812) in the war against England, and served a 



546 UNTTF.D STATES B/OGRAPHfCAL DICTTO.VARY. 

little more than two years. He was near Vincennes when General Harrison fought the battle of 
Tippecanoe in 181 1. Zachar Taylor, "Old Rough and Ready," then a captain of one of the 
companies, was a warm frierid of Benjamin Chadsey, Sr., and'was very kind to the son, who was 
mustered out at Fort Knox, Vincennes, in June, 1815. 

Mr. Chadsey had learned the carpenter's trade, and from the close of the war until 1825 he 
followed it in western Indiana and eastern Illinois. 

December i, 1822, he was married to Miss Rachel Johnson, of Vermillion county, this state; 
in 1824 he visited Schuyler county, where he had land drawn as a bounty for military service, and 
which was situated two and a half miles northeast of where Rushville, the county seat, now 
stands. Here he concluded to pitch his tent for life, a few days' march nearer the father of 
waters, and in November, 1825, he brought his young wife and two children into this wild prairie 
country, where red men were abundant, and white men, like angels' visits, few and far between. 
Here he lived for some years in a very humble manner, but like Cincinnatus, he was "awful at 
the plow," and the upturned sod rewarded him for his industry. 

Mr. Chadsey was one of the three commissioners appointed by the legislature to locate the 
county seat, which they called Rushville, because of the great admiration which one of the com- 
missioners had for Doctor Richard Rush, of Philadelphia. Mr. Chadsey built the court house, 
which stood in the public square from 1830 to the close of 1882. He is identified with other enter- 
prises in the county, and has usually been regarded as one of its progressive citizens. He was a 
justice of the peace for years, but has never sought office. 

Mr. Chadsey cast his first presidential vote for John Ouincy Adams; was a national republican; 
then a whig; a free soiler in 1848, voting for Van Buren and Adams on the Buffalo platform ; an 
anti-slavery man until 1855, and has since been a republican. He has always thought for himself, 
and regarding all causes which he espouses, he can give a reason for his belief and acts. 

Mr. and Mrs. Chadsey have buried one child, Benjamin, and have seven living. Henry 
Clay is near Rushville ; John Quincy Adams is with his parents in the old homestead ; Calvin is 
near Elmira, New York ; George W. is in Poweshiek county, Iowa ; James and William are in 
Washington, District of Columbia, and Jerusha N., the oldest of all, is the wife of Felix G. Clark, 
register of the United States land office, Des Moines, Iowa. The first six children were all born 
on Sunday morning, which we mention simply as a singular coincidence. 



GEORGE W. NESBITT. M.D. 

S YCAMORE. 

C^ EORGE WASHINGTON NESBITT, son of Henry and Eleanor (Smith) Nesbitt, was born 
T in Attica, Wyoming county, New York, August 20, 1837. His father was of Scotch-Irish 
descent, and born in the County of Cavan, North of Ireland, coming to this country when sixteen 
years old; and his mother was a native of Washington county. New York. George was educated 
at that old and popular institution, the Genesee and Wyoming Seminary, at Alexander, his studies 
embracing the higher mathematics, and Latin, Greek, German and French languages. His father 
was a farmer, but the son did not take to agricultural pursuits, his tastes leading to the medical 
profession. He studied with Doctor H. B. Miller, of Alexander; attended lectures at the Buffalo 
Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1866; and after practicing in that city one 
year, being also, at the same time, in company with Doctor McCray in the wholesale and retail 
drug business, came to this state, and settled at Sycamore, where he soon built up a liberal prac- 
tice, and has obtained a highly creditable standing in the fraternity. He has a well selected 
medical library, takes an unusually large number of periodicals devoted to the profession, and of 
which he makes the best of use, and writes himself more or less for the medical press. He has 
also lectured on hygiene and cognate subjects before teachers' institutes, and is both a ready 
writer and fluent speaker on all subjects pertaining to the laws of health, and to the branches 
generally of his profession. 







H.L uQcpor _T ;: i:a 



VXITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 549 

The doctor is a member of the De Kalh County Medical Society, the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, and the Illinois State Medical Society. He was vice-president of the last-named body in 
1881; and was again elected to the same office in 1883; chairman of the committee on obstetrics 
in 1880; a member of the'committee on the practice of medicine in 1881, and on gynecology in 
18S2, 

In June, 1882, he read an essay at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association, 
held at Saint Paul, Minnesota, on a new plan of treatment of ununited fracture of the shaft of the 
femur. The essay was received with strong approval, and was ably discussed by leading surgeons 
of the United States. Doctor Nesbitt was the first to use nitro-glycerine in pernicious anemia. 
He is thoroughly wedded to his profession, which is very exacting on his time, and he has held 
hut very few offices of any kind. The only ones that we can recall at this time are those of alder- 
man of the old second ward two or three terms, and secretary one year of the chapter, he being a 
Royal Arch Mason. 

The doctor has quite a taste for stock raising, and has several farms in Kansas on which he is 
breeding thoroughbred horses and graded cattle and sheep. Pecuniarily, as in every other 
respect, he has made a success of his profession. June 3, 1864, he was joined in marriage with 
Mary H. Davis, daughter of David Davis, of Chippewa, Ontario, and they have two sons and one 
daughter. 

HON. L. S. WILCOX, M. D. 

CHAMPAIGN. 

AMONG the younger class of physicians who appear in this work no one probably stands 
^ higher in the practice than Doctor Levi Spencer Wilcox, mayor of Champaign. Levi has 
been the family name for four generations. He is a native of Illinois, and was born at Lacon, 
Marshall county, August 7, 1847. His parents were the late Hon. Levi Wilcox, M.D., and Nancy 
(Rogers) Wilcox, who were among the early pioneer settlers of Illinois, moving thither from Ohio 
in 1838. 

His father, a man of great ability and influence, was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, about 
1800. .Shortly after entering his profession he came west, and at first practiced in New Lisbon, 
Ohio, where he married, and in 1838 settled in Lacon, Marshall county, where he had great 
success. He was the first county treasurer of Marshall county and mayor of Lacon, and an 
active citizen in the early history of both the town and city, and one whose record was well 
known throughout central Illinois. He died suddenly of cholera in 185 1, leaving his wife the 
mother of six children, three sons and three daughters, all of whom grew up to maturity. The 
eldest son, Hon. E. A. Wilcox, is practicing medicine at Minonk, Illinois. The second son. Lieu- 
tenant A. R. Wilcox, enlisted in the Union army, company B, nth regiment Illinois infantry, and 
was fatally wounded in the battle of Fort Donelson, and died a month later. The third son, who 
was but three and a half years old at the time of his father's death, is the subject of this sketch. 

Doctor Wilcox received his early education at the public high school of Lacon, completmg 
liis literary course at the Northwestern University, at Evanston, Illinois, from which institution 
he graduated, after five years' study, in 1871. 

He then continued the study of medicine at the Chicago Medical College, finishing his studies 
at the Long Island College Hospital, New York, and after a regular course of study there he 
obtained his diploma in 1873. Returning to the West he settled in Magnolia, Putnam county, 
where he began his practice, meeting with encouraging success. He continued there until 
1875, when he removed to Champaign. Here he found several older physicians, who had an 
established practice, and at first he met with some discouragement, but the citizens of Champaign 
and vicinity soon found out his true value, and now he is one of the leading physicians ot Cham- 
paign county. 

In politics Doctor Wilcox is a republican, but has never entered the political field as a candi- 

?4 



550 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

date for office, although he has been honored by several local positions. He has been suf)ervisor 
for three years, and has been elected two terms mayor of Champaign, which office he now holds, 
honorably and faithfully discharging his duties. 

Doctor Wilcox was married July 2, 1873, to Miss Alice Yaple, of Mendon, Michigan, a lady of 
high literary attainments, and a graduate of the Northwestern Female College, at Evanston, of 
the class of 187 1. They have one child, Mae. 

In his profession he has built up his own reputation by his skill and energy, and acquired an 
extensive practice. He possesses a fine intellect, and devotes a great deal of time to scientific 
study and improvement of his natural talent in his calling, and there is undoubtedly before him 
a promising future. He is a genial gentleman, a prompt business man and a geneious friend, 
and thoroughly merits the esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens. 



THE BLACK FAMILY. 

]'IRGINIA. 

THE Black family, several members of which are living in Cass county, are of good patriotic 
stock, William Black, Sr., being one of the first officers in the country to refuse to continue 
allegiance to the English government. He was a militia captain in 1765-73, and died just before 
the colonial forces were mustered to resist British oppression. He married a Miss Beard, and had 
two sons, of whom we shall speak. Thomas G. was born in Mecklenburgh county. North Caro- 
lina, in 1772; married Miss Polly Callaham, and died in 1823, and his wife in 1853. 

William Black, Jr., the other son, was born in Georgia, and married in Tennessee, December 
4, 1823, Mary S. Vaughn, and they had ten children, six of them being born in Tennessee 
and the last four in what is now Scott county, Illinois. The family came to this state in 1834, 
and William Black moved to Cass county in 1846, and settlfd on a farm six miles southeast of 
Virginia. He reared his family in habits of industry, — the eight who lived to grow up, — and 
he now resides in the village of Virginia, being in his eighty-eighth year, and in the enjoyment 
of fair health. He is a member of the Christian Church, and was an elder until superannuated a 
few years ago. His wife, died in 1881, aged seventy-eight years. She was a very hospitable 
woman, a warm-hearted Christian mother, and did her full share in moulding the character of her 
children, all of whom are members of the Christian church. 

We proceed to mention briefly each one of these children: 

Thomas Gallespie, the eldest child, born June 15, 1825, studied medicine, and is in practice at 
Clayton, Adams county, this state. [See full sketch of him in this volume.] 

Amanda C, born May 25, 1826, died July 23, 1837. 

Joseph Franklin, born F"ebruary 23, 1828, was a farmer in early life, but, having considerable 
mechanical talent, he invented a self-raking reaper, and finally a binding attachment, which was 
purchased by the Walter A. Wood Manufacturing Company, and is used on their machines. He 
is a prominent architect, residing in the village of V^irginia, and living with his second wife. 
Several of the fine public buildings in Jacksonville, .Springfield and other cities in central Illinois 
were designed and built by him. 

William Littleton, born June 8, 1829, was a farmer until four or five years ago, when he formed 
a partnership with his youngest brother, John, in the mercantile trade, the firm name being Black 
Brothers, Virginia. His wife died in 1879, leaving three daughters. He has long been a leading 
man in this county in agricultural matters; is the inventor of a gang plow and of an attachment 
to a corn planter, which has proved a success. Financially he is one of the ablest members of 
the family. 

Richmond Vaughn, born October 27, 1831, served three years in the 114th Illinois infantry, 
coming out as captain, and fur the last twent)' years or more has been a farmer near Nebraska 
Citv. 



UNITED STATES B roc, RAP rrrC A L DICTIONARY ^z^\ 

John Jefferson, born October 24, 1833, died August, 1839. 

Green Vardiman, born August 3, 1836, served a short time in the civil war, is a dentist in Jack- 
sonville, this state, has a family, and a high standing in his profession. He is president of the 
state board of dental examiners. 

James Berry, the seventh son, was born October 9, 1839, in Scott county; finished his educa- 
tion in the Cumberland Presbyterian Academy, Virginia, and Normal University, Bloomington; 
commenced teaching school at nineteen years of age; in the autumn of 1861, enlisted as a private 
in company C, 3d Illinois cavalry; served nearly two years, being in the battle of Pea Ridge, 
Missouri, and with Sherman immediately preceding the siege of Vicksburg; was promoted to first 
lieutenant, and resigned his commission in the spring of 1863 on account of ill health. Return- 
ing to Virginia, Lieutenant Black resumed teaching;, was an instructor at Jacksonville, in the state 
institution for the blind, in 1864-66, and afterward principal of the public schools of that city. In 
1869 he went on his father's farm, and was engaged in tilling the soil when, in 1873, he was elected 
on the republican ticket to the office of clerk of Cass county. He was reelected in 1877, and 
served, in all, nine consecutive years, giving great satisfaction to the public. Since July", 1878, he 
has been cashier of the Centennial National Bank of Virginia, and shows himself to be a first- 
class financier. He married, July i, 1867, Miss Eliza J. Edwing, daughter of the late William 
Edwing, of Jacksonville, and they have one daughter. May, aged eight years. 

Mary J., the youngest daughter of William Black, was born December 13, 1840. She married 
George A. Beard, a prominent farmer in Cass county, in 1857, and died in 1874. 

John, the voungest of the ten children, was born December 21, 1844; is a graduate of Pitts- 
burgh Commercial College; married Maggie Blair, March 15, 1866, and has been in the mercantile 
business in Virginia since 1876. He commenced business by opening a farm in Nebraska, which 
he still owns, but his health failed and he had to change his business. 

The Black family, as is here seen, is not only of good patriotic stock, as we stated at the start, 
but there seems to be no diminution, no thinning of the blood in the family. No less than four 
grandsons of William Black, Sr., in one family, volunteered to aid in saving the Union, and all 
showed that the true elements of manhood are in their natures. William Black, Jr., in his extreme 
old age, can look back with pride on the family which he has reared. There is no better class of 
people in Cass county. 

CHARLES H. WIDMAYER. 

JACKSONVIILE. 

CHARLES HENRY WIDMAYER, mayor of the city of Jacksonville, and a leading butcher 
and packer in the place, is a native of the kingdom of Wittenburg, Germany, and was born 
in Markgreinngen, March 4, 1841. His father was Jacob Widmayer, a blacksmith by trade, who 
brought his family to this country in 1854, when Charles was thirteen years of age. He settled at 
Niagara Falls, where he died of the cholera in less than two months after he reached that place. 
His widow is still living, her home being in Hampshire, Kane county, this state. 

Charles finished his education in the old country ; learned the butcher's trade; came to Illinois 
in 1857 ; worked at his trade in Chicago until the spring of 1862, and then went to Oregon via 
the overland route, in the government employ. He spent three years in butchering in eastern 
Oregon and the Territory of Idaho, being one of the first settlers at Pioneer City, Idaho. He 
went thence into Montana Territory ; spent four months in Nevada City, and returned to the East 
via Panama at the close of the civil war. Mr. Widmayer had a variety of experiences in frontier 
life, and, like Mark Twain, knows what roughing it means. His account of some of his adven- 
tures is quite amusing. 

In the spring of 1865 our subject opened a meat market at Jacksonville, and has been doing a 
successful business here since that date. For yeais he was of the firm of Wiegand and Widmayer, 
but since the death of his partner in July, 1882, the firm name has been Widmayer and Wiegand, 



552 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPIlIC.tr. DICTIONARY. 

the estate of his late partner being represented in the firm, whicli is doing more or less paclcing 
the year round, and one or two years did a large business in that branch. No butcher and meat 
dealer in Jacksonville is more popular than the subject of this notice, or has made a greater suc- 
cess in his business. He is a hard worker and an honest dealer, and makes many friends. In all 
his transactions his word is as good as his bond. 

He was alderman of the first ward four years, and served the city so well in that capacity, 
that in 1882 he was elected mayor, overcoming a republican majority of three hundred votes, and 
at the time this sketch is written, he is faithfully performing the duties of that office. He is public- 
spirited, and works hard in the general interests of the city. His affiliations have always been 
witii the democratic party. During the civil war he was a warm supporter of the national govern- 
ment, so much so that in the mountains he w^s called an abolitionist by the southern sympathizers. 
Mr. Widmayer is a true lover of his adopted country ; he is a deacon of the Lutheran Church in 
Jacksonville, and does all he can to support such institutions, being a truly valuable citizen. 

He was married, August 13, 1865, at Hampshire, Kane county, to Miss Louisa Ream, and they 
have lost one daughter, and have four daughters and three sons living. 



G 



GEORGE LITTLE. 

RUSI/riLLE. 

H()R(tE little is the oldest merchant in Schuyler county, and is connected with one of 
.J the oldest mercantile houses in the state. The firm of Little and Ray was formed in 1S44, 
and is still doing business here, having stood up manfully through all the financial cyclones 
which have swept over the countr\' during the last forty years. 

Mr. Little was born in Columbia, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, February 9, 1808, being a 
son of James and Rebecca (Greer) Little. His father was born in the County of Tj'rone, Ireland, 
in 1786, and came to this country in 1S05. George was the fourth child in a family of six children, 
four yet living. He was educated in the common schools of Columbia, and quite early in life 
took charge of a shoe manufactory for his father, learning the trade, that he might have a clearer 
insight into the business. In 1837 James Little came to this state and settled in Rushville, where 
he died in 185 1, and his widow in 1864. George had preceded his parents, coming the year 
before, and engaging in mercantile business in 1836. The firm of Little and Ray, formed May i, 
1844, has not up to this date (January, 1883) been dissolved, though Mr. Ray died in January, 
1 881.* His son, George C. Ray, is in the firm, which has the name of Little, Ray and Company. 
They keep a general store, and are doing an immense business. Theirs is not only the oldest, 
but stanchest house in town, and its record is a synonym for integrity, as well as firmness. 

Mr. Little was married, September, 1840, to Mary J. Lloyd, daughter of Thomas Lloyd of Co- 
lumbia, and she died in 1848, leaving three children, only one of them now living, Mary R., the 
wife of William H. Scripps, of Rushville. In 1852 Mr. Little was married to Miss Lydia E. 
Scripps, daughter of the late George H. Scripps. She is the mother of five children, only three of 
them now living. William died in i860, George died in Colorado in 1880, John S. is a clerk in 
the First National Bank of Rushville, of which his father is president, and Grace and V'irginia 
Ella are students in the well known schools at Evanston, near Chicago. 

Mr. Little has lived a very busy yet somewhat quiet life, having held only one or two public 

* Hon. William H. Ray was a native of Dutchess county. New York, horn in 1S12. He received in youth a hm- 
ited education, to which he added in middle and later life; came to Rushville in 1834, and was a merchant here till his 
death. January 25, iSSi. For years he was a leading man in Schuyler county. He was a personal friend and politi- 
cal associate of Abraham Lincoln, and represented his district in congress in 1S72-73. At the organization of the First 
National Bank of Rushville in May, 1865, he was chosen president, and held that office till his death. He was a true 
man, and showed a sound judgment and the strictest integrity in all his transactions. His family and the citizens gen- 
erally of the county, have reason to he proud of his record. 



iJNrn-.n staii-.s /uoga\ip///ca/. dictionary. 553 

posts, in the municipality of the town. He was formerly a whig, and latterly has been a republi- 
can, but has left the otfices for persons who like honors of that kind. He is very much of a home 
body, and prefers domestic repose to public turmoil. He and his family attend the Methodist 
Church, of which he is a liberal su.pporter. He is generous-hearted, and is not apt to forget the 



poo 



r or unfortunate. 



EDWIN T. DISOSWAY. 

IIENR V. 

EDWIN THEODORE DISOSWAY, insiirance agent, city collector of Henry, Marshall county, 
is of Huguenot descent, and was born in the city of New York, January 13, 1820. His father, 
Israel Disosway, born on Staten Island, was a graduate of Columbia College, and a merchant, 
dying in Iroquois county, Illinois, only a few years ago, at the age of eighty-four years, and his 
mother was Letitia Budd McCullough, a native of Warren county. New Jersey, and a daughter of 
Colonel McCullough, a prominent man in that county. She died at about eighty years ot age. 
One of the daughters of Israel Disosway is married to Rev. Doctor Deems, of New York city. 

Edwin was educated in the public schools of New York city; was in his father's store awhile 
in that city, their residence being part of the time in New Jersey, and for ten years he was in 
trade for himself at Stony Creek, Dinwiddle county, Virginia, he being also postmaster at the 
same time, under presidents Taylor and Fillmore. 

In the spring of 1859 Mr. Disosway came to Henry, Marshall county, and was a clerk first in 
a store, and then in a bank, a short time in each position; was subsequently a banker, in company 
with J. N. Purple, and a little later cashier for John G. Ferguson, of El Paso, his family remain- 
ing in Henry. 

He married Miss Rebecca Davis, of Washington, Warren county, New Jersey, in 1848, and 
while he was at El Paso, October, 1866, she died, and he returned to Henry. Soon afterward he 
was elected justice of the peace, and that office he still holds. For some years he has also been 
engaged in fire insurance. He has held various local offices, such as town clerk, city clerk, city 
treasurer, and is now city collector, also notary public. 

Mr. Disosway was in early and middle life a whig; has been a republican since there was such 
a party, and is a Blue Lodge Mason, serving for ten or twelve years as secretary of Henry Lodge, 
No. iig. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since early manhood, and 
has held all the offices which a layman can hold in that organization. He is leader of the choir, 
an earnest Sunday-school worker, zealous in the temperance cause, and president of the Red 
Ribbon Club. He is a small man, physically, but large-hearted, and his instincts are all in the 
right direction. His children living are: Sarah Virginia, Israel Theodore, Lena, Robert, Emmet, 
Linda May, and Charles N., the eldest son and youngest daughter being married. 



B 



BARTON BISHOPP. 

SHELDON. 

ARTON BISHOPP was born in England, November 28, 1838. He is the son of Edward B. 
and Matilda Elizabeth (David) Bishopp. At the time of his birth his parents pursued an 
agricultural life in England, but emigrated to the United States in 1853, settling in Sheldon 
township, where they engaged in farming and stock-raising. The subject of this sketch had only 
the usual educational advantages afforded by the common schools of England. His tastes being 
of a mechanical turn, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the carpenter's trade, which he fol- 
lowed very successfully for about ten years, engaging very extensively in contracting and build- 
ing, making considerable money. . • 

About the year 1867 Mr. Bishop]) gave up the carpenter and contracting business, and bought 



554 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



a farm near Sheldi)n. Here he engaged very extensively in farming and cattle raising, and a 
greater portion of his time was devoted extensively to dealing and operating in live stock, prin- 
cipally in buying and fatting cattle for market. In 1871 he embarked in the lumber, grain and 
coal business at Sheldon, where he has facilities for doing a large and profitable business, which 
he continued with a marked success until 1882, when, in addition to his already well established 
business, he bought the only extensive hardware enterprise in Sheldon, and in fact in Iroquois 
county. He has in his business about $40,000 capital, employing in the busy time as high as 
fifteen hands, and, in addition to his mercantile pursuits, he has one of the finest farms in the 
county, of 350 acres, which is also run under his management. In connection with his farm he is 
running a large hay press in Sheldon. 

In politics Mr. Bishopp is a republican, but has never been an office seeker or taken any promi- 
nent part, but has always been a public benefactor, to whom the town of Sheldon is largely 
indebted for her growth and prosperity. He was elected supervisor in 1877, and since that time 
has been reelected, and holds that office at the present time. He is a member of the school 
board, in which he is deeply interested and an energetic worker. 

In religion he is liberal, but is a good, conscientious, honorable man, and a generous supporter 
of all good causes, and it ma\' be said that he is never called upon for any public or religious 
cause but that he responds liberally. 

He was married in the fall of 1867 to Miss Martha A. Moore, of Watseka. Mr. Bishopp is 
emphatically a self-made man, commencing life in straitened circumstances. By his own energy 
and perseverance he has made for himself an honorable name, and gained the confidence and 
esteem of his fellow citizens. 



ALFRED SAMPLE. 

PAXTON. 

ALFRED SAMPLE was born in Butler county, Ohio, November 27, 1846. His parents were 
L lames Sample, a native of Kentucky, and Jane (Beard) Sample, who was a native of Vir- 
ginia. His father was a farmer and stock-dealer, and engaged in railroad business, and was a 
man of good reputation, well known in the western country. Our subject received -liis early 
training on the farm and at the village school, which he attended until about eleven years of age, 
when he gave to agricultural pursuits his entire attention. In the year 1857 he removed with 
his parents to Livingston county, Illinois. In the second year of the civil war, although but six- 
teen years old, he, in November, 1863, enlisted in company G, 129th regiment Illinois infantry, 
and immediately went into active service. He was in General Sherman's campaign and march 
to Atlanta. In the battle of Resaca he was severely wounded in the breast, and had one arm 
broken, on account of which, being unfitted for duty, he was honorably discharged December 6, 
1864. 

After leaving the army he entered Eureka College, where he remained three years, going 
thence to Monmouth, where he completed his education, having taken a special course in both 
colleges, and given special attention to the classics and to mathematics. While at college he 
taught school at different intervals during vacations and for one year after leaving college. He 
then began the study of law under the instruction of Colonel R. G. Ingersoll, whose history is 
found elsewhere in this work, which he continued until 1871, when he was admitted to the bar. 
During the same year he came to Paxton, where he has since practiced with success. 

Mr. Sample is a republican in political sentiment, but has not allowed political matters to inter- 
fere with his profession, and yet, although he has never sought political preferment, he was 
chosen a presidential elector in the Garfield campaign, and has been state's attorney for eight 
years and city attorney for four years, facts which show the appreciation the citizens of Ford 
county have for the man, who is among the most active and enterprising citizens of Paxton. 



rrxiTED STATES BIOGRAPHrCAI. D/CrfO.VARY. 555 

Mr. Sample was married in September, 1875, to Miss Florence A. Cook, daughter of Colonel 
Cook, who is well known in state history, and who was brought prominently l>efore the public in 
our late war. 

Mr. Sample has accumulated a handsome property, and besides his home in Pa.xton possesses 
(ither lands in his county, and is looked up to as an enterprising, upright and valuable citizen. 



U 



HON. WILLIAM P. GALLON. 

7 A CA'SON VILLE. 

7ILLIAM PIERCE CALLON, lawyer, and late member of the state senate, hails from 
I F"ranklin county, Indiana, being born at Laurel, March 28, 1836. His father, Dennis C. 
Gallon, a merchant, was born in Mason county, Kentucky, and married Caroline Lamb, a native 
of the same county. The great-grandfather of our subject was from Ireland, and settled in Ken- 
tucky, where William Gallon, the father of Dennis C, was born. In 1843, when William was seven 
years old, the family came to Morgan count\', where the father died in 1S79. The widow is still 
living. 

The subject of this sketch was educated at Illinois College, taking the full scientific course; 
read law with Hon. Cyrus Epler, now judge of the seventh judicial circuit of this state; was 
admitted to practice in i860; opened an office in Logan county, and was there when the civil war 
commenced. He went into the army in August, 1861, as second lieutenant of cavalry, 4th Illinois 
regiment, and served nearly three years, coming out as first lieutenant. He was in the battles of 
Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Shiloh, and in numerous skirmishes, and in December, 1862, 
received a wound while in northern Mississippi, laying him up for several weeks. 

On leaving the army Mr. Gallon spent two years at Natchez, Mississippi; was then (1867) 
appointed United States agent for the Omaha Indians, spending two years at the agency in north- 
ern Nebraska. He returned to Natchez in 1869, and remained there until 1872, when he settled 
in Jacksonville. 

In 1876 Mr. Gallon was elected to the lower house of the legislature; served one term, and in 
1878 was elected to the senate, in which body he also served one term, representing Morgan and 
Greene counties. He was one of the ablest men in the senate. 

Mr. Gallon voted for Abraham Lincoln in i860, and has since acted with the democratic party. 
During an important canvass he usually takes the field, and when he does he makes a valiant fight 
for his party's ticket. 

He was married, March 24, 1868, to Miss Nannie W. Thornhill, of Natchez, and they have 
buried one son and have five children living. 

The legal business of our subject e.xtends into all the courts in which the lawyers of Jackson- 
ville have any practice, and he is making a noteworthy success in his profession. He is a man 
of fine talents, a strong and clear reasoner, a forcible and eloquent speaker, and has great influ- 
ence with a jury. 



JOSEPH B. TITUS. 

SULLIVAN 

AMONG the leading members of the bar in Moultrie county is Joseph B. Titus, who was born 
. in Franklin county, Indiana, January 24, 1838. His parents were George W. and Elizabeth 
(Bennett) Titus, the mother's ancestry dating back to the revolutionary period of our country, 
where the family name is indelibly stamped in history. In 1858 they moved to Moultrie county, 
settling near the present site of Sullivan, and engaged in farming. 

The subject of our sketch received his first educational training at the public school while 
working on his father's farm, and at the age of fourteen attended the Brookville high school for 



356 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

two years, when he entered Miami University, at Oxford, Ohi(j, whicli was then one of the most 
leading institutions in the West. Here he graduated with the class of 1858. He then immedi- 
ately began the study of law with J. G. Douglas, of Cincinnati, and after graduating from the 
law college, was admitted to the bar in i860. Mr. Titus, after being admitted to the bar, came to 
Sullivan to begin the practice of his profession, engaging in a general practice and meeting with 
good success. 

In 1865 he was elected by the democratic party county clerk of Moultrie county, and gave 
entire satisfaction to his fellow citizens. At the end of his term of office, in 1S69, Mr. Titus 
went into the banking and loan business, but the financial crisis which occurred soon after- 
ward, proving disastrous to many through the land, did not pass him without leaving the 
effect of a most severe shock, and in 1873 he closed up his business, and had left but a small por- 
tion of his fortune and a few buildings and some unimproved property, which, owing to the 
increase of real estate, subsequently became of value. 

Being overworked during this financial depression, Mr. Titus suffered from a broken-down 
constitution, and spent the next few years in travel and recruiting his health. After leaving Sul- 
livan he spent some time in California. He then crossed the Pacific, and after spending some 
time in China and Japan and different points of interest along the Asiatic shores, he went to Aus- 
tralia, and thence to Valparaiso and numerous places along the Pacific coast, subsequently return- 
ing again to California. He visited all the principal points of interest, and afterward spent one 
year in Arizona, returning to Sullivan in 1878. 

Immediately after his return Mr. Titus resumed the practice of law, at the same time giving 
some attention to farming. The property which he had saved had increased in value. In his 
business he has been very successful, building up a very lucrative practice and acquiring a 
good reputation as a lawyer, while his farming enterprises have likewise been financially suc- 
cessful. He has, since his return, taken an active part in the public interests of the county. The 
opera house, which he built previous to his embarrassment, and which is still owned by the family, 
is one of the finest in central Illinois, outside of the large cities. Mr. Titus is emphatically a self- 
made man, and has been very successful, and, notwithstanding his misfortunes, the same spirit 
and energy which enabled him to gain his first success has enabled him to retrieve his losses, 
which must be said to his credit, and in which his friends feel a just satisfaction. 



FREDERICK SMITH. 

PEKIX. 

THE subject of this sketch is at the head of the great manufactories of Pekin, and is also iden- 
tified largely with mercantile, banking and other important interests of the city, and he has 
done much to build it up. He is a native of Hanover, Germany, a son of Conrad Smith and Mar- 
garet (Van de Velde) Smith; and dates his birth June 20, 1829. He had a common-school drill; 
served five years as an apprentice to the blacksmith's trade in Germany; came to Pekin in 1849, 
and here worked at his trade for nine years, being of the firm of T. and H. Smith and Company. 
The firm was composed at first of Teis Smith, Henry Smith, Frederick Smith and Luppe Luppen. 
Henry Smith died in 1859, and Teis Smith* in 1870. Dietrich C. Smith and Habbe Velde have, 
since its formation, been taken into the firm, whose name has never been changed. 

The original parties were industrious mechanics, with very little capital in the aggregate, and 
they commenced in a small shop and with common farm wagons, with now and then a buggy. 
Their work being first-class, and giving good satisfaction, their business soon began to increase, 
and their shops to multiply and expand. In a few years their operations became so large that 

*Teis Smith, the senior member of the firm of T. and H. Smith and Company, was, in his day, the leader in all 
enterprises undertaken by that noted firm, and was prominent in railroad projects, politics and local movements of 
every kind calculated to benefit the community. 




t s^ 




UNITED STAVES BlOGRAPIl ICA I. DICTIONARY. 559 

tliey were obliged to divide, and build a separate factory for the manufacture of plows, cultiva- 
tors, etc., the manufacture of which they commenced more than a score of years ago. In 1879 the 
Pekin Plow Company was organized by the old firm, and it gives employment to about 150 
workmen, a like force being in the wagon and carriage shops. The several buildings are substan- 
tial brick structures, all of them either two or three stories high, and, with the yards, cover between 
two and three acres of ground. An intimation of the kind of implements, etc., made by the Plow 
company may be found in a sketch of Luppe Luppen, whose portrait follows Mr. Smith's. 

The subject of this sketch is the general superintendent of the manufactory, and has the plac- 
ing of the goods in the market, that being latterly his main work. He is managing his part with 
s^reat success, being both a thorough-going and very competent business man. The growth of 
the enterprise with which he is connected would be a wonder anywhere outside the West. 

.Simultaneously with the growth of the manufactories of these parties, sprang up other enter- 
prises of their own. A handsome store, a lumber yard, a grain office, and a bank, were all called 
for in time, and forthcoming, our subject having an interest in all of them. The handsome store 
is in the name of Smith, Velde and Company; the lumber office. Smith, Feltman and Company; 
the grain department, Smith, Hippen and Company, and the bank, Teis Smith and Company, 
all prosperous branches of business, and managed on strict and honorable business principles. 

While absorbed in worldly matters, Mr. Smith does uot neglect other duties; he is an active 
Christian, an office bearer in the German Methodist church, and a man of most excellent charac- 
ter. The wife of our subject was Miss Louisa Grondenberg, of Pekin, their union taking place 
May 6, 1855. They have nine chiUlren, seven sons and two daughters. 



HON. GEORGE W. STIPP. 

PRINCE TON. 

ONE of the most eminent men on the circuit bench in Illinois is George Washington Stipp, 
who is self-educated and self-made in the true sense of the terms. He began and ended 
his school drill in a log school-house, in Champaign county, Ohio, where he was born March 2, 
1818. His father was Peter Stipp, a farmer in early life, later a school teacher and preacher, he 
belonging to the so-called New Light denomination. He was born in Virginia, and was a soldier 
in the second war with England. He married Elizabeth Harrison, a native of Kentucky. 

Mr. Stipp commenced reading law at Bellefontaine, Ohio, with William Lawrence; came to 
Canton, in this state, in 1845, before finishing his legal studies; went into the Me.xican war in 
1846, as first lieutenant, company K, 4th Illinois infantry. Colonel E. D. Baker, commander; 
returning to Bellefontaine the next year, resumed his studies; finished them at the Cincinnati law 
school; returned to Canton, March, 1848, and was admitted to the bar in Mason county, this 
state, in May of that year, Hon. Richard Yates being one of his examiners. 

Mr. Stipp practiced a few years at Lewiston, Fidton county, being at one period a partner of 
lion. Lewis J. Ross, since a member of congress. In the autumn of 1853, Mr. Stipp settled in 
Princeton, and soon took a high position at the Bureau county bar. 

He was elected prosecuting attorney of the county in 1857, and held the office between one 
and two years. September, 1861, he went into the army as captain, company B, Yates sharp- 
shooters, afterward 64th Illinois infantry, and served until December, 1862, when he resigned on 
account of ill health. He came out as major of the regiment. 

Mr. Stipp has a judicial turn of mind, and it became evident some years ago that he had, in a 
marked degree, the qualities which fitted him for a jurist, and in June, 1879, he was elected judge 
of the 9th judicial circuit, an office which he still fills with much credit to the bench, and to the 
great satisfaction of the public. He has profound legal attainments, seems to be equally well 
versed in civil and criminal law, has no disposition to reward friends or punish enemies, if he has 
any, and hence is unbiased try prejudice, impartial, cool, self-poised and emphatically a just judge. 
55 



560 UNITED STATES BIOGRAnilCAL DICTIONARY. 

In politics he was originally a whig, voted for Stephen A. Douglas for president in 1S60, and 
has since affiliated with the democratic party. 

Judge Stipp was married May 29, 1849, to Miss Louisa C. Wolf, of West Liberty, Ohio, and 
they have ten children, four of whom, two sons and two daughters, are married. Most of the 
others are pursuing their studies. 



WINFIELD S. EVERHART. 

TOLEDO. 

ONE of the most prominent attorneys of Cumberland county is W. S. Everhart, successor to 
the late law firm of Decius and Everhart. The senior member of the firm was the late Judge 
Decius, whose reputation and ability as an attorney was known throughout the state of Illinois. 
The subject of this sketch was born at Leasburgh, Ohio, November 18, 1850. His parents, Captain 
Philip and Susan (Staley) Everhart, settled in Ohio at an early date, and his father took an active 
part in the late civil war. He entered as private in company C, 51st Ohio infantry, and was 
graduall)^ promoted to the rank of captain. They moved to Illinois soon after the close of the 
war, settling in Cumberland county in 1866. 

Winfield spent his early days as most farmer boys do, working on the farm summers and 
attending the district school during the winter months. He afterward went to school for a time 
at Neoga, and still later attended the University of Illinois for four years. In September, 1875, 
he began the stud)' of law with the late Judge Decius, and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 
1878, and became associated with his preceptor, under the firm name of Decius and Everhart. 
Their business was very large and lucrative, and so continued until the death of Judge Decius, 
which occurred in the fall of 1882. The business is now continued by Mr. Everhart, who is a 
thorough lawyer, being a careful and safe counsellor and an advocate of more than ordinary 
ability. He is devoted to his profession, and his energy never lags while working for the inter- 
ests of his clients. He has a large and convenient office, and a well selected library of nearly 
one thousand volumes. 

In January, 1883, Mr. Everhart formed a partnership with W. L. Bruster, and they are con- 
ducting a mortgage, brokerage and loan business, which promises to be a great success. 

In politics Mr. Everhart is a republican, and a very active worker in the party, entering vigor- 
ously into the work at each campaign, l>ut has never sought political preferment, choosing to 
devote himself entirely to his profession, in which he finds ample scope for the gratification of his 
highest ambition. 

SAMUEL BURGE. 

TOULON. 

ONE of the best representatives of the business interests of Toulon is Samuel Burge, banker, 
of the firm of Burge and Dewey. His record will show what a young man of industrious, 
economical and good business habits can do for himself with no legacy but the example of pious 
parents, and no capital but a good constitution, and the art of turning an honest penny to the 
best advantage. 

Samuel Burge was born in Enfield, New Hampshire, October 21, 1844, the son of Rev. Benja- 
min Burge, a Congregational minister, whose last charge was at Enfield, and who died in 1848. 
The mother of Samuel was Lucretia Dewe)% a native of Hanover, New Hampshire. Her mother 
was a Pinneo, who was of Huguenot descent, and whose mother died when about one hundred 
years old. Mrs. Burge is still living, being with her son in Toulon. 

Our subject left New Hampshire with his mother and an only sister in 1853; resided three 
years in Lewiston, Fulton county, Illinois, and then came to Toulon, where he finished his educa- 



UNITED STATES BIOGliA miCA I. DICTIONARY. 561 

lion in llie public schools. He commenced his business career as a clerk in the store of his mater- 
nal uncle, Samuel M. Dewey, by whom he was employed until the close of 1865, excepting six 
months in 1S64, when he was in the service, in company H, 144th Illinois infantry. January i, 
1866, Mr. Burge became a member of the firm of Dewey, Lowman and Company, Mr. Dewey 
luiving previous!)' (1865) formed a partnership with William Lowman, and they had started an 
exchange bank, in connection with their general store. In the autumn of 1866 Mr. Dewey died, 
and January i, following, the firm was dissolved, Mr. Burge continuing the mercantile and bank- 
ing business, in connection with the estate, under the firm name of Dewey and Burge. 

In 1869 our subject sold out his interest in the store; in 1870, bought out the interest of the 
estate, and the firm of Samuel Burge and Company, bankers, continued until January i, 1879, when 
Charles P. Dewey, a cousin of Mr. Burge, joined him, forming the firm of Burge and Dewey. They 
are doing a thrifty business, and have a first-class standing among the bankers in this part of the 
state. They pay the largest internal revenue tax outside of Peoria, in the 5th collection district. 

Mr. Burge has kept almost entirely out of politics, and with the exception of school treasurer, 
and member of the village board of trustees, has held, we believe, no civil office. He was for some 
years a trustee of the Congregational Church, with which he is connected, and has done more or 
less work in the Sunday-school. He gives the gospel a generous support, and is not unmindful 
of the poor. No village or city can have too many citizens of this class. 

Mr. Burge was married, September r, 1870, to Miss Alice Lowman, daughter of William Low- 
man, already mentioned, and they have three children living, and buried one daughter in infancy. 

Mr. Burge has considerable property in the village of Toulon; owns two or three farms in this 
county, and has other farms and lands in company with his partner, in all something like 1000 
acres. His entire accumulations are the fruits of untiring industry, prudent foresight and honest 
dealing, and his history, brief as it is, has a lesson in it for younger men. 



c 



HON. LEWIS W. ROSS. 

' LEIVISTON. 
EWIS WINANS ROSS, lawyer, and formerly a member of congress, is a son of Ossian M. 



and Mary (Winans) Ross, and was born in Seneca Falls, New York, December 8, 1812. His 
father and grandfather, Joseph Rpss, were also natives of that state, and belonged to an old and 
numerous New York family, 'whose members are now scattered probably over half the states in 
the Union. 

In 1 88 1 our subject paid a visit to tiie old homestead and burial place of his ancestors, where 
he had not been for more than sixty years; and it was with some difficulty that he found any one 
familiar with the scene of his childhood three-score years ago. Apple trees were pointed out to 
him which were planted by his maternal grandfather ninety years ago. He was also shown the 
cellar of the house in which he was born. 

In 1821 Ossian Ross moved to Madison county, Illinois, and the next year he brought his 
family to Fulton county. He laid out the town of Lewiston, and was postmaster here, and also 
sheriff of Fulton county. Subsequently he laid out Havana, the shire town of Mason county, and 
was postmaster of Havana, where he died in 1836. 

Lewis finished his literary education at Jacksonville College, in which he spent three years. 
Rev. Edward Beecher, D.D., being president. He read law at Jacksonville with Josiah Lamborn; 
was admitted to the bar in 1837, and for more than thirty years was a prominent member of the 
Fulton county bar. Indeed, as an advocate, he had but few peers in central Illinois. His influ- 
ence with a jury and his success were wonderful. As a stump speaker, he also excelled, being an 
adroit and powerful debater and a fine rhetorician. People would go a longdistance to hear him. 

Mr. Ross was a member of the state legislature from 1840 to 1844, serving in that body with 
Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Thomas Drummond, Governor Bissell, and other men 



^62 VNlTED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

since quite distinguished in tlie annals of the state and nation. He was also a member of the 
last two constitutional conventions, and his fine legal mind was of great service in such bodies. 
Mr. Ross served one year in the Mexican war, being captain of company K, 4th Illinois regiment 
Colonel E. D. Baker, commander. 

He was elected to Congress in 1862, and served three terms. He has always affiliated with 
the democratic party, and has repeatedly represented it in state and national conventions. He 
was a delegate to the Charleston and Baltimore conventions which met in 1S60, and he aided in 
nominating Judge Douglas at the latter place ; and was a delegate in 1876 to the convention 
which met at St. Louis and nominated Samuel J. Tilden, and to the Cincinnati convention which 
nominated General Hancock, in 1880. In politics, in law and in other respects, Mr. Ross has long 
been one of the f(n-emost citizens of Fulton county. 

Chi leaving congress, he was for a while engaged in mercantile pursuits, but retired from busi- 
ness some years ago, devoting most of his time latterly to taking care of his property. He has 
about twenty-five hundred acres of excellent farm land in this county, three hundred acres of it 
near Lewiston, and has considerable property in town. He has made a fine record both as a 
lawyer and a financier. 

June 13, 1839, Mr. Ross was joined in marriage with Miss Frances M. Simms, a native of Vir- 
ginia, and they have had twelve children, only six of them now living ; John W., a lawyer, is in 
Washington, District of Columbia ; Lewis C, Frank R., Pike C, and Jennie, are in Lewiston ; 
and Fann}' W. is the wife of H. J. Latshaw, of Kansas City, Missouri. 



COLONEL THOMAS HAMER. 

VERMONT. 

ONE of the older class of settlers and prominent men of Fulton count)' is Thomas Hamer, a 
resident of Vermont since 1846. He was born in Union county, Pennsylvania, June i, 1818, 
being a son of James and Elizabeth (Seibert) Hamer. His father was born in the same state, and 
was a son of Thomas Hamer, who came from Scotland to Pennsylvania before the revolution, 
settled in Northumberland county, and was the first sheriff of that county. This progenitor of 
the family in this country married Elizabeth Lyon, and they had eight children, the seventh child 
being James, who settled in Vermont in 1846, and was here engaged in farming until his death in 
1871. The mother of our subject died in 1877. , 

Thomas was reared on a farm ; had a thorough academic education in his native state, and taught 
a school at Table Grove during the first winter that he spent in this state. He had been a clerk 
in a store before leaving the East, and on finishing his school here, took a similar situation with 
Joab Mershon, holding it for two years. He then formed a partnership with James A. Russell 
and Richard Johnson in the dry-goods trade, and the firm did a thrifty business until the spring 
of 185 1, when the store was plundered and burnt, entailing a heavy loss — heavy for country mer- 
chants. 

Mr. Hamer was in partnership with E. and P. Hamer, cousins, from 1856 to 1861, when the war 
broke out ; and when the 3d Illinois cavalry was mustered in, he was appointed first major. He 
resigned in a short year, and aided in raising the 84th Illinois infantry, of which he was commis- 
sioned lieutenant-colonel. Colonel Hamer was slightly wounded at the battle of Stone River, 
but refused to absent himself from the field the next day, and behaved himself so gallantly that 
his men gave him a gold watch as a testimonial of their admiration of his bravery. His wound 
finally compelled him to resign. 

In 1864, Colonel Hamer resumed the mercantile business, which he carried on until 1876, when 
he sold out. He is a justice of the peace and a notary public, and the former office largely occu- 
pies his time. He does a general collecting business, and deals also in real estate. He is a strictly 
honest man, and prompt as well as reliable. He has been a member of the town council, county 



UNITED STATES BrOGRArmCAL D/CT/O.VARY. 563 

supervisor, etc., and has always shown a good deal of public spirit and enterprise. He drew up 
the orioinal bill for the charter of the Peoria and Hannibal railroad, now part of the Buda and 
Kushville branch of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad, and was one of the directors, 
and later the vice president of that road. 

He has been quite prominent in politics, and at three autumn elections was a republican can- 
didate for the legislature in a strong democratic county, drawing more than the full party vote, 
and running a long way ahead of his ticket. He has been a delegate to every county convention 
of his party since he came into the state, and is often a delegate to state conventions. He was 
made president of the annual army reunion held at Springfield in 1880. The Colonel holds a 
membership in The Joe Hooker Post (Canton), oi the Grand Army of the Republic, and is i)resi- 
dent of the Fulton County Soldiers' Reunion. In Freemasonry .he belongs to the chapter and 
council; is well known among the brotherhood of the state, and is also high up in Odd-Fellow- 
ship, having taken all the degrees pertaining to the order. 

Colonel Hamer has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church for many years ; has 
held different offices in that body ; is superintendent of the Sunday school, and is known among 
the Christian workers in the southern part of the county, as earnest and indefatigable in his efforts 
to do good. 

In 1850 he was married to Miss Harriet E. Johnson, daughter of Franklin Johnson, a native of 
New York state, and they had seven children, only two of them now living ; Wylie, wife of Ansel 
Amrine, produce dealer, Vermont, and Le Ray, late a student at Hedding College, Abingdon, 
and now a cadet at West Point. Mrs. Hamer died April 13, 1871, and the Colonel was married 
to Miss Mary M. Johnson, sister of his first wife, August 10, 1S76. 



MERTON DUNLAP. 

PAXTON. 

MERTON DUNLAP is a native of the town of Leyden, Cook county, Illinois, and was born 
October iB, 1845, the son of the late Hon. M. L. and Emiline (Pierce) Dunlap, both of 
whom were natives of New York state. His father was a farmer by occupation and a man of 
decided character and widely felt influence. He was, until his death, a prominent writer for hor- 
ticultural and agricultural journals, and was the agricultural correspondent of the Chicago "Tri- 
bune" for twenty-five years. While farming in Champaign county, where he moved in 1857, he 
engaged extensively in the nursery business, and was one of the most successful in that line in Illi- 
nois, and although he has passed away, the fruits of his labors are found on many farms in the 
Northwest, and his old homestead, which is still the home of his widow, has on it one of the finest 
orchards of the state, containing ninety acres of well selected fruit trees. 

Merton received his early education in the public schools, subsequently attending the Illinois 
College, at Jacksonville, for two sessions, and obtained a good practical English education. He 
has a practical knowledge of the German language, having spoken it from boyhood, and has since 
been a close student of science, and has never ceased to avail himself of any opportunity for 
improvement. He was brought up in the occupation of his father, and for a time followed the 
same business, being one of the nursery firm of M. L. Dunlap and Sons, Champaign county, 
where he continued until 1872, when he moved to Patton township. Ford county, and there 
engaged in the same pursuits, and met with good success, building up a very flourishing business. 

In 1873 Mr. Dunlap was, to his great surprise, and without any solicitation on his part, nomi- 
nated for county clerk. There were several candidates before the convention, and no one having 
a majority, Mr. Dunlap, who was secretary of the convention, was taken up and nominated 
almost unanimously. At his second and third nominations he had no opposition in his own 
party, and at his last election his popularity was shown to such an- extent that his political oppo- 
nents made no nomination against him, and placed his name on their tickets. 



564 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPinCAI. P/CTIONAkV. 

Since he began his official career Mr. Dunlap has given up his agricultural pursuits, devoting 
all his spare time to the study of law, and in 1880 was admitted by the supreme court as a mem- 
ber of the Illinois bar. He has also given some attention to journalism, and is a frequent and 
highly appreciated contributor of the press. 

In religion Mr. Dunlap is a Methodist, and a prominent worker in the Paxton Methodist Epis- 
copal Church and an earnest worker in the Sabbath school, of which he is superintendent, which 
position he has held for the past eleven years. In discharging his religious duties he displays 
the same earnestness as in business affairs, and does valuable service in his religious work. 

He married, September 26, 1867, Miss Mattie L. Beecher, a lady descended from good old Con- 
necticut stock and Puritan ancestry, and a distant relative of the well known Beecher family, 
posssesing high attainments and distinguished for her marked womanly and Christian virtues. 
They have had three children, Harry, Edith and Cora, two of whom, Harry and Cora, are living. 
The oldest daughter, Edith, died in 1881. 

Mr. Dunlap is a republican in politics, and always participates in a political canvass. He is a 
member of the Paxton school board, has fine literary tastes, and has collected a very large and 
carefulh' selected librar)'. 

He is a member of the Masonic order, and an officer in Mount Olivet Commandery. His good 
conversational powers, his kindly and humane disposition, and other fine social traits, greatly 
endear him to his neighbors and his large circle of acquaintances. 



RICHARD K. RICHARDSON. 

CfflCAGO. 

THE subject of this sketch, an eminently self-made man, was born of Danish parentage, off 
the coast of Denmark, on one of the islands in the North Sea, and under the dominion 
of the Danish king. His father was engaged in pastoral pursuits, and until thirteen years of 
age Richard was employed herding sheep and cattle upon the farm which his father owned, and 
also attended the public schools, the system of instruction being similar to that prevailing in the 
United States. 

When a boy he was possessed of a roving disposition, and having heard the stories of the wild 
adventures upon the sea, resolved that he himself would test them. Accordingly, when but thir- 
teen years of age, he embarked on board a whaler bound for Santa Cruz. Before they had been 
many days at sea the vessel was cast away, and our subject, with others of the ship's crew, 
attempted to make the shore in a boat. In this, however, they were unsuccessful, for the boat was 
capsized, and the boy was saved from his peril only by the timely help of a colored native, who 
came to his rescue, and taking him upon his back swam with him to the shore. Upon inquiry 
the rescued sailors found themselves upon one of the Cape Verde Islands, where they remained 
among the natives some three weeks, living upon roasted corn and goats' milk and sleeping in a 
stable upon a bed of straw, and sheltered from the sea breeze by their tarpaulins. When picked 
up they were taken to Rio Janeiro, the trip lasting about two months. Here young Richardson 
left his companions, who applied to the Danish consul for assistance and passports to Danish 
ports, and with that enterprise and independence which has characterized his subsequent life, 
shipped upon the Brannen, in command of Captain Wenke, in whom he found a true friend, and 
with whom he sailed some three years. 

After leaving the employ of Captain Wenke he took passage on an American ship to New 
York, whence he shipped on board the Shakespeare for Portugal. On this latter voyage he was 
wrecked at sea, but being rescued applied to the American consul for help, and through his 
assistance secured a situation on board a Spanish vessel. He was next engaged in the cattle trade 
between Rio Janeiro and Monteviedo, but the business being unsuited to his tastes he soon 
abandoned it and returned to New York. Here he took a situation on a European packet ship, 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 565 

which plied between Bremen and New York, under Captain Blancke, and continued thus employed 
for about three years. It was on his last trip to New York that he formed the acquaintance of 
Miss Elizabeth Roese, to whom he was married by Rev. James Hartman immediately upon 
arriving at that port. Two days later he started for the West, and settled at Chicago, where he 
at once began working in the lumber business on the docks. Soon afterward he secured a situation 
with the North-Western Railway Company, and by carefully husbanding his resources he was 
ablet to invest in real estate, and in a few years found himself possessed of a handsome competency. 

Still retaining his old love for the sailor's life, he passed the summer of 1852 sailing upon the 
lakes. In the fall of the same year he became superintendent, having charge of about two hun- 
dred hands, in a sail-making establishment, but was compelled to give up the position on account 
of failing health. His ne.xt business association was with a mercantile house, where he showed 
such adaptability and efficiency that he was soon promoted to the position of salesman, with a 
salary of $3,500. 

With this he was gradually adding to his little fortune, which was constantly increasing under 
his careful management, when occurred the great fire of October 9, 1S71, involving him in the 
loss of some ten thousand dollars. But with that spirit of determination which characterized so 
many of Chicago's business men during the trials of that dire disaster, he again went to work, 
continuing in the employ of the same mercantile house until 1873. At that time there being some 
indications of growing activity in real estate, Mr. Richardson invested a large amount of money 
in the suburb of Jefferson. The investment, however, was an unfortunate one, and he soon dis- 
posed of his interest to the gentleman with whom he had engaged in the enterprise. 

Such is the brief outline of our subject's life-history. Through all his busy and varied career 
he has been known as a self-reliant, enterprisiijg, honest man, and still, with the strength and 
vigor of a sturdy manhood, devotes his attention to his business with unabated energy. As seen 
from the simple story of his life, he began with nothing save his own native talents, and by 
persistent effort and determination never to give up, has risen from obscurity to a position of 
influence. 

JAMES W. ENGLISH. 

CARROLLTON. 

JAMES WARTH ENGLISH, one of the leading members of the Greene county bar, is a son of 
Doctor Nathaniel English, and Hannah (Warth) English, and was born in Mason county, 
West Virginia, March 11, 1829. His father was a prominent physician, and died at Jacksonville, 
in 1881. His maternal grandfather, John Warth, was a scout in the second contest with England. 
In the spring of 1836 Doctor English went to Saint Louis, Missouri, and in December of that year 
came into this state, settling at Jacksonville, where our subject finished his education in Illinois 
College, being graduated in 1848. 

He read law at first with Hon. Richard Yates, afterward governor of the state, and William 
Brown, and subsequently with David A. Smith. He was admitted to practice in the courts of Illi- 
nois in 1850, in the federal courts in 1S60, and in the supreme court of the United States in 1873. 
Like many other young lawyers, Mr. English had a hard struggle during the first four or five 
years of his professional life, but he was studious and painstaking, and gradually worked his way 
upward, and for years has stood in the front rank among the attorneys in this part of the state. 
In 1856, as we learn from the "History of Greene County," Mr. English came^to Carrollton, 
where his ability was soon recognized, and the following year he was elected to fill the responsi- 
ble position of state's attorney. He served in that capacity in an able manner until i860. 

In 1869 Mr. English was elected to the constitutional convention, and proved an industrious 
worker and valuable member of that body, serving on such important committees as those of 
revision and adjustment, finance, state institutions and public buildings, etc. 

In 187 1 Mr. English moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, and returned to Carrollton in August, 



566 UNITED STATES BIOCHAPHICA I. DICTIONARY. 

'i-^Tl. Here he has done his best work at the bar; here his talents are best appreciated, and here 
he has achieved his best success. He is noted for his generous fund of intelligence, his shrewd- 
ness, his faithfulness to his client, his deference to the court and his honesty in the profession, 
and in all the relations in life. 

Mr. English is a Knight Templar, has been master of the local lodge, and high priest of the 
chapter, and he has passed through all the degrees in Odd P'ellowship. His political affiliations 
have always been with the democratic party. 

Two years after being admitted to practice at Jacksonville, Mr. English married (October 6, 
1852) Eliza, daughter of Henry Stryker, formerly a merchant, Jacksonville, and sister of Henry 
Stryker, Jr., an attorne)f-at-law, in that city. The fruit of this union is six children, all yet living 
but Maria. The names of the others are Julia, Clara L., Charlotte, Nathaniel and Henry. 



HON. JOHN D. CATON, LL.D. 

CHICAGO. 

J(.)HN DEAN CATON was born in Mt)nroe, Orange county, New Vork, March 19, iSi:;. His 
grandfather, once connected with the British army, settled on the Potomac in Virginia, where 
he resided at the time of the revolution. Two of his sons joined the patriots, one of whom. Rob- 
ert, was only fourteen years of age. Having served througli the war, Robert settled down as a 
farmer near the Hudson. He laid down his arms as a soldier, but became at the same lime a 
preacher among the Friends, of which society he was a zealous member. John was the fifteenth 
child and twelfth son of this venerable patriarch, who died when he was three 3'ears old. Soon 
afterward his family removed to Paris, Oneida county. Here, at the age of five, the boy com- 
menced attending the common school. At the age of nine he began to work industrious!}' on the 
farm during the spring and summer, and during the winter months he pursued with avidity his 
studies in the district school. At si.xteen, he entered the academy at Utica, where he remained 
one year, and at seventeen commenced teaching. He entered the Grosvenor high school at Rome, 
in 1S41, and pursued his studies with zeal and ardor, applying himself specially to surveying. 
Upon leaving the academy, he commenced the study of the law with Beardsley and Matterson at 
Utica. In 1833 he started for Michigan, where he learned of a hitherto unknown place, called 
Chicago, to which he directed his footsteps, and found it chiefly a colleetion of rude huts, in a 
low, swampy place, containing about two hundred persons. His office was at first peripatetic, 
and for his consultations he occupied the most convenient bo.x or barrel. He was the first attor- 
ney who instituted a suit in a court of record of Cook county. On a brig, Queen Charlotte, being 
the same brig that was taken from the British by Commodore Perry, he tried the first jury cases 
ever tried in Cook, Will and Kane counties. 

To gain admittance to the bar, he was compelled to journey to Greenville, Bond countv, a dis- 
tance of three hundred miles, on horseback, the journey being through the silent forests and 
almost untrodden prairies, stretching from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River. A severe and pro- 
tracted illness resulted from this journey, on recovering from which Mr. Caton applied himself 
with assiduity to his profession. In 1835 h^ returned to New Hartford, New York, where he was 
married to Laura Adelaide Sherrill, and the wedding trip was made by way of the lakes to Chi- 
cago. In 1836 he formed a partnership with N. B. Judd, a former schoolmate and friend. 

In 1839 Mr. Caton, owing to failing health, removed to Plainfield, Illinois, where he purchased 
a farm of fifteen hundred acres, and for several years was at once farmer and lawyer. With 
returning vigor he bestowed more time upon his practice, and in 1842 Governor Carlin appointed 
him as judge of the supreme court of the state for the winter. There were then nine judges, each 
presiding over a circuit in the summer, and together holding the appellate court in the winter. 
Being at this time but thirty years of age, he failed of an election to the supreme bench; but 
Governor Ford soon appointed him to fill another vacancy. He was elected by the legislature on 







■'-.'-'■ v^ y ^vv - TTTc^'T'Tr'Tr' T'lir 



ILLINOIS. 



UNITED STATES PIOGKAPlflCAl D/CT/OA'A R V. 569 

the expiration of his second appointment, and served until, in 1S49, the supreme court was reor- 
iTanized under the new constitution. He was then chosen as one of the three judges of that court, 
Juds^es Trumbull and Treat being his associates. From that time he continued upon the supreme 
bench until 1864, when he resigned, having served in the temple of justice for about twenty-two 
years, during more than six years of which he presided as chief-justice. 

Having studied telegraphy, and becoming greatly interested in the art, he constructed the Illi- 
nois and Mississippi linQS, which in 1867 were leased to the Western Union Telegraph Company. 

Of his many public addresses, perhaps the most remarkable are those made upon his resigna- 
tion from the supreme bench, and upon his presentation, on behalf of the western alumni, of the 
Perry H. Smith Library Hall, to the trustees of Hamilton College. As a literary man Judge 
Caton's style is simple, lucid, perspicuous and elegant. He is never sensational, never florid 01 
even highly ornate. He seeks to express his thoughts in the clearest manner, and in the most 
concise form consistent with an easy and graceful style. Some of his productions are really clas- 
sical in style and diction. 

Judge Caton's fame, however, must rest chiefly upon his judicial decisions, promulgated from 
the supreme bench, and which are contained in thirty volumes of the Illinois Reports. These 
opinions are models of style and monuments of research. 



ALFRED CASTLE, M.D. 

II' YO MING. 

ALFRED CASTLE, one of the older class of physicians and surgeons in central Illinois, is a 
L son of Samuel and Phebe (Parmlee) Castle, and was born in Sullivan, Madison county. New 
York, September 22, 1806. His father was born in Richmond, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, 
and was a music composer, a music teacher, and a cousin of General Ethan Allen. He belonged 
to an old Connecticut family, of Irish lineage. The Parmlees were of Belgian extraction. 

Our subject received an academic education, including Latin, studying part of the time with 
that eminent linguist, Doctor Silsbee, of Cazenovia, New York. He read medicine at Brockport 
and Pittsford, Monroe county, New York ; attended lectures at the Berkshire Medical College, 
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and the Vermont Medical 
College, Woodstock. He was also at one period a resident graduate at Harvard College, and 
likewise at the Massachusetts Hospital, Boston. Probably no medical man now living in Illinois 
has taken more pains to fit himself for his profession than Doctor Castle, or has ever had more fully 
the respect of the people in the bounds of his rides. He practiced two years at Brockport before 
taking his degree of doctor of medicine, which he chose to receive at the Berkshire school, and 
which was conferred in 1834. He was immediately invited to become a partner of Doctor Gideon 
Tabor, an eminent physician of Clarkson, Monroe county, with whom he practiced about two 
years. While thus engaged. May 19, 1835, Doctor Castle was married to Maria P. Dana, a 
daughter of Colonel Daniel Dana, who had command of the Vermont troops in 1812-14, and who 
held a commission under President Madison in the regular army. Her great-grandfather was 
General Israel Putnam ; and here we may add that Colonel Warner, who led the Vermont forces 
at the battle of Bennington, was a cousin of Ebenezer Castle, the grandfather of our subject. 

In June, 1836, Doctor Castle started for Peoria, leaving his young wife, like John Gilpin's, to 
follow after, but not immediately. The doctor came all the way to that city in a one-horse buggy. 
The Illinois V^alley was a sickly country forty and fifty years ago, and doctors had their hands full 
of business. As a literary writer (Schoolcraft) once remarked, a summer in the Illinois Valley, in 
these days, was equal in danger to a pitched battle. Doctor Castle lived through four or five 
years, but was then so reduced in health that he returned to the East, and spent between one and 
two years in Woodstock, Vermont, where he came in contact and competition with several emi- 
nent members of the fraternity — the faculty of a medical college. But he held his own, and. his 
56 



570 



UNl'rED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



health being restored, he returned to Peoria in 1842-. During the period that he was in practice 
there, he was benighted twenty nights, not daring to get off his horse for fear of rattlesnakes and 
wolves. He was known at Peoria as the people's friend, being most emphatically a self-sacrificing 
philanthropist. 

In 1836 there was only one house, six miles west of Peoria, between that city and Wyoming, 
Stark county, where he settled in 1843. For forty years this place has been regarded as his home, 
though at two different periods, perhaps ten years in all, he was at Waukesha, Wisconsin, sojourn- 
ing there merel)' because of the excellent educational advantages of the college there located. 
He has had five children, burying two of them in infancy. 

Doctor Castle was a leader in projecting and building the road of which his elder son is presi- 
dent. He spent much time and some money in putting this important enterprise through, and 
but for his untiring zeal and energies, it is doubtful if the road would have been built. 

Doctor Castle was in extensive practice until a few years ago, doing business in Chicago as 
well as here, particularly among railroad officials, and the employes of such roads. He has had 
as high as three telegrams in a single day, summoning him in as many directions. It is safe to 
say that no physician ever practiced in Stark county, who had greater popularity than Doctor 
Castle, or more fully the confidence of the people. In his house are many testimonials of the 
esteem in which he is held by parties who have had occasion to test his skill and success in their 
families, among the testimonials being a large crayon portrait of himself, an elegant chair, and 
a gold-headed cane, all presented to him, and other presents sent to his daughter and grand- 
children. 

Lateh^ Doctor Castle has done little more than office and consultation practice. Considering 
the amount of work he has done, laboring most of the time for seven days in a week, it is simply 
a wonder that he is alive to-day. His constitution is considerably impaired, but his mind is clear, 
his memory strong, and he is quite entertaining in the social circle. He is a republican of whig 
antecedents, a member ot the Episcopal church, and a man of unblemished and highly praise- 
worthy record. 

HON. JACOB W. REARICK. 

BEARDSTOWX. 

JACOB WILLIAM REARICK, late judge of Cass county, is a son of Jacob and Anna Maria 
(Frieze) Rearick, and was born in Berleburg, Prussia, March 17, 183,:;. He was the fifth ciiild 
in a family of seven children. When he was four years old (1837) the family came to this country, 
and settled in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, where Jacob received the ordinary mental training 
furnished by a common school. There, also, he learned the tinner's trade of his father. In 1854 
the subject of this sketch came to Beardstown, and two years afterward his father followed him, 
and died in 1868. His widow died in 1875. 

On settling in Beardstown our subject worked as a journeyman tinner with his older brother, 
Francis H. Rearick. Not long afterward they formed a partnership, and the firm of Rearick 
Brothers lasted for seventeen years. The brother is now at Galesburgh. Since 1874 the firm has 
been Rearick and Beatty, the partner being John J. Beatty, who is also an early settler and a 
prominent citizen of Beardstown. They deal in hollow ware, hardware and agricultural inple- 
ments, as well as in tin ware, and are doing a thrifty business. 

Mr. Rearick was at one time a bank director; has held the offices of alderman, school director, 
etc., and was for five years judge of Cass county, his term ending in December, 1882. He is 
faithful and efficient in every trust confided to him, and is a popular man in the county. His 
affiliations are with the democracy. 

Judge Rearick is a member of the Knights of Honor, and of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
a man of consistent profession and great sincerity of purpose. He belongs to a highly valuable 
class of citizens. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 57I 

He has a second wife; the first was Elizabeth Kuhl, daughter of George Kuhl, of Beardstown, 
married April 29, 1862, she dying April 17, 1863, leaving one son, George Francis, now a student 
at the Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, and the present wife was Amanda Sargent, daughter 
of W. L. Sargent, of Morgan county, married April 3, 1866. He has by her seven children; Elsie 
Ann, L\'dia, John Herman, Susan Alice, Frederick, Elizabeth, and Jennie. 

The present wife of Mr. Rearick is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was also 
the first wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Rearick are giving their children a good moral as well as mental 
training. The heads of this family are aiding by their Christian example to give tone to society 
in Beardstown. 



OLIVER WHITAKER. 

TOULON. 

AMONG the older class of settlers in what is now Stark county, Illinois, is Oliver Whitaker, 
Jr\. who settled here in 1837, and was the first county clerk. He has made an honorable record, 
and is one of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens ot the county. He was born in 
Tioga county, near Owego, New York, April 12, 1807, being the son of Gideon and Jane (Strope) 
Whitaker. His father was a New Englander; his mother of German parentage. 

Oliver attended school two winters in the village of Owego, and the rest of his education he 
obtained with himself for teacher. When he was only fourteen years old he lost his father, and 
the son took care of himself at that age. He learned the blacksmith's trade, but left it when 
twenty; went to Mansfield, Tioga coimty, Pennsylvania, and there spent ten years as clerk and 
superintendent of a large lumbering establishment. While there, in 183 1, he was married to Miss 
Olivia Wood, who died in child-bed two years afterward. In September, 1835, he was married to 
Miss Catherine B. Brodhead, a native of Tioga county. New York, born near his own birthplace, 
and in 1837 he brought his second wife to Illinois, and settled on land ten miles northeast of Tou- 
lon, and continued to cultivate it until 1843, when he moved to the county seat, his present home. 
Four years before that date (1839), o" f^^e organization of the county, he had been elected its 
clerk, but there was no court house completed and ready for use till four years later. 

Mr. Whitaker held the office of county clerk from 1839 to 1847; that of circuit clerk from 1843 
to 1852, and that of recorder and circuit clerk from 1848 to 1852. In the last-named year he 
formed a partnership with General Thomas J. Henderson in the law and real-estate business, the 
general attending to the law department and our subject to real estate. That relationship con- 
tinued for ten years, being dissolved in 1862, though they still hold some property, etc., in common. 
Part of the time, since a resident of Toulon, Mr. Whitaker has cultivated as high as two hundred 
acres of land, and he still cultivates about sixty, all of which adjoins the village. He has always 
been a busy man, and even now has no ambition to rust out. 

In 1869, just thirty years after he was elected the first clerk of the county, he was again placed 
in that office by his partial constituents, and he served them with his usual promptness and faith- 
fulness. He has also held several offices in the village corporation, and has been notary public 
for more than forty years. He is true to every trust, and has the unlimited confidence of the 
people who know him. 

Mr. Whitaker is an Odd-Fellow, and past grand representative of the order. In politics he 
was a democrat until 1854, when the pro-slavery leanings of the party led him to abandon it, and 
since then he has acted heartily with the great party of freedom. He was very active during the 
civil war in encouraging enlistments and looking after the interests of the soldiers, three of his 
own sons being among the number. 

Mr. Whitaker has had nine children by his second wife, who is still living, and is a sprightly 
and cheery old lady. Two of the children are dead, Charles H., who died in infancy, and Del- 
pliine, who married William W. Henry, and died in San Antonio, Te.xas, in 1875. Hannah J., the 
oldest child living, is the wife of Doctor S. S. Kaysbier, of Seneca, Kansas; Isaac is the keeper ol 



572 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPiriCAL DTCTIOETARY. 

a large restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri; Andrew J. is in tlie comptroller's office, Washington, 
D. C; Frederick H. is in the New Orleans custom house; Mary W. is the wife of Elijah H. 
Phelps, real-estate dealer, Kansas City; Kate is the wife of Henry Blood, farmer, of Valley, Stark 
county, and Stella is the wife of Frank Matthews, principal of the high school, Pekin, Illinois. 

Although past seventy-five years of age, Mr. Whitaker stands perfectly erect, and is quite 
elastic. He has been a total abstainer from intoxicants for nearly forty years, and after using 
tobacco for thirty years or more, abandoned that filthy and injurious habit. He is a gentleman of 
the old school, urbane in manners, cordial in disposition and has a pleasant salutation for every- 
body. May he live to round up his five-score years. 



ALEXANDER HULL, M.D. 

LEWISTON. 

ALEXANDER HULL, the leading physician and surgeon in Lewiston. and a prominent busi- 
L ness man in Fulton county, is a son of Philip and Sarah (McCracken) Hull, and was born 
in Licking county, Ohio, November i8, 1823. His grandfather, John Hull, was a revolutionary 
soldier. His father is a native of Harrison county, \'irginia. His mother, who is a daughter of 
Alexander McCracken, a noted pioneer Methodist minister of Ohio, of Scotch extraction, but a 
native of the North of Ireland, was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania. His parents moved 
to Licking county, Ohio, before they were married, their union taking place in 1820. There they 
remained until the autumn of 1838, when they brought their family, two sons and two daughters, 
to this county. Strange to say, both parents are still living, the father being in his eighty-eighth 
year and the mother in her eighty-second, and both in the enjoyment of good health and mental 
vigor. From the spring of 1839 to 1865 they were on a farm four miles north of Bernadotte, and 
since the latter date have been on a farm one mile northwest of Lewiston, their youngest daugh- 
ter, Eliza, residing with them. 

The other daughter, Sarah A., is the wife of James H. Randall, money loaner, Lewiston. 
William Wesley Hull, the only brother of our subject, is a farmer and stock raiser in Lewiston. 
He was captain of a company in the 17th Illinois infantry in the late civil war; is a prominent 
republican, like his father, and twice has been the standard bearer of his party for sheriff in a 
democratic county, coming the last time within two votes of an election, his competitor being 
David J. Waggoner, then one of the most popular men for that position in the democratic ranks 
in the county. 

The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools of Ohio and of Fulton county; 
continued to work on his father's farm until 1844, when he commenced teaching school, following 
that profession for three years. From boyhood up, he had a taste for reading, and by improving 
his spare hours while on the farm and while teaching, he acquired a good education. In 1847 he 
turned his attention to the study of medicine in the office of his cousin, Doctor Abram Hull, of 
Fulton county. He attended a course of lectures at Saint Louis, another at Rush Medical Col- 
lege, Chicago, and received his diploma at the latter institution in February, 1850. 

Doctor Hull commenced practice at Cuba, in this county, in the spring of 1850, and remained 
there for ten years, his rides being extensive and his success quite encouraging. Several difficult 
surgical operations which he performed greatly increased his reputation for skill. It was there 
that he learned that " nothing succeeds like success." 

In the exciting and memorable political campaign of i860 the democrats placed him on their 
ticket for clerk of the circuit court and recorder of Fulton county. He was elected, moved to 
Lewiston, was reelected in 1864, and held the office for eight consecutive years. His official labors 
were performed largely by deputies, yet he never lost sight of the various details of the office, 
and saw that everything was done in the best possible manner, he meanwhile keeping up his medi- 
cal and surgical practice, which he continues with his usual vigor. Perhaps no man outside of 



UN/TED STATES BWGIiAPN/CAL DICTIONARY. 573 

the large cities has performed more important surgical operations than he. His many years 
of successful practice of his profession in this county gives him now the advantage of an extended 
and large consultation practice. This, in addtion to the other matters in which he is inter- 
ested, makes him a truly busy man. 

The doctor has written some for medical periodicals, and also for political and other news- 
papers, he wielding a ready and pointed pen. It is by such literary work that he has helped on 
some important local enterprises. He is ambitious, energetic and public-spirited, and in the 
spring of 1870, in connection with other prominent citizens of Fulton county, the Fulton Coal 
Company was organized, with Doctor Hull for president. That office he still holds, and to his judi- 
cious management and unflagging energies is due no doubt, in a large measure, the wonderful suc- 
cess of this enterprise. He has also taken a great interest in educational matters, and especially 
in his own town. He is president of the Lewiston school board, and has been for the last eight 
or ten years. 

Doctor Hull was married in November, 1S51, to Miss Nancy Permelia Heckard, of this county, 
and they have one daughter, Carrie, who is a student at Saint Mary's School, Knoxville. 

Doctor Hull is not only public-spirited and energetic, but social and cordial in disposition, 
with the manners of a gentleman. He is also a man of good morals and of strictly temperance 
habits, and he is well calculated to make and retain friends. He is one of the best-known citi- 
zens of Fulton county, and belongs to a class who have done much to develop its material 
interests. 

In the case of* Doctor Hull the fact is demonstrated that a boy may commence poor, and by 
dint of industry and honesty by middle life may acquire a competency, and while he does not call 
himself wealthy, he owns, in addition to other property, some two thousand acres of land, a good 
deal of which is under cultivation. 



HON. A. Y. TROGDON. 

PARIS. 

AV. TROGDON wasborn in Edgar county, Illinois, July 8, 1833. His parents, Samuel and 
. Eleanor (Swafford) Trogdon, both natives of North Carolina, settled in Illinois about 1827, 
where his father followed the occupations of blacksmith and tanner. Judge Trogdon is truly the 
architect of his own fortune. When but ten years of age he was thrown upon his own resources, 
and going to the state of Iowa, was there engaged for a number of years in driving oxen and other 
manual labor. His educational advantages were meager, and his early education was secured 
wholly by his own indefatigable efforts after his day's work was done. With a native fondness 
for study, he made the most of his opportunities, and, by treasuring up his hard-earned savings 
was enabled to attend Asbury University. After completing his studies he settled in Minnesota, 
and opened up a farm, but not being satisfied with that country he left it and settled in Terre 
Haute, Indiana, and began the study of law under the instruction of Usher and Patterson. By 
close application and diligent study he fitted himself for examination, and in 1857 was admitted 
to the bar. 

He immediately began the practice of his profession at that place, but the following year 
removed to Paris, Illinois, where he has since resided and won an enviable reputation in his prac- 
tice, in which he has been actively engaged for a number of years. He has taken an active part 
in politics, being an earnest republican, and in i860 was elected town clerk. In the following 
year (1865) he was overwhelmingly elected judge on the republican ticket, although his county is 
largely democratic. In i86g he was elected mayor of Paris. 

Upon retiring from his judgeship. Judge Trogdon devoted himself exclusively to his profes- 
sion, and built up a large and desirable clientage, becoming known as an able counsellor and con- 
vincing advocate. In 1877 he was again elected judge, and in like manner again honored in icS82, 
the constitutional convention extending his term for one year. 



574 



UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHTCAI. DICTIONARY- 



In 1859 Judge Trogdon married Miss Mary C. Clapp, a native of North Carolina. Four 
daughters and two sons have been born to them. The eldest, Alice, is a successful teacher. The 
second, Jessie, is a notary public, and has been actively engaged in her father's law office. 

As a lawyer, Judge Trogdon is an ornament to his profession; as a judge, he is known for his 
uprightness, fairness and profound knowledge of the law; while as a man and citizen he is 
respected and esteemed for his public-spiritedness and true manly character. 



ROBERT BLACKSTOCK. 

PAXTON. 

AMONG the pioneers of Ford county is Robert Blackstock. He was born in western Canada, 
L\. Ontario, August 3, 1827. His parents were Rev. Moses Blackstock, a Methodist clergyman, 
of marked Christian piety, and Jane (Morrow) Blackstock, a lady of true womanly and Christian 
virtues. Both of them were of Scotch descent; his paternal grandfather, a Presbyterian clergy- 
man, was a chaplain for a Scottish colony under Lord Farnham, and located in County Caven, 
Ireland, near Dublin. The father of our subject united with the Methodist church in the city of 
Dublin, under the preaching of Gideon Ousley, a Methodist missionary from England. After his 
conversion he came to Canada as a Methodist missionary, bringing with him hisvvife, to whom he 
had been married about two years. Remaining there until 1858, he then left Canada and moved 
to La Fayette, Indiana, and united with the Northwestern Indiana Conference, where he was in 
active service until the time of his death, which occurred in September, 1876. 

Mr. Blackstock received his early education in Canada, and was brought up under strict relig- 
ious influence, and received a thorough general knowledge, and Christian discipline. When 
nineteen years of age he went to learn the trade of a harness maker, which he followed very 
successfully for eight years, when he removed to Shawnee Mound, Indiana. Here he remained 
for two years; engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1858 he moved to Ford county, three 
miles west of the present site of Paxton, and there engaged in farming and stock-raising for 
twelve years, and accumulated considerable property. In 1870 he moved to the city of Paxton, 
and engaged to some extent in the banking business, and in 1873 became cashier of the Ford 
county bank, of which he was a heavy stock-holder, which position he still fills very satisfacto- 
rily. In politics he is a republican, but has never taken any active part in political matters. 

He is an earnest and consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he was 
reared, and he is an active Sunda)r-school worker, and was one of the organizers of the First 
Church of Paxton. 

Mr. Blackstock was married in February, 1856, to Miss Emily Meharry, daughter of Hugh 
Meharrv, of Shawnee Mound, Indiana. 



H 



HENRY T. FOSTER. 

BEARDSTOWN. 

ENRY TRUE FOSTER, one of the oldest business men of Beardstown still living here, 
and always one of its most enterprising citizens, is a native of Union, Lincoln county, 
Maine. He was born February 3, 1815. He is a great-grandson of Edward Foster, who came 
from England to Massachusetts about the middle of the eighteenth century. Edward Foster, the 
grandfather of our subject, was born in 1752. Robert Foster, the father, was born in Boston, 
Massachusetts, November 4, 1773. He married Maria Emerson, of Hampstead, New Hampshire, 
her native state, October 24, 1799. Robert Foster was a large shipper and ship owner, but during 
the war of 181 2-14 his property was mostly destroyed or taken by the enemy, and he moved to 
Maine with liis wife and six cliildren. The oldest son, Robert Nesbit Foster, was liorn Christmas 



UNITED STATES BIOGKATHICAL DICTIONARY. 575 

eve, 1800. He finally moved to New York city, where he was for many years an importing mer- 
chant of Gold street. He died at his home at Bloomfield, New Jersey, in 1847. He left three 
sons, one of whom, Edward E. Foster, is a resident of Beardstown — a commercial traveler. Rob- 
ert Foster and wife had, in Maine, five children, making eleven, of whom Henry T. was the ninth 
child. The family moved to Thomaston, in Lincoln county, in 1826, where the mother died, July 
1, 1831. 

The SLd)ject of this sketch finished his education at Warren and Newcastle Academies, at sev- 
enteen years of age, and soon after left his home, went to Bangor, and there spent three years 
in the clothing store of Thomas Furber, the first store of the kind in that city. Mr. Foster's 
father having lands in Illinois, the family concluded to go to the Great West. The father, two 
sons and two daughters left Thomaston early in September, 1835. Stopping two weeks in New 
York, where were two sons, Robert N. and Benjamin Emerson, they pursued their journey, by 
way of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, arriving at Jacksonville, 
October 24, 1835. The family, excepting the subject of our sketch, soon moved to Rushville, 
Illinois, he finding employment in the store of Horn, Babb and Spence, at Beardstown. The 
father and daughters concluded to return to the East, leaving Rushville in the spring of 1836. 
They settled in Westchester, Pennsylvania, where Robert Foster died, July 30, 1847. The brother, 
Abner Foster, * soon after came to this county, and the two have been more or less associated in 
business. 

Our subject has been a farmer, a manufacturer of flour, a merchant, and pork buyer and 
packer, as well as a large dealer in grain, and altogether, for more than forty years, was one of 
the leading men of the place, interesting himself, meanwhile, in every enterprise calculated to 
build up the town or to benefit the community. In 1868 he was placed at the head of the muni- 
cipality of Beardstown, and thereby new life was infused into an old and important enterprise. 
We learn from the "Cass County Atlas," and from other reliable sources of information, that the 
management of the Saint Louis, Alton and Rock Island Railroad Company, having expended 
the money and energies of the people along the line, suffered the road to lie dormant for ten 
years, the work done going to waste, and no outlet by rail for the produce of the country, though 
merchants, farmers and others had paid heavily in expectation of such accommodation. Mr. 
Foster determined to resuscitate this enterprise. By correspondence with Judge George Greene, 
of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and H. H. Bood)', of New York, assurance of aid was obtained. The 
attention of other public-spirited men of Beardstown and along the proposed line was thus turned 
to the work, and a spirit of enterprise infused into the people, that led to results. They made 
arrangements with Judge Greene to come over the route, and examine the line and the work. 
Judge Greene was subsequently made president of the company, and work commenced. A depot 
and offices were built at Beardstow'n, the grading of the road was pushed, and rails soon began 
to be laid from that city southward, and before the expiration of 1869 the road was completed, 
and cars were running nearly to Whitehall, and continued to Saint Louis during 1870, thus giv- 
ing Beardstown an outlet, in addition to that by the Illinois River, and marking an important 
epoch in the business history of this city. 

To the energetic spirit of Mr. Foster and E. B. Leonard was due the extension to Beardstown 
of the Northwestern, Springfield and Southeastern (now a branch of the Ohio and Mississippi) 
road. This road is valuable and important, giving a direct eastern and southeastern outlet to all 
Atlantic coast cities. 

It is doubtful if there is another resident of the city who has devoted so much time and 
energy, or more means, to the fostering of the material and general interests of the place and 

*Abner Foster, above mentioned, was born in Union, Lincoln county, Maine, in 1S17; came to Schuyler county, 
this state, in 1S35; settled in Beardstown in 1838, and was successively a merchant, miller and lumber dealer; also a 
farmer for many years. He was president of the Cass County Bank for some years, resigning in 1S7S. Like his 
brother, he has been a thoroughgoing business man, and enjoys the high esteem of the people. He has a wife living, 
but his children are all dead. 



576 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

county as Mr. Foster. He is, and has long been, a trustee, and is now a deacon, of the Congre- 
gational Church, and a man of libeaal Christian character, much esteemed by all. In politics he 
was formerly a whig, of the Henry Clay school, and in 1856 one of the few advocates in this sec- 
tion of free soil. He was a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln; an admirer of the man, and an 
enthusiast for his election to the presidency. 

Mr. Lincoln appointed Mr. Foster postmaster at Beardstown in 1861, which office he held for 
more than six years, then yielding up the office for non-support of Andrew Johnson. He made 
an efficient and popular postmaster. For some years he was a member of the republican state 
central committee, and an active and efficient worker for the interests of the party, in which work 
he always had the aid of his sons in active campaign. 

Mr. Foster was married at Beardstown, January i, 1839, to Miss Mary De Haven, of Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania. They have two sons, Edwin C. Foster, at Beardstown, a general business 
man, and Robert H. Foster, a merchant, at Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Foster is of good New 
England stock; brought with him to the West the best elements of that stock, honesty and integ- 
rity, and his influence in this city has always been salutary and elevating. 



LORIN GRANT PRATT. 

CHICAGO. 

AS an example of self-reliant, independent and successful manhood, no one deserves more 
. honorable mention among the self-made men of Illinois than the subject of this biography. 
He was a native of Chenango county, New York, and was born near Binghamton, December 5, 
1828, and was the son of John and Clarisa Pratt. As a boy he possessed undaunted courage, 
self-reliance and untiring energy, and with a native instinct for study, early developed a love foi 
literary pursuits. He attended the public schools of his native place, and although deprived of 
the opportunity of pursuing a course of classical study in college, by a faithful employment of his 
time he gained a practical knowledge of men and books, which was, perhaps, of more real value 
to him in his active life. When fifteen years of age, he was thrown upon his own resources, and 
during the ensuing five years turned his hand to various kinds of employment, devoting all his 
spare hours to reading and study. His mind was early turned toward the legal profession, by 
being brought into contact with such men as David S. Dickinson, and other eminent lawyers of 
his native state, and he determined to fit himself for its duties. With this purpose in view lie, in 
1848, removed to the West, and settled at Peoria, Illinois, and there, in the office of J. K. Cooper, 
began studying for the profession, in which he afterward won most satisfactory success. Three 
years afterward, in 1851, he was admitted to the bar, and forming a partnership with William F. 
Brj'ant, immediately began the practice of his profession. This partnership continued about one 
year, and during that time Mr. Pratt made the acquaintance of Judge Norman H. Purple, an able 
lawyer and jurist of Peoria, who was associated in business with a Mr. Sanger. Judge Purple, 
being attracted by the ability and lawyer-like qualities of the young attorney, proposed that he 
become one of the firm, an offer which was accepted, and our subject became the junior member 
of the firm of Purple, Sanger and Pratt. This relation continued until 1857, and during that 
time the business of the firm was more extensive than that of any law firm outside of Chicago 
doing business in the state. "Mr. Pratt was not possessed of a robust constitution, and close appli- 
cation to study and work had so impaired his health that he was forced to abandon his profes- 
sion for a time, and devote himself to other employment. An opportunity soon opened. Pur- 
chasing an interest in the Peoria Plow Works, he gave his attention to the business of the concern, 
with Tobey and Anderson, until the opening of the rebellion in 1861, when he bought out his 
partners, and became sole proprietor of the business, and continued it until he had amassed a 
fortune of some $200,000. It had been well if he had stopped there; but his ambition and enter- 
prise prompted him to extend his business to other cities, which necessitated the association of 




ku/^ 




j^:^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIO.VARY. 579 

(ilher partncr.s, the result of wliicli was the loss of a large part of his accumulations. This 
occurred in 1871. It was at such a crisis that his true character asserted itself. Althwugh the 
management of his extensive enterprise had fallen upon him, he had kept himself posted in 
matters pertaining to the law, carefully watching the decisions of the supreme court, and being 
almost daily in the office of Alexander McCoy, drawing bills in chancery and attending to mat- 
ters pending in court, so that he was thoroughly qualified to resume the practice of the profes- 
sion, to which he was devoted. Accordingly, in 1872, he removed to Chicago, and became one of 
the well known firm of Harding, McCoy and Pratt." Three years later, George F. Harding with- 
drew from the business, which had become very extensive, and the name of the firm changed to 
McCoy and Pratt, and so continued until Mr. Pratt's death, which occurred at Chicago, Septem- 
ber 23, 1 88 1. 

At the time of his death Mr. Pratt had attained an enviable reputation as a corporation law- 
yer. He had for some years been the general solicitor of the Chicago, Pekin and Southwestern 
Railroad Company, and was frequently retained as counsel in the most imp(jrtant railroad litiga- 
tion by other railroads. 

As a lawyer, Mr. Pratt was careful and conscientious, and honored his profession. Far-sighted 
and shrewd in the management of business matters, he possessed a high degree of honor, and in 
all his dealing was a man of uncompromising integrity. He was a man of fixed principles and 
decided purpose, and as a speaker possessed the happy faculty of saying the right thing at the 
right time, and that, too, in a manner to carry conviction to those whom he addressed. 

Though strong in his likes and dislikes, and quick to resent a wrong, he was a genial and social 
companion, and a true friend. 

Mr. Pratt was married July 9, 1851, t(.) Mary E. Ireson, daughter of E. A. Ireson, a Methodist 
clergyman of Boston, Massachusetts, and Mary (Goodwin) Ireson. In his home life and domestic 
relations Mr. Pratt was kind, gentle and true, and here were displayed many noble qualities of 
the man which were best known by his nearest friends. Though never possessed of a strong and 
robust constitution, he was a great worker, and by persistent effort, in the face of many discour- 
agements, pushed his way upward to an honorable position in his profession, making for himself 
a name that cannot but be respected by all who knew him. 



ABEL C. THOMPSON. 

PAXTOiV. 

ABEL CARPENTER THOMPSON was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, in i8j8. His 
. parents, John and Mary (Gardner) Thompson, were among the early settlers of Pennsyl- 
vania. After pursuing his studies in the public schools of Wyoming Valley he went to Har- 
tnrd Academy, at Harford, Pennsylvania. Leaving school before completing his education, he 
went to Pittston, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged in mercantile business for a number of 
years, which was finally developed into the lumber and coal business, in which he was remarkably 
successful. At the same time he dealt largely in real estate. 

While in Pittston, Mr, Thompson gave considerable attention to journalism, and for three 
years edited the Pittston "Gazette," a republican journal of considerable note. By reason of 
overwork his health became greatly impaired, and in 1868, for the benefit of his health, he removed 
to the West, and settled at Paxton, his present home, and immediately went into the banking busi- 
ness with S. J. Toy. For three and a half years they conducted a private bank, which, at the end 
of that time, in 1871, became the First National Bank of Paxton, with Mr. Thomp.son as presi- 
dent and S. J. Toy, cashier. The business of the bank was continued until 1876, when they went 
intt> voluntary liquidation, closed up the National, and formed the Ford County Bank, of Thomp- 
son, Blackstock and Company, as successors to the First National Bank, with Mr. Thompson as 
president; Robert Blackstock, cashier, and William M. Blackstock, assistant cashier. Mr. Thomp- 
57 



580 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPiriCAL DICTIOA'ARY. 

son, by his careful and skillful management, has been very successful in all his undertakings as a 
banker, and is greatly esteemed by the business community for his integrity and thoroughness. 

In the various transactions of business in which he has been engaged during the past quarter 
of a century, he has acquired such a reputation for financial ability and thorough acquaintance 
with monetary affairs that, when the panic of 1873 occurred, he carried all the public interests 
intrusted to him successfully and triumphantly through that financial crisis, and was compelled 
to take a large amount of property on indebtedness, which, however, in later years turned out to 
be very profitable, owing to the rise of property in the West. 

In politics he is an active republican. In religion he is a worthy and prominent member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, where he has long been an earnest worker in the church and 
Sunday school. He was one of the founders of the First Methodist Church of Paxton. He is a 
great public benefactor, and has assisted in building all the various churches of Paxton. He is 
liberal in his views, and is a supporter of all good causes. 

Mr. Thompson was married, October 30, 1844, to Miss Catharine S. Brown, of Exeter, Penn- 
sylvania. They have one daughter, who is the wife of Israel J. Sutton, a dealer in real estate and 
fine stock, of Paxton. They all live together in their luxurious home, which is considered the 
finest property, not only in Paxton, but in Ford county. The house is a fine, substantially built 
structure, surrounded by twenty-six acres of ground, well laid out in fruit trees and shrubbery, 
which is the pride of the city. 



HON. DIETRICH C. SMITH. 

PEKIN. 

DIETRICH CONRAD SMITH, banker and manufacturer, and late member of congress from 
the tliirteenth district, is a native of Hanover, Germany; a son of Conrad and Margaret 
(Van de Velde) Smith, and was born April 4, 1840. Religious persecution was prevalent in Ger- 
many thirty and forty years ago, and on that account the family came to this country, in 1849, 
and settled in Pekin. 

Dietrich was pursuing his classical studies in Quincy College when the civil war burst upon the 
land, and he was one of the first to enlist in defense of his adopted country, first for three months. 
He went into company F, 8th Illinois infantry. Colonel Oglesby, commander; reenlisted for three 
years as second lieutenant of company I, same regiment, and was in the battles of Fort Henry, 
Fort Donelson, and Shiloh, and was severely wounded in the last battle. He returned to the 
field in the summer of 1862, and resigned in the autumn of that year, being entirely unfit for 
military duty. 

He became a member of the hardware firm of Smith, Velde and Company, and in September, 
1863, was married, at Beardstown, Cass county, to Miss Carrie Pieper, who is of German extrac- 
tion. Soon afterward, his health having greatly improved, he raised a company for the 139th 
Illinois infantry; went to the front as captain of company C, remaining until the collapse of the 
rebellion. 

In 1866 Captain Smith engaged in private banking, in the firm of Teis, Smith and Company, 
an institution of good standing, and doing a large business. He is also a member of the Pekin 
Plow Company; of Smith, Hippen and Company, grain merchants, and of T. and H. Smith and 
Company, wagon and carriage makers, of which last firm he is the financier. Prior to the panic 
of 1873, Mr. Smith was connected with several railroads centering in Pekin, holding different 
offices in these corporations. He is a man of much public enterprise, and is thoroughly imbued 
with the pushing disposition of the age. He has held such local offices as alderman, school 
inspector, supervisor, etc., and was a member of the thirtieth general assembly, taking great 
interest in river and canal improvements, and whatever would benefit the state. Step by step, he 
rose from an alderman to a legislator, preparatory to a higher step. Captain Smith was a mem- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRArmCAI. DICTTONARY. 58 1 

ber of tlie forty-seventh congress, and thougli a new man in the house, he was placed second on 
the committee on banking and currency, which committee had in charge the rechartering of tiie 
national banks of the United States. 

He is a Master Mason; has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since he was 
sixteen years old; is an earnest Sunday-school worker; president of the board of trustees of the 
German Methodist College, at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and was a delegate to the general confer- 
ence which met at Brooklyn, New York, in 1872, and to the ecumenical conference which met in 
London, England, in i88r. He is known far and wide as a man of solid Christian character, 
cnlistefl for life in the warfare against evil. Captain and Mrs, Smith have six children, five sons 
and line daughter, all of them, who are old enough, being engaged in study. 



DANIEL ABBOTT. 

CANTON. 

THE gentleman with whose name we head this sketch is a native of Fulton county, this state, 
and was born at Farmington, May 21, 1838, his parents being John Wesley Abbott, a farmer, 
and a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Christina (Babbett) Abbott. Her father was also 
a Pennsylvanian. Daniel finished his literary studies at Lombard University, Galesburgh; taught 
a public school two terms; commenced his legal studies at Galesburgh in 1859; pursued them two 
and a half years, and was admitted to the bar at Springfield in January, 1866. His practice 
extends in the several state and federal courts, and he has made a success in his profession. He 
prepares his cases with a good deal of care, and his points are well taken; is clear and logical as a 
talker, but not fluent, but his candor and sincerity favorably impress a jury. His judgment as a 
counselor is excellent, and he is not likely to encourage litigation where it can be avoided. 

Mr. Abbott is in partnership with Clifton N. Henkle, in the insurance, collecting and real- 
estate business, in which branch he is also doing well. He is straightforward, prompt and relia- 
lile, and has the fullest confidence of the community. 

He has been city attorney, alderman, mayor two terms, and was state's attorney from 1872 to 
1S80, filling that office, as he has filled every other, with marked ability. 

His politics are democratic, and he cast his first vote for president in i860 for that brilliant 
statesman, Hon. Stephen Arnold Douglas. Mr. Abbott is a Royal Arch Mason and an Odd-Fellow. 

He was joined in marriage, November 12, 1863, to Miss Amelia W. Weller, daughter of Daniel 
Weller, of Ogle county, this state, and they have had six children, only four of them, two sons 
and two daughters, now living. The sons, Charles D. and John C, are attending the normal 
school at Dixon, and the daughters, Mary F. and Grace M., are attending the Peoria Academy. 
Mrs. Abbott died May 19, 1881. 



DAVID E. EDRINGTON. 

CRESTON. 

DAVID ELSTON EDRINGTON, one of the pioneer settlers in Ogle county, is a son of John 
and Eda (Elston) Edrington, and was born in Gallatin county, Kentucky, December 27, 
1819. Both parents were born in that county. His grandfather, John Edrington, Sr., was a 
native of the Old Dominion. David received an English education, restricted to the rudimentary 
branches, and farmed with his father in Kentucky until 1837, when he came into this state, and 
settled twelve miles northwest of where Creston now stands. There he made a claim, entered 
160 acres, and began to improve it. This part of the state at that time was very sparsely settled, 
there being only two families within six or seven miles of him. Deer were abundant; prairie 
Wolves furnished the nocturnal music, and the nam.e of prairie chickens and other wild fowl was 
legion. 



582 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Mr. Edrington purchased farms from time to time, and by industry, was greatly prospered. 
In 1865 he moved into Creston; opened a grocery and general store (all but dry goods), and the 
next year added hardware, clothing, boots and shoes, etc. He has always been an upright, 
straightforward dealer, and hence has secured the best class of customers and done a thrifty 
business. He is prudent and economical, as well as honest, and is in very comfortable circum- 
stances. 

Since settling in Creston, Mr. Edrington has been a member of the corporation board at sun- 
dry times, but has held few offices, being very much disposed to live not only a quiet, but 
retired life. In politics he was originall}' an abolitionist, and has voted the republican ticket 
since 1856. Many years ago he joined the Wesleyan Methodist church, but now holds connection 
with no church, though he is living an exemplary Christian life, greatly respected by his neigh- 
bors for the kindly and humane qualities of his heart. He has long been a total abstainer from 
all intoxicating beverages, and in his habits generally sets a good example to the young. 

Mr. Edrington was first married in May, 1843, to Miss Philena Potter, of Ogle county, she 
dying in 1868, leaving one son, Albert, who was killed by the cars a few months afterward r and 
the second time, December i, 1869, to Mrs. Achsah (Andrus) Woodard, of De Kalb county, hav- 
ing by her one child, Sophronia Achsah, aged twelve years. 



EDWIN B. HARPHAM, M.D. 

HA VANA. 

EDWIN BATES HARPHAM, one of the oldest medical men of Mason county, dates his birth 
in the city of Philadelphia, April 14, 1814, he being a son of Jonathan and Mary (Bates) 
Harpham. His father, a son of Samuel Harpham, was born in Lincolnshire, England, and 
belonged to a family of seventeen children, fourteen of whom grew to womanhood or manhood. 
Edwin is the eldest child in a family of seven children, all yet living but one daughter. In 1819 
the family left Philadelphia, and settled on a farm at Hartford, near Aurora, Dearborn county, 
Indiana, where our subject attended the common schools of the day, and by dint of diligence 
picked up some knowledge of mathematics and Latin, he being unsatisfied with his literary 
attainments. 

He read medicine with Doctor Crookshanks, of Hartford; attended lectures at the Ohio Medi- 
cal College, Cincinnati, and received the degree of doctor of medicine in 1843, having previously 
practiced to a limited extent. 

In April, 1844, Doctor Harjjham was married to Miss Laura Ilolliday, of Aurora, Indiana, and 
the next November brought his young bride to Havana, where they have lived for nearly forty 
years. There was no surplus of physicians in those early days, and very few of them within 
twenty-five miles of Havana. The result was that his rides were often ver)' long, and usually 
very laborious. Rain or shine, good roads or bad, day or night, near or far, a physician must 
obey the demands of frail humanity, and, in a new country, be in his saddle and off promptly. 
No other class of professional men are half so much exposed, and have such wear and tear of the 
constitution. 

Nearly twenty years ago Doctor Harpham bought a drug store, and soon began to slightly 
shorten his rides. He has now cut off entirely his country practice, and seeks none anywhere. A 
few families, whose physician he has been from the start, are reluctant to call any other. These 
he visits, his presence merely having a soothing, if not a healing power. He does some consulta- 
tion practice, and the people have great confidence in his wisdom, as well as skill. 

Many years ago Doctor Harpham was school superintendent one or two terms, and he has 
done some work as a school director, but has never sought office. He is a Blue Lodge Mason. 
His wife is a member of the Methodist Church, where he attends. 

Doctor and Mrs. Harpham have had three children, losing one of them, Corinne, when five 



UNITED STATES BWGRAPHICA I. DfCT/O.VARY. 583 

years old. Oscar Holliday, the son, is a hardware merchant, Havana, and Lucy E. is the wife of 
Doctor Joseph B. Brownino;, a graduate of Harvard College and Rush Medical College, and 
practicing at Havana. 

In the summer of 1882 Doctor Harpham went to the old country for the first time, and visited 
Lincolnshire, but found scarcely a person of his name. The family had followed his father to 
ihis country, and are scattered all the way from Illinois to the Pacific slope. The Harphams 
originated in Yorkshire, where a few of the name are still living. Considering his hardships at 
an early day, the Doctor is a well preserved man, his constitution being sound and his mind per- 
fectly clear. He is held in great esteem by all his acquaintances. 



THOMAS COOPER. 

PEA'IN. 

ONE of the best known men in Tazewell county, is Thomas Cooper, mayor ol the city of 
Pekin, and treasurer of the county. He is a man of the strictest rectitude, of good social 
t|nalities, and a favorite of the democratic party, to which he has always belonged. He is a Cin- 
cinnatian by birth, and was ushered into the world February 2, 1830, his parents being William 
and Mary (Beal) Cooper. His grandfather, Joseph Cooper, was a soldier under General Wayne, 
and with him in several engagements. The family moved from Virginia to Ohio, where William 
Cooper, who was a contractor, was born. The Beals were a Pennsylvania family. 

Thomas Cooper learned the potter's trade, in Ohio; at seventeen years of age {1847) went 
into the Mexican war, enlisting at New Orleans in a Palmetto regiment, and serving one year; 
came to Tazewell county, in 184S, and settled on a farm in Morton township, where he lived for 
twenty-five years. He still owns the farm, which consists of three hundred and twenty acres 
of well improved land. While engaged directly in agricultural pursuits, Mr. Cooper was kept 
constantly in one or more offices, such as commissioner of highways, school director, etc. 

In 1873 he moved into Pekin to take charge of the county treasurer's office. He is now serv- 
ing on his fifth term, being elected the last time for the term of four years. His constituents 
have unbounded confidence in his honesty, and in his hands the funds of the county are in safe 
keeping. Mr. Cooper is also serving his second term as mayor, and, being quite public-spirited, 
he seems to be the proper man to be at the head of the city government. He is a Master Mason. 

Mayor Cooper was united in wedlock with Miss Margaret A. Strickland, a native of Kentucky, 
in 1S49, and the fruits of this union are seven children, five of whom are yet living. 



JOHN H. VOLK. 

CHICAGO. 

WHEN the attainments in art or the achievements of genius can be brought into requisition 
to beautify the useful, to adorn the habitations of mankind, the structures devoted to 
business, refinement and education, or the temples of worship, to elevate civilization, and raise 
the standard and tastes of mankind to the appreciation of the aesthetic in every department in 
life, it betokens advancement in the right direction. This is forcibly illustrated in the calling 
and career of the subject of this sketch. 

John H. Volk was born May 8, 1840, at Avon Springs, New York. His father, John Volk, was 
a designer of monuments, and possessed a cultivated taste in sculpture, which perhaps laid the 
foundation for the early bent of the mind of our subject in that direction. The parents of young 
Volk removed from New York to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in his childhood, where he spent his 
early life, having the ordinary advantages for education afforded New England boys of that 
period, and always standing first in his class in the studies then taught. At the age of ten years, 



584 UNITED STATES BfOCRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

in performing a reckless feat of swimming across the Housatonic River, one cold April day, amid 
the floating ice. Master Volk came near paying his last tribute to all earthly scenes. Though 
successful in the act, the penalty was an eight years' sickness, and a consequent interruption of 
studies so well begun. 

Notwithstanding he was now compelled to look upon his companions during their sports of 
agility and strength (among whom he had been a leader) without being able to participate, he 
kept up a course of living and treatment to restore the sound body, his studies, also, not being 
neglected. This, with a determined will and an iron constitution, have brought him up to the 
average health of mankind, and perhaps the exercise of this will power to live and to be, devel- 
oped the force, courage and self-reliant nature that he has always shown in the trials and adver- 
sities of life. 

Meanwhile, his parents had removed to the shores of the Deerfield River, near the town of 
Charlemont, where his beloved mother, Paulina Volk, whose maiden name was Race, a most 
intelligent and worth}' lady, died; and, as is too often the case when the mother is called away 
by death, the family was broken up, the sisters (four in number) and one brother being cared for 
by the eldest members of the family. The same courageous, self-reliant spirit pervading each, 
they were enabled to secure excellent educations, and are esteemed for their intelligence and 
uprightness, and as worthy representatives of the best of New England's sons and daughters. 
To better enable him to render assistance to the sisters and brother he loved, young Volk came 
west, landing in Cleveland, Ohio, without a dollar; thence, obtaining assistance a part of the 
way, and the remainder, some twenty miles, walking, to Warren, Ohio, where he had learned a 
marble carver was wanted, in which art, at that early age, he was considered very skilled, and 
accounted one of the best generally informed in the trade, succeeding in getting employment for 
a few months. He afterward turned his attention to teaching penmanship, visiting the lower 
part of the state of Indiana, and Kentucky, where he remained about a year. Then returning 
home, on a visit to his sisters for a short period, he again came west, remaining about two years 
in Kalamazoo, Eaton Rapids and Wayne, in the state of Michigan. Mr. Volk's early instruction 
in architectural, mechanical and art drawing, and his study of perspective, together with model- 
ing and reproduction in plaster, have been of great service to him in directing workmen, and in 
selecting those best fitted for especial branches (jf monumental art. 

He was early instructed in sculpture by his father, who was also the instructor of his own younger 
brothers, but because of its meager compensation in this country, he wisely abandoned the pur- 
suit as a specialt)', using his knowledge thereof only in connection with cemetery memorials, 
which often call for the highest perfection in the ideal, as well as in the less artistic busts. Mr. 
V^olk next came to Chicago, soon starting out as a traveling agent for the Chicago Marble and 
Granite Manufacturing Company, which company, through his skill and efforts, were largely 
indebted to him for their monumental patronage. The fire of 187 1 dissolving the company, Mr. 
Volk then commenced business for himself in Chicago, and has, unaided, built up the leading 
monumental business of the Northwest. 

His inheritance of artistic taste has been well cultivated and applied, which, together with his 
fine business qualifications, entitles him to the confidence reposed in him by Chicago's leading 
citizens, many of whom are of the same self-make, having cultivation and tastes leading them to 
the beautiful in art, and to seek an appropriateness in monumental memorials for their loved 
ones. 

Having secured this prestige among monumental artists, he will most assuredly retain it, and 
continue to elevate the character and tone of his calling, and to beautify the cemeteries in the 
land with many more of his original and appropriate designs, now to be found in nearly all the 
prominent cemeteries of the country. As an inventor, Mr. V'olk has produced some creditable 
work, and is now engaged on other devices involving very intricate machinery. 

Nine j'ears ago, Mr. Volk married Miss Hattie E., the accomplished daughter of M. C. Town, 
of Elgin, Illinois, a prominent banker of the state, their union being blest by three children, the 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 585 

lirst-l)oni, a daughter, living not quite three years. Mr. Voile is now in the prime of manhood. 
He is a gentleman of integrity, is a good citizen, and has many excellent qualities as a man. 
Though to strangers he may seem reserved, upon acquaintance he is of a genial nature, and his 
friendships, formed with discrimination, are enduring. Being now young, he may hopefully look 
to the future for greater attainments and success. 



CAPTAIN SAMUEL BIVP:N.S. 

HA VANA. 

THE treasurer of the county of Mason, whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch 
is a Buckeye by birth, a native of Pike county, born August 21, 1838. His parents, William 
and Belalah (Burton) Bivens, were born in Salem county. New Jersey, and died in Ohio. Samuel 
was educated in the public schools of his native state, and was engaged in farming with his father 
until the civil war broke out. In August, 1862, he went into the service as second lieutenant, 
company C, 117th Ohio infantry, and at the end of one year he was ordered by Governor Todd to 
enlist a battery, of which he was made captain, and which was assigned to the 23d army corps. 
He was in all the engagements from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and at the siege of Nashville, under 
General Thomas. He was mustered out at Camp Dominion, Ohio, August i, 1865, after being in 
the service four years. The military record of Captain Bivens is that of a brave young patriot, 
who seemed to have no disposition to sheathe his sword until the last armed enemy of the Union 
had laid down his arms. 

In October, 1865, he came into this state, and after remaining one year at Lincoln, Logan 
county, where he was a stock shipper, he settled in Mason City, Mason county. There he engaged 
in the sale of hardware and agricultural implements, continuing that business with great success 
until the autumn of 1873, when he was elected treasurer of the county. He was reelected four 
times, and has held the office ten years in succession, managing the finances of the county in a 
most satisfactor}' manner. 

He is a republican, living in a strong democratic county, and for some years was the onl)' 
republican candidate for a county office who won in the race. He has all the elements of popu- 
larity — cordiality, courtesy and integrity; is a safe man with whom to intrust public funds, and 
will be likely to retain his present office as long as he desires it. During the ten years that he has 
resided in Havana he has made many friends, and has been quite useful in encouraging enter- 
prises. He was at one time president of the Illinois River Bridge Company; is a very active, 
enterprising man, and people in the county who have known him the longest and most intimately 
are his warmest friends. 

Captain Bivens is a Knight Templar in Free Masonry, and has held various offices in the 
order. He was married January 25, 1883, to Miss Eva Covington, of Havana. 



JAMES C. WILLCOXEN. 

LEIVISTON. 

JAMES CALVIN WILLCOXEN, farmer and stock raiser, l)ankfr, manufacturer, etc., is a son 
of Elijah Willcoxen, a native of North Carolina, and Charlotte (Calloway) Willcoxen, of the 
same state, and was born in Estell county, July 23, 1829. The next year the family came into this 
county, and settled on a farm in Liverpool township, six miles northeast of Lewiston, where 
Elijah Willcoxen died in 1S60, and his widow in 1876. 

The subject of this sketch had very ordinary school privileges, and was engaged in farming 
and stock raising almost exclusively until 1848, when he added other pursuits. In 1869 he moved 
into Lewiston, and became a partner in the banking house of King, Turner and Company, which 



586 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

institution was converted into the First National Bank in 1871. Mr. Willcoxen is one of its 
heaviest stockholders and a director. For several years he had an interest in two or three mer- 
cantile houses in this town, withdrawing from the last one only two or three years ago. 

For a long time he has been engaged in lumbering, having an interest in several saw-mills, 
giving his attention latterly to the supplying of railroads with ties, cord wood, etc., in which 
branch he is doing an immense business, furnishing supplies for at least live or six companies. 

Mr. Willcoxen is, we believe, much the largest land owner in Fulton county, he having, in all, 
at least 7,000 acres. Nearly all of it is in this county, 4,000 of it being in Waterford township, 
five miles southeast of Lewiston. Not less than 2,000 acres of his lands are under cultivation. 
One of his best farms, having 1,000 acres, is in Waterford township. For many years Mr. Will- 
coxen has devoted considerable attention to stock raising — fine grades of cattle, horses, hogs, etc. 

No man in Fulton county is doing more to develop its agricultural and other interests than 
the subject of this sketch. He is a man of great force of character, of almost herculean ener- 
gies, an iron constitution, and his motive power is sensibly felt in nearly every enterprise which 
has any likelihood of succeeding. It is this class of men who are the town builders of the West. 

Mr. Willcoxen was first married in Putnam township, this count}', September 18, 185 1, to Miss 
Carissa Putnam, daughter of Harrison Putnam, of Ohio, and she died July 8, 1877, leaving six 
children: Alice A. is the wife of Jacob Grayveal, of Liverpool township; Lewis K. is a farmer 
and prominent stock raiser in Lewiston township; Emma C. is the wife of Joseph Downin, of 
Nebraska, and Laura N., Mary C. and Oliver L. are pursuing their studies, Mary in Wisconsin 
and the other two at home. Mr. Willcoxen was married the second time in September, 1879, to 
Miss Alice Hair, of Lewiston, and they have one son, James C, Jr. 



JUDGE VAN H. HIGGINS. 

CIIICA GO. 

VAN IKM^LLS HIGGINS, one of the oldest and best-known lawyers of the Chicago bar, was 
born in Genesee county, New York, February 20, 182 1. He came to Chicago in 1837, and 
during the winter of 1843 he vi-as admitted to the bar of Illinois, and commenced the practice of 
his profession in Iroquois county, where he remained two years, after which he removed to 
Galena, and there formed a partnership with Judge Pratt, which continued until about 1849. 
During his residence in Galena he served two years as city attorney, but, desiring a larger field of 
usefulness, he returned to Chicago in the autumn of 1852, and the next year formed a partner- 
ship with Hon. Cor^'don Beckwith and B. F. Strother, under the firm name of Higgins, Beckwith 
and Strother, and enjoyed a very extensive and successful practice until the fall of 1858, when he 
was elected to the legislature, and the following year he was elected judge of the superior court 
of Chicago, in which capacity he served until the autumn of 1865, when he resigned and resumed 
the practice of the law, forming a partnership with Hon. Leonard Swett, which law firm con- 
tinued until the fall of 1872, when, having been elected to the presidency of the Babcock Manu- 
facturing Company, his connection with the law firm was dissolved. 

January i, 1876, he retired from active participation in the affairs of the company, having 
accepted the financial agency of the Charter Oak Life Insurance Company, for all of the western 
states. 

In personal appearance Judge Higgins has a fine natural judicial presence. He is tall, well 
formed, and of a commanding figure, while his face shows refinement and culture, as well as 
firmness and decision of character. Judge Higgins combines many qualities rarely found in 
combination. It would not be claimed for him that he is a man of genius, but for such a com- 
munity as he has lived in and still lives, he possesses a talent more serviceable to himself and the 
community in which he lives than genius itself. He is, first of all, as a citizen, a man of great 
public spirit, and is in feeling and character a typical western man. From the beginning Judge 





a<u^ 



VjV/tf.d sv.rrF.s RiocRAriircAi. dictionaky. C589 

Ilig;tj;ins has seen, with a vision clearer than most men, not only the prohahilities bnt the possi- 
hiHties of this (xreat West, ami wliat a quarter of a century and more ago he so clearly saw, and 
what he so confidently prophesied, he has diligently worked to realize. 

Politically, Judge Higgins has been, ever since the organization of the republican party, a 
republican. A stanch friend of Mr. Lincoln before his nomination, after his election he stood by 
him, exhibiting in his support the same patient common sense and ability to adapt means to ends 
which characterized our great president. The Union cause found no more practical supporter 
(luring the war, and particularly its early periods, than Judge Higgins. He was, if not the origi- 
nator, at least one of the earliest of our citizens to discover the necessity for organized action 
among the friends of the Union, and did as much as, and perhaps more than, any other man to 
perfect the organization of that body, the character and work of which ought always to live in 
iiur history, the Union Defense Committee of the City of Chicago. In season and out of season, 
the judge was tireless in the maturing and formulating of schemes for recruiting our armies, and 
his practical suggestions as to the selection of methods were generally adopted, and in a great 
part through the exertions and influence of the Union Defense Committee, Chicago, and indeed 
the state, was enabled to fill its quota substantially without a draft. 

The part which the judge took in politics at that time was beyond the effort of the mere 
partisan, and at no time has he been mixed up or identified with merely partisan contests or 
squabbles. 

As a business man. Judge Higgins is perhaps the ablest who has ever occupied in this city a 
judicial position. His knowledge of business men and business methods makes him exceedingly 
useful as a judge, for his legal knowledge (and it is very great) in his hands was made applicable 
to business matters and the affairs of every-day life. As a judge he did not deal with the law 
merely in the abstract. He not only knew a great deal about law, but he knew a great deal of 
law. He not only knew, for example, the law of commercial paper, l)ut when the maker, the 
payee and the guarantor of a promissory note were in court before him, he could apply those 
principles to those parties. His business and methodical habits enabled him to dispatch judicial 
business with remarkable rapidity and accuracy. The court room in which Judge Higgins pre- 
sided was a place for the administration of justice according to the forms and principles of law, 
and justice was there administered intelligently, courteously and speedily. A painstaking stu- 
dent, we have perhaps never had at our bar, nor upon the bench, a man more completely abreast 
of current statutory enactments and legal adjudications than Judge Higgins. His memory of 
adjudged cases was something marvelous, and his knowledge of those cases was so methodized 
and arranged in his own mind, that he was never confused by their number, and his keen, thor- 
oughly critical and analytical mind enabled him with great accuracy to discriminate cases, and to 
detect false analogies, a capacity absolutely essential to the proper administration of justice, and 
which distinguishes the mere case-hunter and recollecter from the great lawyer. 

In its general make-up, so distinctively is Judge Higgins' mind a legal one that no length of 
time devoted to other pursuits than that of the law would ever leave him anything less than a 
fine lawyer. He reasons upon legal propositions naturally and in a legal way. As has been said, 
his habits of thought and mind are methodical, well arranged, and the mere machinery of his court 
was in such beautiful working order that it was a pleasure to any lawyer who had prepared his 
case, and understood it, to appear before Judge Higgins with it. To young men, ambitious of 
genuine distinction at the bar, and exhibiting that ambition by a thorough preparation of their 
cases at all points. Judge Higgins was always most courteous and attentive. Nothing seemed to 
gratify him more than honest preparation by the lawyers who appeared before him, and no lawyer 
practicing in his court could fail to observe that however new the point which he presented, or 
however much opposed it seemed to be to the general current of authority, it would receive from 
Judge Higgins the most careful and patient attention, and he had the personal and intellectual 
rourage and ability to sustain such points whenever sound reason seemed to justify it. 

Upon the bench Judge Higgins had no pets or favorites. No complaints were made of 
58 



5 go UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

uncourteous treatment. In judicial manner he was a model. His courtesy never descended to 
undue familiarity. He held the bar in respect, and they respected him, and the lawyer appear- 
ing before Judge Higgins felt that he was called upon to do his best. Devoted for the last few 
years to extended business pursuits, having charge of great financial interests, the judicial career 
of Judge Higgins, and indeed his professional career, are practically unknown to the younger 
members of the bar practicing in this city. But to those still living, whose pleasure it was to 
appear before him when he was upon the bench, his wide learning, his genial manners, his uni- 
. form courtesy, his promptness and his splendid methods, will always be held in honor and grate- 
ful remembrance. 

In many respects Judge Higgins may be considered as one of the principal, and one of the 
most honored, architects of this great city. Its broad, far-reaching business enterprise, its saga- 
city, its dignified and spotless jurisprudence, its professional learning and culture, its personal 
probity, and the general correctness of its private life, all find a most worthy exemplar in the life 
and career of Van H. Higgins. 



MICHAEL DELANY. 

oi.xE y. 

HARDSHIPS and struggles in early life often prove blessings in disguise, and it is not infre- 
quently that they develop in those called to endure them that independence and self-reliance, 
which enable them in after years to triumph over obstacles which otherwise would prove to them 
insurmountable. The subject of this sketch is of this class, being emphaticall)' a self-made man. 
Michael Delan\' was born in Broome county, New York, November 3, 1854. His father was Patrick 
Delany, a tanner by trade. The maiden name of his mother, who is still living, was Ann Dwyer. 
They were both natives of Ireland. They emigrated from New York state to the West in i860, 
settling in Richland county, Illinois. The father was a section boss on the Ohio and Mississippi 
railroad until 1867, when he died, leaving a widow with eight small children, of whom Michael 
was next to the eldest. Prior to this he (Patrick) had purchased a farm, contracting a debt of 
$1,000, which with other smaller debts, added to the burden of the family. Michael was then 
thirteen years of age. His education had been sadly neglected, owing to circumstances beyond 
his control, and he was dependent almost wholly upon his own exertions for knowledge, for which 
he had a native longing, which he, in a measure, gratified by improving in study his leisure 
hours after his day's work was done, and other spare moments. After his father's death he began 
to support the famil3\ He first obtained work on the railroad, filling various positions for three 
years, after which he went to Kentucky and hired out as mash hand, in the distillery of Colonel 
Berry, at $25 a month and board. At the end of three months the colonel gave him a position in 
his office at $40 per month. This position he held for three j'ears, and from his earnings paid the 
entire debt, besides helping the family at the same time. Owing to his over-exertion and privation 
in order to save money, his health became impaired, and he was compelled to return home, 
where he was stricken down with typhoid fever, which disabled him for several months. 

In the summer of 1874 he went to Cincinnati, and enlisted in the United States army, whence 
he was sent to Saint Louis, and there was detailed in the general recruiting service. He was first 
sent to Baltimore, but finally transferred back to Saint Louis, where he remained until 1875, going 
with recruits to different parts of the army. He then made application to join General Custer in 
his expedition against the Sioux, and arrived at Fort Lincoln May 4, 1876. One week later they 
started on their way through Dakota to Montana. While on the field he was promoted to the 
rank of sergeant, and the company soon participated in the famous Custer massacre, which occur- 
red June 25-27, 1876. Mr. Delany was severely wounded in this battle, and, July g, was sent to 
Fort Lincoln for treatment, where he remained until the following year, when he again accom- 
panied his regiment against the hostile Indians in Montana, and participated in the battle of 



UNITED STATES B/OCKA T/f/CAL DICTIONARY. jgi 

Bear Paw Mountains, with the Nez Perce Indians, under Chief Joseph, September i, 1877. In this 
engagement he received his almost fatal wound. He was shot first in the hip, while charging 
with his company; next his horse was shot from under him, and he was then shot in the breast, 
where the bullet still remains. He was then taken prisoner, but his friends stole his almost life- 
less body from the Indians, twelve hours later, and for several months thereafter he remained 
speechless the greater part of the time, and until June, 1878, remained in the hospital. 

After his recovery he returned to his home in Illinois, remaining there under treatment, and 
recruiting until i88r. In the mean time, in 1880, he began the study of law, while at home, and in 
1881 came to Olney, where he continued his studies, and in 1882 was admitted to the Illinois bar, 
and immediately began the practice of his profession at Olney, taking at once a front rank among 
tlie younger attorneys, and is now one of the most prominent young men in Richland county. 

In politics Mr. Delany is a democrat; his religious views are Catholic. He is a man of indom- 
ital)le will, energetic, persevering and honorable, and with wide experience and knowledge of 
men. His talent and fitness for his professional work, and his loyalty to manly principle, must 
attain to that success which cannot but follow persistent and honest effort. 



THOMAS B. BO YD. 

CHICAGO. 

THOMAS BOTTERNLY BOYD, a successful real-estate dealer, dates his birth at Hopkins- 
ville, Christian county, Kentucky, April 6, 1844, being a son of David and Mary Elizabeth 
(Ogg) Boyd. His father and paternal grandfather were born in Virginia, and his mother was 
from Tennessee. He received only an ordinary English education; worked on his father's farm 
until thirteen years old, when he became an apprentice to the cabinet-maker's trade at Hopkins- 
ville, at which business he was working when the civil war broke out. He espoused the Union 
side, and at sixteen years of age, two or three months before President Lincoln took his seat, was 
corporal of a home-guard regiment. When the 25th Kentucky infantry was raised he enlisted, 
and was mustered in as second lieutenant of company A, and served until after the battle of 
Shiloh (spring of 1862), when he resigned. Returning to his native state, in May of that year, he 
raised a company for the 8th Kentucky cavalry, a twelve months' regiment, and was second lieu- 
tenant of company B. When the time of service of that regiment had expired, he recruited com- 
pany A of the ist Kentucky veteran troops, and commanded that company until the close of the 
war, coming out of nearly four years' service before he was twenty-one years of age. 

An incident connected with Mr. Boyd's early camp life is well worth recording, as it is a good 
illustration of his character. On one occasion he and his comrades in arms heard that the rebel 
(ieneral Buckner was on his way to capture them, having an army of 7,000 men. They instantly 
dispersed, and each man fled for his life. Mr. Boyd borrowed a neighbor's swift horse, and made 
his escape to Evansville, Indiana, selling the horse for $85. A year later, feeling a little conscience 
smitten, he returned to the place where he had disposed of the animal, which, in the interim, had 
changed hands once or twice, found it in the hands of a farmer, and in prime condition, bought 
it for $125, and took it back to the pastuie whence he had taken it. Instances of this kind must 
be very rare; indeed, we have never heard of one to match it. The deed was characteristic of 
the man. 

Not long after the rebellion had closed, Mr. Boyd went to Saint Louis, where he was engaged 
in the clothing business until 1868, when he closed out, and the next year settled in Chicago. 
Here he has been engaged in real estate, doing largely a city business, but now and then dispos- 
ing of a farm. He came here in moderate circumstances, but has attended very closely to his 
business, has dealt fairly and honorably with all parties, and, winning the confidence of the com- 
munity, has been eminently successful, placing himself in very comfortable circumstances. 

Another anecdote, having reference to his early life, his business transactions and his ideas of 



5g2 UNITED STATES BTOGRArHICAl. DTCTIONAKY. 

integrity, is worth putting on record. Not long before civil war burst upon the nation, and while 
still a poor apprentice boy, Mr. Boyd bought $60 worth of clothing, and gave his note for the 
same. War broke out before the note was due; the whole countrj' w^as in commotion; business 
matters were forgotten, and his transaction with the clothier passed out of his mind. At the end 
of twenty years, and when it was outlawed, the note made its appearance one morning in the 
hands of an old smiling friend. Mr. Boyd looked at it, recognized the poorly written signature, 
the best, however, that he could do in boyhood, and canceled the note, with solid satisfaction and 
absolute delight. "Honesty is the best policy," and our subject has verified the truthfulness of 
the adage in all his business transactions. 



REV. ICHABOD CLARK. D.D. 

ROCKFORD. 

1"^HE writer of this sketch first met Rev. Ichabod Clark at Nunda, New York, in 1845. The 
preacher was then in his prime, and was regarded as one of the strong men in the Baptist 
denomination in western New York. He had great power in the pulpit for more than forty 3'ears, 
becoming a pastor at nineteen, and continuing to hold pastorates nearly all the time until the 
close of his life, sweeping revivals often attending his pulpit fulminations. 

Ichabod Clark was born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, October 30, 1802, removing thence 
with the family to Truxton, New York, in 1818. He had made a profession of religion two years 
before, and was licensed to preach w'hen only eighteen years of age. At nineteen he became pas- 
tor of the Baptist Church at Scipio, where he was ordained in September, 1824, and in the same 
year he married Miss Esther Daniels. After a pastorate of seven years at Scipio, Mr. Clark 
removed to Lockport, and continued to preach in western New York, in succession, at La Grange, 
Batavia, Le Roy, Brockport and Xunda, until 1848. In all those places his labors were greatly 
blessed, and strong churches were made stronger, or feeble ones built up. 

In 1848, Mr. Clark came to Illinois*, under a commission of the New York Baptist State Con- 
vention, and located at first at Galena, settling the next year in Rockford. where he remained for 
eleven years. During that period more than seven hundred members were added to the First 
Baptist Church, and more than half of thetn, it is believed, were led by his preaching to Christ 
and baptized by him. While in Rockford, he spent a year as superintendent of the missions of 
the state. 

His first wife died in September, 1854, and in November, 1855, he was married to Mrs. MaryC. 
(Elliott) Hunter, a native of the state of New Y'ork. In 1S60 Mr. Clark became pastor of the 
North Baptist Church, Springfield, this state, and two years later returned to his old field of 

* The following poem was written by a gifted young lady of Wheatland. N'ew York, on the departure of Mr. Clark 
for the West: 

THE WELCOME AND F.AREWELL. 

l.NSCRIBEI) TO Ki:\-. MK. CI.ARK. 

Our Father's hand that guides us o'er Yet, sadness clouds our welcome song, 
Life's ever-surging main. For, like a mournful knell 

Hath brought the cherished friend of yore Borne by the passing breeze along, 
To our embrace again; Steals in the low farewell; 

How sweet to welcome one whose care, The ties that bind us heart to heart. 

Whose faithful love 'twas ours to share. Are slowly breaking as we part. 

What changes since we gathered last Yet go — thou chosen one of God, 

Within these holy wallsl Still kneel at duty's shrine; 

What voices from the hallowed past We feel the stroke, yet kiss the rod, 

His presence here recalls! Since nobler work is thine; 

What earnest prayer and fervent zeal — Join to thy mission faith and love — 

What toils and tears for Zion's weall Farewell! — farewell!— we meet above. 
Whe.\tl.\m>, April, 1848. E. M. A. 



UNITED STATES BlOai<! \ THICA I. DICTIONARY. 



593 



labor, at Le Roy, New York, whore he remained for five years. While he was preaching at 
Springfield, in 1862, the University of Chicago conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor 
of divinity. Again, October, 1867, the General Association of Illinois called him to its broad and 
taxing field of labors, to which he addressed himself with his accustomed zeal, and astonishing 
energies, but his health soon began to fail, and at the close of the year (October, 1868) he 
resigned. Reluctant to leave the pulpit, without respite from labor, he took charge of the church 
at Lockport, Will county, hut before he had fairly entered upon pastoral work, in November his 
strength gave way, and a few months afterward, April 14, 1869, the exhausted reaper laid down 
his sickle and went to his rest. The following note from Rev. Solomon Knapp, of Lockport, Illi- 
nois, referring to the last days of Doctor Clark, will be read with interest; 

" Doctor Clark preached five sermons after his settlement with us, on consecutive Sabbaths, 
the last of which those of us privileged to be there will never forget. For holy and heavenly fer- 
vor, for pathos and power, I have rarely heard it equaled. It was indeed a fit closing up of a 
long, earnest, successful, and, I may add, brilliant ministry. It was my privilege to see our dear 
brother nearly every day during a great part of his sickness and suffering, for he was a great suf- 
ferer. His nervous system seemed entirely prostrated, and his once strong constitution entirely 
broken up. He endured his sufferings with great patience and trust, 'as seeing him who is 
invisible.' Sometimes under extreme nervous irritation, his mind would pass under a cloud, and 
tlien again he was hopeful and trustful, and could say, ' I know in whom I have believed.' 

He was mostly unconscious for a number of days before his decease, though he recognized his 
friends till almost the last. He was a man of strong domestic feelings, and most singularly 
attached to his family. His wife he could scarcely consent to have absent from his bedside, and 
she with all but superhuman strength, and a degree of devotion that knew no limits, ministered 
to him day and night. Previous to the removal of the remains to Rockford, a service was held at 
the house, conducted by the writer, assisted by nearly all the clergy of the place." 

A writer who knew Doctor Clark intimately, states that " few men have performed the amount 
of labor that he accomplished in his eventful life. * * * He preached thousands of sermons 
in protracted meetings, in which he labored extensively for more than twenty-five years, and con- 
siderably during his whole ministry. Thousands gathered under those labors into the fold of 
Christ. Even during the last year of his active life, he aided several pastors most acceptably and 
successfully in this way, besides all the other duties of his oifice. His energy, exhibited in self- 
education and his life work, were so indomitable as to be sublime. His native preaching power 
is scarcely equaled in one among a thousand. His power to bring all varied acquirements into 
the pulpit, was rare, and his all-controlling, all pervading piety, carried his brethren captive in 
the strongest bond of brotherly love, as well as gave him untold power over the hearts and con- 
sciences of the impenitent." ■* 



LEVI W. MiMAHAN. 

GKIGGSVILLE. 

C'.W WHITE McMAHAN, miller and grain dealer, and at time of writing mayor of the city 
of Griggsville, had his birth in Marion county, Indiana, March 51, 1841, being a son of 
William McMahan, a native of Ohio, and Maria (Thomas) McMahan, of the same state. His 
grandfallier, George McMahan, was born in North Carolina. Levi had his mental drill in com- 
mon schools, mainly of his native state; came to (iriggsville in 1856 with his jiarents, and when 
eighteen years old went into the confectionery business for himself. Subsequently he farmed a 
few years, and in 1866 engaged in general merchandise. 

In 1877 Mr. McMahan built a flouring mill, with five run of stone, and the firm of McMahan 
and Company is manufacturing from 35,000 to 40,000 barrels of flour per annum. He has a five- 
sixths interest in the mills. The Pike Mills are the only merchant mills in the place, and are 
manufacturing a superior brand of flour. 



594 UNITED STATES RrOGRAPiriCAI. DFCTIOMARY. 

Mr. McMalian is also engaged in buying and shipping grain, at which he is doing a heav\^ 
business. In energy and enterprise he has no superior in the place. He is quite public-spirited, 
and has to bear a liberal share of the burdens of local offices. He was a trustee of the town 
before its incorporation as a city, three or four terms; has been president of the school board the 
last five years; was town supervisor in 1881; an alderman one term; and is serving his second 
term as the head of the municipality of the city. No man takes more interest in the progress and 
welfare of the place than Mr. McMahan, or has given more time to the furtherance of these aims 
and ends. Such citizens are a blessing to any community. He has never lost his interest in 
agriculture, and is the owner of two farms near the city, aggregating three hundred and sixty 
acres, all under good improvement. 

Mr. McMahan is a republican in politics, a third-degree Mason, a Knight of Honor in Odd- 
Fellowship, and a member of the Baptist church. The sincerity of his profession no one doubts 
who knows him. He was first married in 1861, to Miss Harriet Simmons, of Griggsville, she 
dying in May, 1876, leaving three children; and the second time in March, 18S0, to Mrs. Jennie 
(Clough) Petrie, her father's family being from New England. 



HON. THOMAS BRP:WER. 

TOLEDO. 

IT may be truly said of the United States, that ncj country in the world is productive of so large 
a number of great men whose native ability and unaided efforts have achieved for them posi- 
tions of the highest distinction. With such, ranks the sutjject of this sketch. Thomas Brewer 
was born in Wayne county, Indiana, November 15, i8ig. His father was William Brewer, who 
was of English ancestry. The maiden name of his mother was Jane McKnight, who was of 
Scotch origin; they were natives of Tennessee, and among the early pioneer settlers of Wayne 
county, Indiana, coming there when it was almost all a wilderness, and the Indians and wolves 
still frequented the county. Mr. Brewer had few educational advantages in his early days. A 
log school house was all the country afforded, and his father was in limited circumstances, and he 
was compelled to spend nearly all his time on the farm. But, while thus engaged, he had a natural 
desire and thirst for knowledge, and spent all his spare hours in learning — by teaching himself 
as best he could. When he had reached his nineteenth year he started out for himself, coming 
to what is now Cumberland county, working on different farms, accumulating a little money, and 
at the same time continuing his studies, to which he added the study of law, borrowing a few 
books, over which he pored by the aid of a tallow candle after his day's work was done. This 
determined perseverance has marked his whole life, making it a grand success. His first accumu- 
lation of money he used in aiding his parents, who were still poor, and by his assistance they 
were enabled to obtain a comfortable home. 

In 1847 he was elected justice of the peace, which enabled him to continue his studies to a 
better advantage ; and in 1848 he was elected one of the associate judges of the county. In 1852 
he was a candidate for sheriff, and elected by the democratic party, and at the expiration of his 
term of office, E. H. Starkwater. a prominent lawyer of the state, seeing his natural talent, offered 
him a full partnership if he would come with him, which he accepted. Abandoning farming and 
moving to Greenup, which was then the county seat of Cumberland county, Mr. Brewer was very 
shortl)' afterward admitted to the bar. They continued to practice at Greenup with great success, 
making money as well as building up a very large reputation ; and in 1857, when the county seat 
was moved from Greenup to Majority Point, now Toledo, they moved thither, and continued their 
business, the partnership continuing for about eight years, until the death of Mr. Starkwater, 
after which Mr. Brewer continued alone. 

In the fall of 1858 he was elected on the democratic ticket to the state legislature, after which 
he returned to his practice, but was soon again elected to the state senate for four years. 



UNITED STAVES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 595 

In 1868, when the democracy again rallied its forces to oppose the election of General 
Grant, Mr. Brewer was selected in the state convention as one of the delegates to the democratic 
national convention, held in New York city, and which resulted in the nomination of Seymour 
and Blair. After returning from the political field he settled down to his profession, continuing 
as he had previously done, with marked success, carrying on farming at the same time. His prac- 
tice was general in its character, and comprised several noted criminal cases. He is a good advo- 
cate before a jury, and one who possesses a natural talent for his profession. 

Mr. Brewer has been married' three times ; his first wife, whom he married in 1844, was Miss 
Mary Hutton, of Cumberland county; they had nine children; she died in 1864. He was married 
again in 1867 to Mrs Sarah E. Kirkling, a widowed sister of his first wife, and she died May 4 
1872. He married again, in 1873, Mrs. Mary Smith, formerl)' Mary Bloxen ; they have had four 
children. 

Mr. Brewer has now retired from active business, his oldest son, L. N. Brewer, a young attor- 
ney of considerable promise, having succeeded to his practice. 

Mr. Brewer has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since 1847, in which he has 
been an active worker, and during recent years, has been preaching in the country and doing 
much good. He has always been a man of public spirit, doing much for the general welfare of 
his country. In politics he is an active democrat, and always a stanch supporter of the principles 
of his party. 

BENJAMIN S. PRETTYMAN. 

PEKIN. 

BENJAMIN STOCKLEY PRETTYMAN, lawyer, is one of the early settlers and prominent 
citizens of Tazewell county; he came hither from the state of Delaware in iS'ji, then a lad 
of a dozen summers. He has resided near or in Pekin, the shire town, for more than fifty years ; 
has seen the country changed from wild ])rairie and wild liottom wood lands, partly inhabited by 
wild beasts and wild Indians, into well improved farms, usually from one hundred and sixty to 
three hundred and twenty acres, and Pekin from a rude landing place for steamboats in the 
Illinois River, to a well built and thriving city of nearly ten thousand inhabitants. 

Mr. Prettyman came from English and revolutionary stock, his grandfather, Benjamin 
Prettyman, being at one period with Commodore Decatur on the " Fair America," and was captured 
and kept a while on a British prison ship. The family came from the old country at an early 
day, and settled in Delaware, to which state the Prettymans generally scattered over the country 
trace their ancestors. Our subject was born in Kent county, that state, November 21, 1819, 
being a son of Lewis Prettyman, a native of Sussex county, same state, and Harriet (Mason) 
Prettyman, who was born in Kent county. She belonged to a Quaker family. The older genera- 
tions of the Prettymans were Presbyterians, with more or less Scotch blood in them. 

Before leaving his native state, the subject of this sketch had obtained a fair knowledge of the 
elementary branches of knowledge for a boy not yet entered upon his teens. The family landed 
at Pekin, April 16, 1831, and the son never had a quarter's schooling, all told, after that date. He 
did, however, a good deal of self improvement, and eventually acquired a good business educa- 
tion. 

His father settled on land seven miles from Pekin, opened a farm, and there the son remained 
until twenty-five years of age. His father was county surveyor, appointed by the governor, and 
in 1840 elected by the people, his son serving as deputy. 

Mr. Prettyman read law at Springfield with Robbins and Smeed ; was admitted to the bar in 
March, 1845, and in April of that year was married to Miss Sarah Ann Haines, who was from Ohio. 

For nearly forty years Mr. Prettyman has been in practice at Pekin, and is the oldest attorney 
in the county. He is a thorough student, painstaking in all his legal work, investigating a ques- 
tion very carefully, and being very tenacious of his opinions when once formed. He does nothing 



cq6 ViYITED states BiOGRArillCAL DICTIONARY 

hastily ; is regarded as a good judge of law : has the shrewdness not uncommon to men of his 
profession ; often shows great adroitness in managing a case ; and before a jury aims at candoi 
in his statements and clearness in his logic. His character is above reproach. He has an unusu- 
ally large law library, of which he and two of his sons make liberal and judicious use. 

Mr. Prettyman was city attorney some years ago, and has been mayor two or three terms ; his 
politics have always been democratic, and for thirty or forty years he has been one of the leaders 
of his party in the county. He usually attends county, district, and state conventions ; was a 
delegate to the national convention which met at Charleston, South Carolina, in iS6o, and with 
not more than two exceptions, has been a delegate to every national convention since that time. 
He is a Royal Arch Mason ; has been master of the Blue Lodge several times, and held different 
offices in the chapter. He is also a scarlet member in Odd-Fellowship. 

As the result of the marriage already mentioned, Mr. and Mrs. Prettyman have had fourteen 
children, burying seven of them when quite young, and one since. Esther Virginia married A. 
J. Ware, and died a few years ago. Mr. Ware is a lawyer and miner, living in Colorado. Two of 
the sons, William L. and Benjamin S., are lawyers in practice with their father; Emily is the wife 
of Doctor William E. Schenck, of Pekin ; Hattie is the widow of James Murray, and living with 
her father; Elizabeth is the wife of George Rider, lawyer and master in chancery, of Pekin; and 
Nellie is the wife of Frederick Smith, manufacturer of agricultural implements, of Pekin. 

Mr. Prettyman is a gentleman bordering on the old school ; is full of reminiscences of the 
olden times, cordial and communicative, well informed, and quite interesting in conversation. He 
is much respected by all classes of people, and especially esteemed by the older residents of the 
county. 

D. HARRY HAMMER. 

CI lie A GO. 

THE subject of this biographv is a native of Springfield, Illinois, and was born December 23, 
1840; the son of John Hammer and Eliza ( Witmer) Hammer. His parents settled at Spring- 
field in 1837, the father having formerly been a merchant and manufacturer at Hagerstown, Mary- 
land. The mother was a native of Marvland, and a daughter of John Witmer, a soldier of the 
war of 181 2. In 1842, when Harry was about two years old, his family removed to Ogle county, 
and there he passed his boyhood and youth in attending the district schools, and in the ordinary 
routine of a farmer boy's life, and also during this period of his life learned the harness and sad- 
dlery trade, and during several winters employed his time in teaching. Possessed of a native 
taste for study and literary culture, he made the best use of his time, and at the age of seventeen 
began a course of study in the Rock River Seminary, at Mount Morris, Illinois. After graduat- 
ing from that institution, having determined to devote himself to the legal profession, he pursued 
a course of study in the law department of Michigan University, graduating in the class of 1865. 
He afterward spent some time traveling through the several western and northern states, and 
finally established himself for the practice of his profession at Saint Louis, Missouri. Owing, how- 
ever, to the unsettled state of affairs after the close of the war, he met with little success, and 
consequently abandoned the law and began work at his trade. He continued thus employed 
until the following j'ear, when he was compelled to leave Saint Louis by reason of the cholera 
epidemic. 

About this time Mr. Hammer formed the acquaintance of Benjamin F. Taylor, of the Chicago 
"Evening Journal," who was lecturing through the West, and following his advice, removed to 
Chicago and resumed his profession. The move was a most happy one, and marked the turning 
point in his life. Entering with all the vigor of his young manhood into the work of his profes- 
sion, with a determined purpose to succeed, he soon made for himself a name at the Chicago bar, 
and built up an extensive and lucrative practice. 

In 1879 Mr. Hammer was appointed, by Governor Shelby M. Culiom, one of the justices of the 



UA'/TF.D STATF.S lUOGR 4 PIIICAI. DICTIONARY. 5gC) 

peace for the city of Chicago, for a term of four years, and in 1883 he was reappointed by (xover- 
nor John M. Hamilton for anotiier term. The office is one to which he is well adapted, both by 
iiis judicial mind and his practical knowledge of the law, and to these, together with his great 
popularity, may be attributed his almost unparalleled success, he having, since his appointment, 
disposed of about four thousand cases each year. Aside from his professional duties, Mr. Ham- 
mer has always kept himself well posted on matters of public interest, and besides being an able 
and successful lawyer, has always been known as an enterprising and public-spirited man. 

He is a gentleman of cultivated tastes and fine literary attainments, and takes an active part 
in all movements tending to advance the interests of art and literary culture in the community 
where he resides. His private library, comprising some five thousand volumes, is one of the finest 
and most select collections of books in the city of Chicago. 

In political sentiment, Mr. Hammer is and always has been a republican. He is married to 
Emma L. Carpenter, of Athens, Ohio, and has two daughters, Maude, aged sixteen years, and 
Hazel Harry, born July 4, i88i. Although he has scarcely reached the meridian of life, Mr. 
Hammer has accumulated an ample fortune, and lives in the enjoyment of all the comforts of a 
happy and cheerful home. Domestic in his habits, and social in his tastes, he is a most genial 
companion, and in nothing takes more delight than in dispensing to his many friends a generous 
hospitality. 

Mr. Hammer is an active member of Chevalier Bayard Commandery of Knights Templar, and 
other societies. He is also a member of the Calumet and Union League Clubs, of Chicago. 



WILLIAM WILLETT. 

KEITHSBURG. 

AMONG the early settlers in Mercer county, and one of the first to manufacture lumber here, is 
iV William VVillett, who has resided here since 1838. He was born in that part of Brecken- 
ridge county now called Meade county, Kentucky, November 3, 1814, his father being Richard 
Willett, a farmer, born in Prince George county, Maryland, and his mother, Sarah (Esary) Wil- 
lett, a native of Berks county, Pennsylvania. His paternal grandfather was a lame man, hence 
could not do military duty during the times which tried men's souls, but he kept a hotel, and his 
house was a place of refuge for parties pursued by tories and Indians. The mother of Sarah 
Esary was a Clark, a sister of General Clark, who was sent from Virginia westward to take charge 
of the forces in Kentucky, and had his headquarters at the point where Louisville now stands, 
and where the white people often sought shelter in the stockade. The school drill of our subject 
was quite limited, ending at fifteen years of age, but he did some hard studying out of school, 
having at one time as an assistant a nephew of Daniel Boone, and he secured in the end a fair 
English education. 

William farmed until twenty-one years old ; then (1835) started a wood yard on the Ohio 
River, seventy miles below Louisville, and was engaged in flat-boating for three years. In the 
summer of 1838 he came into Mercer county, reaching New Boston, July 20; took up a claim of 
160 acres in the central part of the county; made a small farm of part of it, and from the autumn 
of 1839 to 1842 he ran a saw mill on Pope Creek for Isaiah Brown. In company with Mr. Brown 
and Nicholas Edwards he built (1842) a saw mill at the mouth of Edward's River, in New Boston 
township, and soon afterward sold out his interests to Mr. Brown, taking his mill on Pope Creek 
as part pay. 

Mr. Willett married, July 20, 1843, Miss Nancy J. Denison, of New Boston, and they com- 
menced housekeeping in a humble style on Pope Creek, remaining there until August of the 
next year. At that date our subject exchanged his mill property for a farm, between that point 
and Keithsburg. That farm 'he improved for two seasons; then leased it (1846), and removed to 
Keithsburg, and engaged in liuying and shipping grain and keeping a commission house. In 
50 



6oO UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

1S50 he leased his builduigs for one year to Levi Willetts, and worked for Mr. Willetts. At the 
end of that time, he took a third interest in the old business, in company with J. VV. Doughty and 
Abram B. Sheriff, and they were together three years, when Messrs. Willett and Sheriff bought 
out Mr. Doughty 's interest, and continued in partnership until 1864, dealing in dry goods, gro- 
ceries and grain. The health of Mr. Willett not being very good, he sold out to Mr. Sheriff, and 
for three or four years speculated in promissory notes and other property. 

In 1868 Mr. Willett commenced the manufacture of cultivators, but the business did not prove 
profitable, and he sold out the next year. Some time before this period he had swapped his old 
farm for a large one — a farm of two hundred and thirty acres five miles from town, which he 
has rented to tenants. Latterly he has devoted his time to looking after his interests in this and 
other property. 

Mr. Willett was originally an emancipation whig, and since 1855 has been a republican. He 
is also a Freemason, and was master of the local lodge during most of the period of the civil war. 

Mr. and Mrs. Willett buried four children in infancy, and have six living: James W. is mar- 
ried, and is an attorney-at-law in Tama City, Iowa; Emma O. is the wife of J. C. Zumwalt, of the 
Willows, Sacramento Valley, California; Richard and Henry are on the Mississippi River, and 
Mag J. and Julia are at home. 



ANSELL A. TERRELL. 

STERLING. 

ANSELL ALPHONSO TERRELL, secretary and manager of the Novelty Manufacturing 
L Company, Sterling, and one of the most public-spirited men of the city, was born in the 
town of Exeter, Otsego county. New York, October 19, 1831. His father, Lyman Terrell, a 
farmer, was a native of Connecticut, where the family settled several generations ago, and his 
mother was Sarepta (Cone) Terrell, who was born in the state of New York. Ansell was the eld- 
est child in a family of seven children. He finished his education at the New Berlin Academy, 
New York; farmed more or less each year until fifteen, when he went into a cotton mill at Mil- 
ford, in his native county, and, commencing as spinner, worked his way upward through the mil' 
until he became its superintendent. 

In 1853 Mr. Terrell went to Northampton, Massachusetts, and had charge of the polishing 
department of the Bay State Hoe and Edge Tool Works until 1856, when he came to this state, 
and had a position in the large store of Cumins and House, at Grand Detour, Ogle county. In 
1859 he settled in Sterling, and for ten years was in the mercantile trade, in company with Henry 
G. Harper, the firm name being Terrell and Harper. During part of that period, and later, from 
1863 to 1871, Mr. Terrell was collector of internal revenue for Whiteside county, and also had 
charge of the distillery of John S. Miller and Company, as government store-keeper. 

The Novelty Manufacturing Company was established in March, 1869. Two years afterward 
Mr. Terrell became its secretary, and in 1873 its secretary and general manager, posts which he 
still holds, and which he is filling with great efficiency. It is a stock company, with a capital and 
surplus of ^115,000, and is manufacturing a great variety of articles, including school and church 
furniture, hall, recitation, teachers' and office desks, erasers and apparatus, opera seats, corn 
shellers, harrows, churns, barrel carts, stove-pipe registers, "Novelty" barb wire, etc. They have 
branch houses in different parts of the country, including San Francisco, California, and ship to 
every point of the compass. The company has built up its business and its reputation wholly on 
the merits of its articles, for which it finds a ready sale. Its marked success is owing, no doubt, 
in a great measure, to the prudent management of our subject, who has a careful oversight of 
every department. 

Besides attending to his own business, Mr. Terrell has done a good deal of hard work in con- 
nection with the municipality of the city, having served in the council for three or four terms, 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOA'ARY. 6o I 

and was for years a member of the school board. It was while holding the latter office that the 
elegant brick school house in the second ward was erected, he being chairman of the building 
committee, and carefully superintending the job. Probably no man in the city takes a deeper 
interest in educational matters than Mr. Terrell. He is a trustee of the Baptist Church, a Royal 
Arch Mason, and a member of the encampment in Odd-Fellowship. 

He married, in July, 1853, Miss Desdemona Grover, of Milford, New York, and they have 
buried one daughter and have four children living. 



DANIEL WANN. 

GALENA. 

THE gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of this sketch has been a resident of 
Galena for fifty-three years, and surveyor of customs since 1853, when Franklin Pierce was 
President of the United States. He was born at Bel Air, Harford county, Maryland, April 3, 
1797, his parents being John and Susan (Reinhart) Wann, both of German pedigree. 

Daniel Wann received a plain English education in his native state; was engaged in mercan- 
tile pursuits in his native town until he came to Galena in 1829, bringing with him a stock of 
general merchandise. Galena was then the great rallying point for miners and speculators west 
of Chicago, having more white people than that now great city of five hundred and fifty thousand 
inhabitants. 

Mr. Wann continued in trade here until 1851, when he spent two years in settling up his affairs, 
and then took the office already mentioned, the duties of which he has discharged with great 
fidelity. Although a Jackson democrat, casting his first vote for "Old Hickory" in 1828, he has 
retained his office through every administration. Of late years he has been quite mild and con- 
siderate in his political views, voting for the best men, irrespective of their party affiliation. His 
religious connection is with the F"irst Presbyterian Church. 

Mr. Wann was alderman of Galena two or three terms, and mayor of the city in 1844. Long 
prior to this, he was president of the government board of commissions which laid out the city of 
Galena, and adjusted the titles to all the lots. In 1837, when the State Bank of Illinois opened a 
branch at Galena, Mr. Wann was made its president, and he held that position until 1842, when 
the business of the bank in this city was closed. He is one of the best-posted men in the history 
of this city now living here. He is the oldest Mason probably in northwestern Illinois, being in- 
ducted with the order in 1820; is a Knight Templar, and belongs to the chapter; and is the 
father of Odd-Fellowship in Galena, establishing the first lodge here, and holding the office of 
noble grand. 

Mr. Wann is full of reminiscences of the olden time, and strangers in Galena wishing to get 
posted on the early history of this city, will do well to seek the. society of Mr. Wann, who is easy 
of access and very cordial. 

JOHN E. JOHNSTON. 

]VARSAW. 

JOHN EDWARD JOHNSTON, one of the early settlers and merchants in Warsaw, and now 
postmaster of the city, is of Scotch-Irish parentage, and was born in the County of Fermanagh, 
Ireland, July 12, 1812. His parents were Robert and Elizabeth Johnston. They brought their 
family to America in 1818, settled at Elkton, Maryland, where our subject received an ordinary 
English education. When sixteen or seventeen years old, he removed to Baltimore, where he was 
employed as a clerk for a few months, and then went into trade for himself, remaining in that 
city five or six years. He came west in 1835; spent one year in Herculaneum, Missouri; two years 
in Saint Louis, and at the close of 1838 settled in Warsaw, which has been his home since that 
date. 



6o2 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

During the first three \'ears that Mr. Johnston was in this place, he was a merchant ; was then 
engaged in land speculations, and subsequently in railroading for two or three years. Afterward 
we find him selling goods once more, and he followed that branch of industry until February, 
1876, when he was appointed postmaster by President Grant. He makes a iirst-class official, being 
prompt in all his duties, and attentive and accommodating. During the Mormon war, 1844 and 
184s, he served as quartermaster: has held various local offices, such as school director, school 
treasurer, town trustee, etc., and never undertakes to shirk duties of that class. 

Mr. Johnston was originally an old-line whig, and on the demise of that party joined the re- 
publican, in which he has been a very active worker since its origin. He usually attends the 
county, district and state conventions, and is indefatigable in his efforts to strengthen and give 
success to the party. Postmaster Johnston is a member and trustee of the Presbyterian Church, 
and is living a consistent life. 

In 1840 he was joined in marriage with Miss Catharine L. Baldwin, then of Carthage, and a 
native of New York, and they have had nine children, burying four of them. Annie E., the oldest 
child living, is the wife of General Oliver Edwards, of Warsaw, commander of the 37th Massa- 
chusetts infantry in the early part of the civil war, and promoted to brigadier-general and major- 
general ; Emily J., wife of Horace A. Scott, merchant, Osceola, Nebraska ; James Edward, chief 
clerk in the custom house at Kansas City, Missouri ; Francis L., wife of A. H. McGregor, chief 
train dispatcher of the Wabash, Saint Louis and Pacific railroad, at Stanberry, Missouri, and 
John Charles, clerk in the Warsaw postoffice. 



THOMAS WINSTON, M D. 

FORRESTON. 

THE subject of this biographical sketch, the leading physician at Forreston, is a native of 
Breconshire, Wales, and was born October 17, 1829. His parents, Edward and Sarah 
(Evans) Winston, came to this country in 1832, Thomas being in his third year. They landed at 
the city of Quebec just as the Asiatic cholera first reached the western continent, and our sub- 
ject lost an older brother by that fell disease. Edward Winston was a blacksmith by trade, and 
took his family to Albany, New York, where they remained till 1839, in which year the mother 
died. They then pushed westward as far as Newark, Ohio, where Thomas learned the tailor's 
trade. 

In 1849, heing in his twentieth year, he came to Mount Morris, Ogle county; attended the 
Rock River Seminary two years; read medicine with Doctor McNeill, of that place; attended 
lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which institution he was graduated in Febru- 
ary, 1858, and he practiced his profession at Mount Morris until the civil war began. In August, 
1862, he went into the service as assistant surgeon of the 92d Illinois infantry, and held that posi- 
tion two years, his regiment being most of the time in Wilder's brigade, Army of the Cumberland, 
and the doctor's labors were at times quite severe. At the end of two years he was made surgeon 
of the 149th regiment, Illinois infantry, which was in Tennessee and Georgia. The regiment 
was mustered out at Dalton, Georgia, in February, 1866, the doctor having been in the service 
three years and a half. 

On leaving the army he returned to Mount Morris, practiced there two more years, and then 
(February, 1868), settled in Forreston, in the same county. His experience in the army was an 
excellent school for him, and added to his reputation in the profession. His standing and busi- 
ness are good. He is a member of the county and state medical societies. 

His professional labors are somewhat exacting, and he does not get much time to attend to poli- 
tics, but he is a republican out-and-out, and rarely fails to discharge his duties as a citizen at the 
polls. He is a third degree Mason. 

In December, 1861, the doctor was joined in marriage with Miss Carrie E. Mumford, daughter 



UNITED STATES BlOCRAPtnCAL DfCT/OXA R Y. 603 

r.f Thi.imas L. Mumford, of Wayne county, Pennsylvania, and they have buried one son, and tiave 
seven children living. Mrs. Winston was preceptress of the Rock River Seminary at the time of 
her marriage, and is a lady of fine culture, and excellent qualities of both mind and heart. She 
has had the entire mental training of her children in their earlier years, and the oldest son has 
already spent three years in college, and the second son one year. 



WILLIAM F. L. HADLEY. 

V 

ED WARDSVILLE. 

WILLIAM FLAVIUS LEICESTER HADLEY, lawyer, is a native of Madison county, in 
wliich he still lives, and was born in Collinsville, June 15, 1847. His father, William Had- 
ley, a local Methodist preacher, and a farmer and horiculturist, was born in Kentucky, in 1806, 
and his mother, whose maiden name was Didaima McKinney, was born in Madison county, near 
Edwardsville, in 1809. She died in 1863, and her husband is still living, his residence being Car- 
bondale, Jackson count)'. John Hadlev*, the grandfather of our subject, volunteered as a soldier, 
near the close of the second war with the mother country, but did not reach the army until the 
last battle had been fought. 

Our subject was educated at McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois, taking the full scientific 
course, including Latin. His father had two fruit farms in the southern part of the state, and a 
farm in Madison county; and William usually gave his summers to work among the fruit. His 
legal education was obtained at the L'niversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he was graduated 
in March, 1871. In the autumn of that year Mr. Hadley opened an office at Edwardsville, and 
practiced alone until 1874, when he formed a partnership with Hon. William II. Krome. The firm 
of Krome and Hadley has a large practice, and is one of the most respectable law firms at the 
county seat. 

Mr. Hadley is thoroughly educated in his profession, and is a diligent and close reader. He 
keeps himself well informed on literary and scientific, as well as legal subjects; has clear-cut ideas 
on any question which he undertakes to discuss, and is a logical and forcible speaker. His friends 
who know him best believe he is likely to rise to eminence in his profession, his character as well 
as attainments and talents being solid. 

In 1872 Mr. Hadley was a candidate for county attorney, and was beaten by four votes. He 
is a strong republican, and an earnest worker during a political campaign, being a candid and 
effective stumper. Mr. Hadley is an Odd-Fellow, and has passed all the chairs in the subordinate 
lodge. He is also a Knight of Pythias. 

The wife of Mr. Hadley was Mary J. West, daughter of Hon. E. M. West, a member of the con- 
stitutional convention in 1848, and senior member of the firm of West and Prickett, bankers, 
Edwardsville. They were married June 15, 1S75, and have buried one daughter, and have two 
daughters and one son living. 

HON. JOHN G. HENDERSON. 

WIXCHESTER. 

JOHN GREEN HENDERSON, lawyer and scientist, and late judge of Scott county, is a 
native of Greene county, this state, and dates his birth September 22, 1837. His father, John 
P. Henderson, was born in Kentuckj^; his mother, Susannah Winter (Green) Henderson, in Ohio. 
Our subject received most of his education at Jacksonville, Morgan county, where he attended 
the high school and Berean College. He taught school more or less while a student in these 
schools, and while studying his profession and subsequently, in all during a period of ten or 
twelve years. He read law with John L. McConnell, of Jacksonville; was licensed to practice in 
August, 1858, and immediately opened an office in Jacksonville, where he remained between two 
and three years. 



6o4 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHICAI. D/CT/ONARV. 

In 1S62 he moved to Naples, in Scott county. Early in the autumn of 1866, our subject 
settled in his present home, the seat of justice of Scott county, where he has made a highly cred- 
itable record as an attorney-at-law. He does very little office business; makes criminal law a 
specialty, and being well read, a fluent talker, and an earnest, logical and persuasive speaker, 
he has great success before a jury. 

In the autumn of 1877, Mr. Henderson was elected judge of the county court, and served in 
that honorable position for five years, retiring near the close of 1882. Judge Henderson has 
always affiliated with the democratic party, and has been an earnest worker in its interests, acting 
on the county central committee, part of the time as chairman, attending caucuses and conven- 
tions, and stumping Scott and the adjoining counties for the candidates of his party. He has 
given no inconsiderable attention to the study of politics, as well as of law, and never allows 
himself to speak on any subject which he has not thoroughly investigated. 

But the judge is best known to the scientific world as a student in anthropology and orni- 
thology. He has every important work to be had on these branches of science, and has probably 
the finest library on anthropology, in particular, west of the Alleghany Mountains. He has single 
volumes which cost $200 or |!3oo, and his whole collection of scientific works must be valued at 
$8,000 or $9,000. 

He has a large and choice collection in archaeology, some of the specimens so rare and fine 
that they have been loaned to the Smithsonian Institution to be copied. Some years ago he 
made a careful and thorough exploration of the mounds in this section of the state, being em- 
ployed by the Institution just mentioned; and he wrote a lengthy memoir on this subject, which 
is in the hands of the Institution for publication. 

The judge is a member of the Illinois Natural History Society; an honorary member of the 
Saint Louis Historical Society, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science. He was secretary for two years of the anthropological sub-section, and has contributed 
many papers to the society on the subject of archaeology, among which may be mentioned the 
following: 

Saint Louis meeting, August, 1878: "Ancient Mounds in the Vicinity of Naples, Illinois." 
"Ancient Names, Geographical, Tribal and Personal, in the Mississippi Valley." 

Saratoga meeting, August, 1879: " Superstitions of the Ancient Inhabitants of the Mississippi 
Valley relative to the Rabbit." "Superstitions of the Ancient Inhabitants of the Mississippi 
Valley relative to the Owl." "Superstitions of the Ancient Inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley 
relative to Thunder." " Superstitions of the Ancient Inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley relative 
to the Serpent." " Lake Erie and the Eries." 

Boston meeting, August, 1880: "Ancient Mounds in the Vicinity of Naples, Illinois. No. 2." 
"Sign Language and Pantomimic Dances among the North American Indians." "Textile Fabrics 
of the Ancient Inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley." 

Cincinnati meeting, August, 1881: "Ih:x Cassinc, the Black Drink of the Southern Indians." 
"Was the Antelope Hunted on the Prairies of Illinois?" "Agriculture and Agricultural Imple- 
ments of the Ancient Inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley." " Houses of the Ancient Inhabitants 
of the Mississippi Valley." 

Besides the above, he has contributed various articles to the scientific magazines, among which 
may be mentioned the following: "The Former Range of the Buffalo," published in the "Ameri- 
can Naturalist," vol. vi, pp. 79-98. "Notes on Aboriginal Relics, Known as Plumets," published 
in same volume, pp. 644-650; also, "LTse of the Rattles of the Rattlesnake," published in same, 
pp. 260-263. The first of the above articles was an exhaustive examination of the subject, and 
required a vast amount of historical research. The last article was favorably noticed l)y the 
great naturalist, Charles Darwin, in his work on the " Expression of Emotions in Man and 
Animals." 

He has been engaged for twenty years on a work to be entitled " Ancient Names, Geographi- 
cal, Tribal and Personal, in the Mississippi Valley," giving synonyms, etymology and orthography 
of aboriginal names of mountains, rivers, lakes, etc. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 605 

In order to prosecute his studies successfully, Judge Henderson found it necessary to study 
many books printed in the French language; so he took it up without a teacher, mastered it, and 
is now enabled to read it with almost the rapidity that he reads the English language. Our sub- 
ject is worthy of great commendation for the proficiency he has made in studies outside the legal 
profession, and for the large amount of literary work which he has done. He is yet in the prime 
of life; has sense enough to study and regard the laws of health, and the friends of science can 
but hope that he may have length of days, and be able to complete the other noble tasks which 
he has assigned himself. 

HON. JOSEPH W. HARRIS. 

TISk'ILlVA. 

JOSEPH WH.KINSON HARRIS, one of the older class of citizens of Tiskilwa, and a mem- 
J ber of the legislature when the civil war broke out, was born in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, 
January 16, 1819. His father was William Harris, who commenced the manufacture of cot-ton 
goods in that state in i8u, and at the time of his death was the oldest cotton manufacturer in 
Rhode Island, dying in his eightieth year. The Harris family settled in Rhode Island with 
Roger Williams. The mother of Joseph was Sarah Greene, a relative of General Greene, of rev- 
olutionary fame. The parents of our subject were Quakers, and he was sent to a Quaker school 
until he was thirteen years old, when his school days came to an end. 

In 1836 Mr. Harris came as far west as Michigan, and engaged in farming, teaching school 
one winter at Galesburgh, having largely educated himself. Since eighteen years of age he has 
been engaged in agricult\iral pursuits constantly. In May, 1840, he left Michigan and settled in 
Tiskilwa, his present home. He has a first-class farm in the town of Milo, and is one of the 
thrifty men of his class, his industry having been well rewarded. Mr. Harris has a half interest 
in a livery stable, which he is running in connection with his other business. 

He was chosen a member of the legislature in i860, and attended the regular and e.xtra ses- 
sions of that body the following year, heartily voting for all war measures. In the autumn of that 
year he went into the army as first lieutenant of company F, 57th Illinois infantry ; was wounded 
at Shiloh, and taken prisoner on the road from Pulaski, Tennessee, to Athens, Georgia, but held 
only a few hours. He was in the service four years, and a considerable part of that time was 
superintendent of freedmen, and was one of the most successful men in the army detached for 
that service, having at one time three camps, averaging a thousand freedmen in each camp, and 
all self-sustaining. 

Mr. Harris was formerly a republican, and is now a greenbacker. He is a man of no incon- 
siderable influence in any cause which he espouses; is an extensive reader, and well posted on 
many subjects. He has been supervisor of Milo for six or seven years. 

The wife of Mr. Harris was Fanny Hall, of Bureau county, their marriage taking place in 
1845. They have lost two children, and have one son living, William Harris, a miner in Col- 
orado. 

LEONARD L. LAKE, M.D. 

BEL VIDE RE. 

LEONARD LITTLEFIELD LAKE, one of the oldest medical practitioners in Boone county, 
J and a man of sterling professional and general character, was born in the town of Hamburg, 
Erie county, New York, September 26, 1821, his parents being Daniel and Polly (Brown) Lake, 
both natives of the Empire State. His paternal grandfather participated in the struggle for 
independence. 

Leonard received a partial academic education at Salex, Chautauqua county; taught a district 
school in his sixteenth year; read medicine with Doctor Lewis N. Wood, of Walworth county. 



6o6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Wisconsin; attended lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, and is a graduate of that insti- 
tution, class of '48. 

Doctor Lake settled in Belvidere, and was in practice here when the civil war began, and in 
1862 he went into the service as assistant surgeon, being quite active until after the siege of Vicks- 
burg, in which he was disabled. Resigning by surgeon's certificate in the latter part of July, 
1863, the doctor returned to Belvidere, and soon afterward resumed general practice, in which he 
is still engaged, and in which he has a good run of business. His standing in the profession has 
always been creditable, and he has a large circle of patrons and warm friends, who have great 
confidence in his skill. He is a member of the Boone County Medical Society. 

Doctor Lake held the office of county coroner for eight years; was sheriff of the county one 
term, and has held other civil offices, such as school director, town trustee, etc., faithfully dis- 
charging the duties of every position assigned him. He is now president of the city board of 
.health. 

In politics, he is a repulilican, and aided locally in organizing that party, always giving it earn- 
est support. 

Religiously, he is a Baptist, a member of the First Church, Belvidere, and a hearty contributor 
toward its support, and the cause of religion generally. 

Doctor Lake married, in 1843, Miss Asenah Marvin, of Belvidere, and they have buried three 
children, and have two living: Hattie M., wife of Charles A. Church, editor and proprietor of the 
Belvidere "Recorder," and Lewis N. W., a music teacher. 

Doctor Lake is an amateur grape cultivator, and has at least forty varieties, all hybrids, a 
cross between the domestic and foreign grape, devoting an acre or more of land to their cultiva- 
tion. They are superior in quality to anything of the kind raised east of California, and com- 
mand a price double that of the ordinary domestic grape. 



ORR F. WOODRUFF. 

MORRISON. 

THE subject of this biographical sketch is mayor of the city of MorrFson, Whiteside county, 
and one of the leading lawyers in the western part of the state. He is a New Yorker by 
birth, and first saw the light of this world in Orleans county, June 30, 1840. His father, Winfield 
W. Woodruff, a farmer, is a native of the same state, and is descended from old Connecticut stock. 
The mother of Orr, whose maiden name was Solemma F. Terry, was also born in New York. 
Both parents are still living. In 1852 the family immigrated to Illinois, and settled on a farm at 
Lyndon, eight miles south of Morrison, where our subject received a high-school education, and 
where he had considerable experience in tilling land, before he was nineteen years old. But he 
was not smitten with farm work. Law books w^ere more attractive than agricultural implements, 
and it early became evident that he was predestined to be a lawyer. At the age above mentioned 
he entered the office of Hon. Henry M. Teller, late United States senator from Colorado, and now 
secretary of the interior, and two years afterward went before the e:camining committee of the 
supreme court in Chicago, and was admitted to the bar at Ottawa in May, 1S61. From that date 
he has been a resident of Morrison, and in steady practice in the several courts of the state, and 
of the Lmited States, and stands second to no lawyer in Whiteside county. The elder Disraeli 
says that "enthusiasm is the nurse of genius." Mr. Woodruff entered upon the practice of his 
profession from a love of it, and with a zeal and zest partaking very much of the nature of enthu- 
siasm, and if he had no genius to nurse, he had something equally as serviceable, equally as prac- 
tical, namely: first-class talents and a plucky spirit of perseverance. He has made golden use of 
his time, and to his studious habits and his plodding disposition he owes, in a large measure, his 
high standing at the bar. 

Mr. Woodruff has a large and well selected library, of which he makes diligent use, and in 

/ 



UA'ITED STATES BIOCRAPItlCAL DICTIONARY. 609 

addition to his studious habits and his untiring energy and perseverance, he has great persistenc}' 
under difficulties, much sl<ill in arranging the details of a trial, a nice discrimination as to the 
applicability of authorities, peculiar fitness to examine witnesses, and noteworthy, and often truly 
remarkable tact with juries. His practice in criminal courts is quite large, and it has been 
attended with great success. 

At the time this sketch is prepared (summer of 1882), Mr. Woodruff is serving his second 
term and fourth year as mayor of the city, the first municipal office, we believe, that he has ever 
held. He is public-spirited and progressive, and takes pride in pushing forward any enterprise 
tending to benefit the city. He has large mining interests in Colorado, and is president of the 
Idalia Silver Mining Company, and also of the Minnie Lee Company. He is a Royal Arch Mason, 
and was for several years senior deacon of Dunlap Lodge, No. 321, Morrison. 

Mr. Woodruff was first married in November, 1862, to Miss Victoria O'Hara, of Morrison, and 
she and two children, his whole family, died within twenty days, in the atitunin of 1867. His 
present wife was Mary Lathrop, also of Morrison, married February 22, 1869. They have no 
children. 

PHILIP L. DIEFFENBACHER, M.D. 

HA VANA. 

PHILIP LONG DIEFFENBACHER, the leading surgeon in Mason county, is descended 
from an old Pennsylvania German family, his great-grandfather, Conrad Dieffenbacher, 
marrying in the old country and coming directly to the Keystone State, some time before the 
revolt of the colonies. He and his son, Jacob Dieffenbacher, grandfather of Philip, were farmers, 
as were most of the early members of the family in this country. Philip is the eldest son of 
Daniel and Catherine (Long) Dieffenbacher, and was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, 
February 6, 1830. When he was about three years of age the family moved to Northumberland 
county, where some biographers have by mistake located his birthplace. 

In 1837 the family came to Illinois and settled on wild land five miles east of Havana, where 
our subject assisted in improving a farm, receiving, meanwhile, such mental drill as the country 
schools of Illinois could furnish forty years ago. In 1849 Mr. Dieffenbacher returned to Pennsyl- 
vania, finished his literary education at the Newville Academy; studied medicine at Mechanics- 
burgh, Pennsylvania, with his paternal uncle, Philip H. Long ; attended lectures at Jefferson 
Medical College, Philadelphia, one of the oldest institutions of the kind in the country, and was 
graduated in the spring of 1855. He attended clinical lectures and practice at Blockly Hospital, 
West Philadelphia, during one winter. 

Doctor Dieffenbacher opened an office at Mount Joy, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, but his 
parents were in this state. His heart was here, and in 1856 we find him in Havana, with his sign 
out, and he in full practice, among his early associates and abiding friends. His reputation for 
skill, particularly in surgery, in which he excels, gradually extended over the county, and into 
adjoining counties, and his practice in that branch of the healing art, as well as in medicine, has 
for years been quite extensive. In i860, the year before the war broke out, he performed success- 
fully a resection of the shoulder j(3int, from a gun-shot wound, then an unusual operation. 

In the summer of 1862 the doctor was appointed assistant post surgeon at Peoria, under Doc- 
tor Andrews, while the regiments were being mustered in, and when the 85th infantry was 'ready 
to march, he accompanied it as first assistant surgeon. In June, 1863, he was promoted to sur- 
geon, with the rank of major, serving in that capacity till the war ended. He was with General 
Sherman on his march to the sea, and through the Carolinas and Virginia to Washington. Since 
his return from the army he has done all the difficult surgery in this part of the state. He is also 
United States examining surgeon for pensions in Mason county, and surgeon for the Wabash, 
Saint Louis and Pacific railroad. 

He is a member of the Mason County Medical Society, the Brainard District Medical Society, 
60 



6lO UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

of which he was president in iSSo-i, and also belongs to the American Medical Association 
whose meetings he attends occasionall\\ 

Doctor Dieffenbacher trains in the ranks of the republican party, but the temptations of no 
office drew him from his practice. He has a large and valuable medical librar)^, which he 
replenishes from year to year, and to the study of which he gives the leisure time at his com- 
mand. His wife was Martha M. Mitchell, of Bath, Mason county, married May 17, 1874. They 
have three children: Mattie M., Edith L. and Philip D. 



WILLIAM E. SCHENCK, M.D. 

PEKIN. 

WILLIAM ERNEST SCHENCK, one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Tazewell 
county, is a descendant of one of those Holland families w-hich settled in New York at an 
early day, and which are most felicitiously described by Diedrich Knickerbocker in his history of 
that state. He is a son of Ernest and Anna B. (Skillman) Schenck, and was born at Millstone, 
Somerset county. New Jersey, May 20, 1840. Both parents were also natives of that county. 
William was educated at the Lawrenceville Classical School, and prepared himself to enter college, 
but went no farther with his literary studies. He read medicine with Doctor P. D. McKissack, of 
Millstone; attended three courses of lectures at Bellevue Hospital College, New York city, and 
received the degree of doctor of medicine in March, 1864, he being a member of the first class 
that was graduated at that excellent institution. 

Doctor Schenck came immediately to Pekin, and has known no other field of practice. He found 
a wide opening, for it extended into the country in some directions from twelve to fifteen miles. 
He took great pains in preparing himself for his profession, and has since been well rewarded in 
a pecuniary sense, as well as in the satisfaction one feels in knowing that his skill is appreciated. 

Doctor Schenck has been L'uited States examining surgeon for pensions for fifteen years, and 
served for three years as a school inspector ; but the pressing duties of his profession forbid that 
he should accept of many civil offices. His ambition seems to rest in his legitimate calling — in 
his desire to attend promptly to the wants of suffering humanity, and succeed as a physician. 
This he has already done. He is a member of the Tazewell County Medical Society, recently 
organized, and is exerting himself, with others, to build it up. The doctor is a member of the 
American (formerly Dutch) Reformed Church, and a deacon of the same. 

He was married in October, 1867, to Emily, daughter of Benjamin Prettyman, whose sketch 
appears on other pages of this work, and they have three children, all attending the local schools. 



J 



JOHN W. COOK. 

NORMAL. 

OHN WILLISTON COOK, who occupies the chair of mathematics in the Normal University, 
was born near the village of Oneida, New York, April 20, 1844. He is a son of Harry De Witt 
Cook and Joannah (Hall) Cook, both natives of the Empire State. The great-grandfather of our sub- 
ject fought for five years in the successful struggle for independence, being at Valley Forge, and 
having his full share of suffering in that long war; and his grandfather, John Cook, for whom he 
was named, died in Wisconsin at the great age of ninety-five years. Harry De Witt Cook was a 
mechanic in early life ; came to Illinois in 1851 ; was a station agent and a grain dealer at Kappa 
at one period ; an officer in the volunteer force for three years ; a member of the legislature in 
1861, and again in 1864, and chairman of the warehouse commission at the time of his death, in 
1873- 

Professor Cook finished his education at the Normal University in 1865 ; taught one year at 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 6l j 

Rrimfield, Illinois ; in the autnmn uf 1866 became a teacher in the model school, at Normal, and 
two years later was appointed to a position in the Normal department. In addition to the mathe- 
matics, he also has the classes in natural philosophy and astronomy. A gentleman intimately 
acquainted with Professor Cook, thus writes in regard to him as a teacher and lecturer : 

Professor Cook has been a teacher in the Normal School tor fourteen years; before beginning his work here, he 
had some experience in teaching public graded schools. His work in the class room is noted for clearness, accuracy 
and persistency. With classes in physical science, he is not only a successful performer of experiments, using simple 
apparatus, but he has the ability to cause his pupils both to understand clearly the value of the experiment, and to per- 
form it for themselves. Few teachers exert a stronger personal influence over their pupils. As a lecturer and instruc- 
tor of teachers' institutes, Professor Cook has had marked success; he has written considerably for teachers' periodicals, 
and has published a small book on methods of teaching arithmetic, which has been well received. In December, 1879, 
he was chosen president of the Illinois Teachers' Association, and discharged the duties of the office with great accept- 
ance. Not many teachers in the state are known more generally or favorably than Professor Cook. 

Professor Cook is president of the board of trustees of Normal School district; has a watch- 
ful eye on the educational interests of the village, and is a thorough-going, practical business man, 
with quite as much mathematics as poetry in his composition. For two years he was associated 
with President Hewitt in editing "The Schoolmaster," a monthly periodical published at Normal. 
He is the author of "Methods in Arithmetic," published in 1881, and used b}' teachers ; is a man 
of no inconsiderable originality of thought, and his experience in teaching for seventeen years 
has not been for naught outside the recitation room. Inside, he is a thorough master of this art, 
and very popular with the students. 

In Atigust, 1867, Professor Cook was married to Lydia F. Spofford, daughter of Farnham 
Spofford, of North Andover, Massachusetts, and they have two children. 



COLONEL JOHN WARNER. 

PEORIA. 

JOHN WARNER, late mayor of the city of Peoria, and one of its leading business men, is a 
son of John B. and Hester (Gordon) Warner, and was born in Perry county, Ohio, October 11, 
1828. His father was a son of Henry Warner, who belonged to an old Maryland family. John 
B. Warner was a soldier in the war of 181 2-14. The father of Hester Gordon was also in the 
same war. The subject of this sketch was educated in the district schools of Ohio; farmed with 
his father until 1846, when the family came to Peoria, and the father kept the Clinton House and 
the son became a clerk in a store. In 1852 he went into business for hiinself, opening a clothing 
and general furnishing house, which he was managing when the civil war began. At tiines he 
has been in the ice business, shipping large quantities to Saint Louis and New Orleans on his 
own steamers. 

In August, 1862, he raised a regiment, and took the field as colonel of the io8th Illinois 
infantry. His regiment was with General A. J. Smith's division in its operations through Ken- 
tucky; was with General Sherman at Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post, etc., and was at the 
siege of Vicksburg, and the battles preceding that eventful and successful campaign. 

Not being in prime health, in the autumn of 1864 Colonel Warner resigned and came home. 
Subsequently he was engaged in the wholesale liquor trade for five or six years. In 1873 he was 
elected mayor; was reelected in 1875 and 1877, and served six consectttive years, making a wide- 
awake and efficient head of the municipality. Mr. Warner is public-spirited, and likes to encour- 
age any enterprise designed to build up the city. 

He was cx-officio a member of the school board, and backed up any movements calculated to 
further the interests of education. Several fine school houses were built during his administra- 
tion; also a great deal of paving was done. When in office he devotes his time faithfully to the 
service of the city. 



6l2 UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHICAL DTCTTONAKY. 

Colonel Warner was one of the constitueni members of the Peoria board of trade, in which 
body he was usually quite active. Since leaving the mayoralty he has given considerable time to 
trading on that board. His politics are of the democratic school, and he has usually been active 
in their dissemination. He is a thorough worker in any cause which he espouses, and is a man of 
much influence. 

He is a Royal Arch Mason, and years ago was an Odd-Fellow, and at one time district deputy 
grand representative of the Grand Encampment of Peoria. 

Colonel Warner was married in Peoria, in 1S51, to Miss Elizabeth Simms, a native of Vir- 
ginia, and they have eight children. 



HON. JAME.S G. WRIGHT. 

NAPER\-ILLE. 

MR, WRIGHT was born in Liverpool, England, June 6, 1823. He is the fifth of a family of 
six children, and the only surviving member of the family. His parents were Joseph and 
Sarah (Parkinson) Wright, who lived and died in England. 

Until sixteen years of age Mr. Wright did little else than attend school, first in England and 
afterward in New York, where he completed his academical studies while living with an elder 
brother, who had preceded him to the new world, and engaged in business there. After spending 
two years in America, he returned to Liverpool in 1839, ^"'^ found employment in a general for- 
eign brokerage office, where he remained till 1840. He then accepted a position in the New York 
branch of a London house, who were wholesale dealers in lace goods. 

A year and a half later he left New York, and landed in Naperville in September, 1S42. He 
was at that time a little past nineteen years old, and having saved some money, invested it in farrr 
lands about one mile from the village. In 1S45 he had his farm well improved, and married Miss 
Almira Van Osdel, sister of the Chicago architect of that name. Four daughters and three sons, 
all living, and all l)ut the youngest settled in life, were the fruit of that union. 

Mr. Wright has always been an active man. He is a true type of the Anglo-Sa.\on race, and 
could never be anj-thing else but foremost in every enterprise. In politics he was a whig, and cast 
his first vote for Henry Clay, and was one of the very first to assist in the formation of the republi- 
can party, to whose fortunes he has steadfastly adhered to the present time. 

His townsmen early recognized his fitness for official position, and made him town supervisoi; 
three times. He was appointed postmaster of Naperville by President Lincoln, with whom he 
was personally acquainted, and filled the office for eight years. 

In 1876 he represented the fourteenth senatorial district at Springfield, and was reelected 
twice by his constituents, thus representing one of the best districts of the state for three suc- 
cessive terms. His senatorial record is full of good work for his district and state at large, and 
proves him to be an earnest and active man in every station in life. At his first session, the 
thirtieth, Mr. Wright served on several important committees, and was chairman of a special com- 
mittee to report on the necessity of increased prison accommodation. His report advising the 
extension at Joliet, whereby the prisoners could be classified and graded, if adopted, would have 
saved $1,000,000 to the state over the annual cost of running two separate institutions; and but 
for the large amount already invested in the southern penitentiary, at Chester, it would undoubt- 
edly have resulted in the abandonment of that scheme. The report, though not adopted at the 
time, as indicated above, has received the indorsement of subsequent legislatures. 

In the thirty-first general assembly. Mr. Wright was chairman of committee on state institu- 
tions. For the effective work done on that committee he has received the acknowledgments and 
thanks of the public charities not only of his own district, but all over the state In the last, the 
thirty-second session, Mr. Wright was chairman of the most important committee of the house, 
that on appropriations. He was also a member of the committee on rules, always composed of ac- 



UNITED STATES BIOCRAPHfCAL DICTIONARY. 613 

kiKUvledged legislators, and the committee on penal and reformatory institutions, which was a just 
acknowledgment of his efficient services in behalf of the state's institutions. The changes recom- 
mended by his report of this committee were nearly all adopted, as were also the sanitary changes 
recommended in the reform school, and important radical changes at Joliet. In 1880 he received 
ihe appointment of supervisor of the tenth census for the first district of Illinois. This was com- 
posed of the first, second and third congressional districts of Illinois, and embraced the city of 
Chicago in its limits. The rapidity and accuracy of the work done were exceedingly creditable, 
and received the deserved commendation of General Walker, superintendent of the census. They 
were the second returns completed, and were published by the department in census bulletin No. 2. 

June 27, 1882, his name was sent tci the senate by President Arthur for Indian commissioner for 
the Rosebud Indian Agency, in Dakota He was confirmed July 6, and commissioned on the nth 
so that, at the expiration of his present term in the state legislature, the fourteenth district loses 
a very popular and efficient officer, but the Indian department gains one greatly needed. 

In social and religious life, Mr. Wright is as popular and active as in politics. He is a Royal 
Arch Mason, but of late years somewhat indifferent to its affairs. He is senior warden of Saint 
John's Episcopal Church of Naperville, a life-long temperance man, and as anti-tobacco as he is 
anti-rum. It seems to be a part of his nature to do thoroughly whatever he undertakes. 

In 1857 Mr. Wright visited England with his wife and son, where two of his daughters have 
since married and settled in life, and afterward made the tour of the continent. In 1881 he again 
crossed the Atlantic, to visit his children and accompany his wife home. 

In person, Mr. Wright is a pronounced blonde. He is large, well built and of a frank, open 
countenance, exceedingly pleasing in expression. He has a hearty, blunt, frank manner, which 
at once convinces you of his sincerity, and a good deal of the natural magnetism in him that 
attracts men to him, makes them fast friends and keeps them such. It is said that he is person- 
allv intimate with .Senator Logan. 



PLINY K. SMITH. 

CHICAGO. 

PLINV BENT SMITH, lawyer, is a descendant of Rev. Henry Smith, who, after preaching in 
the old country, emigrated from England to New England in 1630, the year that Boston 
was settled, making his own home near that city. This branch of the Smith family was repre- 
sented in the colony which settled in 'and near Hartford, Connecticut, in 1636, and our subject is 
a lineal descendant of Rev. Mr. Smith, just mentioned, who was the first pastor of the church at 
Wethersfield, in that state. Rev. Henry Smith had a son Samuel, who was the father of Rev. 
Cotten Mather Smith, Ebenezer Smith, and several other sons. Our subject traces his lineage 
back to Ebenezer Smith, who was the father of Nathaniel Smith, grandfather of Nathaniel Smith 
second, and the great-grandfather of Jehial, who was the great-grandfather of Pliny, making 
Pliny B. the ninth generation from the progenitor of the family at Weathersfield. 

The father of Pliny, Truman W. Smith, and grandfather, Elijah Smith, came from Genesee 
county. New York, and settled three miles from Batavia, Kane county, Illinois, that town being 
named for the shire town of the county whence they had come. Elijah Smith was born in 1783, 
and was one of the pioneers in settling on what is known in western New York as the Holland 
Purchase, which included Genesee county and several other counties in that part of the state. 

Our subject was born in Du Page county, Illinois, February 18, 1850, his mother belonging to 
the Durkee family, from New York state. He supplemented a common-school education with 
some careful study of-certain branches, and, beginning at sixteen years of age, taught school four 
winters, working on a farm in the summer season; commenced reading law with Thomas C. 
Mooie, of Batavia, Illinois, subsequently spent one term in the law department of the University 
of Michigan; finished his legal studies in Chicago, with Durham and Bonfield, and Joseph F. 



6l4 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV- 

Bonfield alone, and was admitted to the bar in 1S72, and has since been in general practice in 
this city. A gentleman who has known Mr. Smith intimately since he commenced the study of 
law, thus speaks of him : 

" He was a faithful student, and not only read law, but learned its principles, and the reason- 
ing upon which they were based. He passed a splendid examination upon his admission to the 
bar. As a lawyer he is careful, studious,- and fully understands the facts of his cases, and the law 
applicable. His ability and integrity as a lawyer are unquestioned. His talents and industry 
will place him in the front rank." 

Mr. Smith affiliates in politics with the republicans, and usually takes a deep interest and an 
active part in local elections, but is more likely to work for others than to ask anything for him- 
self. The time which he devotes to politics and to political science, is not allowed to interfere 
with his professional studies and practice, to which he is thoroughly wedded. 



HON. IRA O. WILKINSON. 

ROCK ISLAND. 

JUDGE WILKINSON was born in Virginia in 1822, and when he was thirteen years of age 
moved to Jacksonville, in this state. There he was educated, and served as deputy county 
clerk. He read law with Judge William Thomas; was admitted to the bar in 1843, and not long 
afterward became a partner of Hon. Richard Yates. In 1845 this connection was dissolved, and 
Mr. Wilkinson removed to Rock Island, where he had a large practice. In 1852, he was elected 
judge of the sixth judicial district. At the expiration of this term he resumed his legal practice, 
but at the next judicial election he was again called to the bench. While a member of the judi- 
ciary, he gave unqualified satisfaction to the bar and the general community. His decisions were 
usually received with the respect due to the ability thej' displayed, and the judicial impartiality 
which characterized them. 

In 1867, Judge Wilkinson removed to Chicago, and organized the law firm of Wilkinson, 
Sackett and Bean, and he there practiced extensively in all the courts. This partnership was 
continued up to January, 1875. He is complete master of the principles of law, and is regarded 
as a very safe adviser. Although nominally a republican, he follows the bidding of no party, 
and is in no sense of the word a politician. He now resides in Rock Island. 



WILBUR F, CRUMMER. 

GALENA. 

WILBUR FISK CRUMMER, clerk of the county court and county clerk for Jo Daviess county, 
first saw the light at Sycamore, De Kalb county, Illinois, July 23, 1843. His father was 
Rev. John Crummer, a Methodist preacher for more than forty years; engaged in itinerant work 
in this part of the country when his circuit had a radius of twenty or thirty miles. He married 
Mary S. Kellogg, a native of Connecticut, her grandfather being a revolutionary soldier. The 
Crummers were from Ireland, and settled originally in the state of Delaware, spreading thence 
into the western states. 

Wilbur farmed at Mount Pleasant, Jo Daviess county, and attended a country school in the 
winter season, until eighteen years old; then (August, 1861) enlisted in company A, 45th Illinois 
infantry, as a private, and after the battle of Shiloh was promoted to orderly sergeant. He was 
badly wounded at the siege of Vicksburg, being shot through the right lung, and was laid up for 
two years, but was not mustered out of the service until the war was closed. He took part in 
eight or nine of the hardest-fought battles: Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth, siege of Vicksburg, 
etc. In the summer of 1865. Mr. Crummer became a clerk in a countv office at Galena, and 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 615 

retained that post until elected to his present office, in 1869. He has been reelected twice, and at 
the time of vvritinji; is finishing his third term, making, in all, a period of thirteen years. There 
is no more faithful oflicial in Jo Daviess county, or one more deserving of the good will of his 
constituents. This county is strongly republican, and usually fills its offices with men of that 
school of politics, Mr, Crummer being no exception to the rule. He is a Knight Templar among 
the brethren of the mystic tie. 

The Crammers generally, in this part of the country, are Methodists, and usually quite active 
in religious work; and here, again, there is no deviation from the rule, our subject having been 
superintendent of the Bench Street Methodist Sunday school for seven or eight years. The peo- 
ple who know him have great confidence in his Christian integrity. 

July, 1868, he was joined in marriage with Miss Mattie M. Olney, daughter of James Olney, of 
Mount Carroll, Illinois, and they have one daughter, Mabel W., aged eleven years. The residence 
iif Mr. Crummer is known as Maple Grove Place, it being situated on the turnpike, one and a 
half miles north of the city of Galena. He has a little over twenty acres of land, all of it under 
e.Kcellent improvement, and twelve to fifteen acres devoted to small fruits, — raspberries, straw- 
lierries, blackberries, etc., for which he finds a ready market in Jo Daviess county. Mr. Crummer 
has quite a taste for horticulture, and some of his happiest hours, we run no risk in saying, are 
spent in his berry patches. 

DAVID CARR ALDRICH. 

CHIC A GO. 

OF the legal fraternity of Chicago no member is more deserving of mention than he whose 
name heads this sketch, being known not only as an able lawyer, but also as a man of 
scholarly attainments and uncommon literary ability. He is a native of Orleans county. New York, 
and was born August 16, 1820, the si.\th son of Adolphus Gustavus and Jane (Croney) Aldrich, 
the latter of whom was a daughter of an Irish patriot and literary gentleman, who emigrated 
from Belfast, Ireland, during the oppression of the British crown in 1765. Both his parents were 
natives of Worcester county, Massachusetts. The genealogy of the family is traceable back 
through many generations, the American branch being directly descended from Sir William 
Aldrich, Province of Normandy. From him the lineage is traced back for centuries to ancestors 
who were natives of Switzerland, the stock springing originally from that brave and warlike race, 
the ancient Spartans of Greece. David's father was a government contractor, and largely employed 
in constructing government and state works. Both his parents were strict Friends in their 
religious belief and practice, and the boy received his first impressions of life and its duties under 
the careful discipline and teachings of that sect. He is a birth-right member, and still retains its 
belief. 

In 1825 David's father settled in Brunswick, in Medina county, Ohio, where he resided until 
his death, which occurred in 1840, the mother surviving the father about two years and dying at 
the same place. 

During his boyhood he received a common-school education, always displaying a taste for 
study and literary pursuits. In 1837 he joined the staff of General Steadman, surveyor-general 
and civil engineer of Ohio, and while thus employed became an expert with the chain and com- 
pass. Compelled to abandon surveying by reason of an attack of rheumatism, he, in 1840, 
turned his attention to mercantile pursuits at Cleveland, Ohio, and continued thus employed until 
1844, during which year he was admitted to the bar at Fort Wayne, Indiana, having, during his 
residence at Cleveland, employed much of his time in the study of law. He was afterward asso- 
ciated in business with a number of eminent lawyers, among them Colonel Bryant, dean of the 
law school at Greencastle, Indiana, well known in Illinois for his participation in the Black Hawk 
war. Prior to settling in Chicago, in 1877, Mr. Aldrich was engaged in the practice of his pro- 
fession in the state of Iowa. In Chicago he has given his attention to chancery and criminal 



6l6 CNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY 

practice, with marked success and honor to the profession. Aside from his professional duties 
Mr. Aldrich has devoted muc+i time to literary work of the greatest antiquity, and in this field 
made for himself a worthy name. He is now about to issue a work entitled " Rapid Transit 
Thoughts of the Gambling Nation of Mother Earth." He is by nature a poet, and numbers 
among his poetical productions one especially worthy of mention which he dedicated to the Sir 
Knight Templars, and in which he portrays with fine poetic taste a constellation comprising four 
of the most brilliant stars of history, viz., Saint John, Washington, Lincoln and Sir Knight James 
A. Garfield. Mr. Aldrich was married at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1844, to Miss Edna Aldena, eldest 
daughter of Captain Gilbert Clapp. Of the five children that have been born to them, the two 
oldest are dead; Edward C. and Will are farming in Jasper county. Nebraska, and Frank A. T. is 
engaged in mining in Montana. 

JOHN I. BENNETT. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE subject of this biography, a native of Otsego county. New York, was born November 27, 
1831, the son of Joseph and Lydia (Birdsall) Bennett, both of whom were of Quaker parent- 
age. John passed much of his early life with his grandparents, at Quaker Hill, a settlement com- 
posed almost entirely of Quakers, in Delaware county. New York, and it was from these people 
that he received his early training and teaching, the influence of which has marked his whole life 
and character. 

When he was twelve years of age his parents removed to Kno.x county, Illinois, but after three 
years returned to New York state, settling at Davenport, in Delaware county. During these years 
he passed through the common experiences of ordinary farm life, and was also for a time 
employed in a saw-mill, situated on his father's farm, and which his father owned. It was while 
thus employed that an incident which formed the turning point of his life occured. 

Rev. Sanford I. Ferguson, now a Methodist clergyman in New York city, was about to become 
principal of Charlotte Academy, which was then building, and the lumber for which young Ben- 
nett was engaged in sawing. On one of his trips to the saw-mill on business, Doctor Ferguson 
formed the boy's acquaintance, and being attracted to him, secured the father's promise that, 
when the academy was finished and school opened, John should become one of his pupils. This 
was in 1849. Prior to this time his educational advantages had been very meager; but with his 
native thirst for knowledge, now that a way was opened to him, he so applied himself to his 
studies that, at the expiration of a little more than a year, he began teaching in the academy. 
Thereafter he continued his studies in connection with his teaching, until September, 1851, when 
he entered the sophomore classof Union College, from which he graduated in the class of 1854. 
The institution was at that time under the presidency of Doctor Nott, and besides this celebrated 
educator, our subject had for his instructors such men as Doctors I^ewis, Hickok, Jackson, Foster, 
Gillespie and Peissner, then in the full vigor and strength of their eminent lives. His graduation 
occurred during the semi-centennial year of Doctor Nott's presidency, and thousands of the 
alumni were present at the commencement exercises. During the three years while in college, as 
shown by the college records, with the exception of in one study, he uniformly maintained the 
maximum standard of scholarship, one hundred per cent, a remarkable fact when it is considered 
that most of the time he pursued five, and at no time less than three studies. He received the 
honor of an election to the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity, and at the commencement was awarded 
the Latin salutatory by the faculty. 

After his graduation, young Bennett became principal of Liberty Academy, at Springfield, 
Tennessee, where he remained until 1857, and during these three years he had under his charge 
young men from nearly all the southern states, many of whom have risen to prominent positions. 

In the summer of 1855 he was married to a companion of his early youth. Miss Maria E. Rey- 
nolds, then residing at Henderson, Kentucky, but who was a native of Delaware county. New 





e/^ (' cX-C-'T^T^-T^'T^- 



rWlTED STATES BIOGR \ PHICA I- DICTIONARY- 619 

Vork, the daughter of Hosea and Elizabeth Reynolds. Their family consists of a daughter, Mrs. 
M. C. Nelson, and six promising sons: Frank I., Fred F., Allen L., George R., John I., Jr., and 
William L. Also during his residence in Tennessee he turned his attention to the study of law, 
in connection with his other duties, purchasing his own books; and closing his school in June, 
1857. he was, during the same month, admitted to the Tennessee bar. Being now thoroughly 
prepared to take up the work of the profession which he had long desired to enter, he removed 
10 Illinois, settling at Galva, in Henry county, and soon established himself in a paying practice, 
which he continued with marked success until the spring of 1872, when he took up his residence 
ill Chicago. 

At the opening of the rebellion Mr. Bennett was appointed, with the rank of colonel, on Gov- 
ernor Richard Yates' staff, and devoted much of his time during the early part of the war to 
recruiting men. For these services he asked and received no compensation. He had a strong 
desire to enter actively into the service, but impaired health, resulting from a protracted attack of 
typhoid fever, prevented him. While living at Galva he became widely known as a public-spirited 
man, and was honored with many public trusts. In the campaign of 1864 he was chosen as elector 
for the fifth congressional district on the republican ticket, and was elected, receiving the highest 
number of votes of any republican elector. He was afterward candidate for circuit judge of 
Henry and Rock Island counties, and although he carried his own county by a majority of one 
thousand votes, he was defeated by a small majority in Rock Island county, his opponent, Hon. 
(ieorge W. Pleasants, receiving the election. He always took an active interest in educational 
matters, and for many years was a member of the board of education. He also edited the Galva 
"Union," a newspaper of his town, and purchased and developed the coal mines at that place. 

Since settling in Chicago he has built up a wide and remunerative practice, and ranks among 
the most influential members of the Chicago bar, having associated with him his son, Frank I. 
Bennett, a promising young attorney. In 1879 he was appointed one of the masters in chancery 
in the United States courts for the northern district of Illinois, and still holds that office. 

Mr. Bennett resides in the village of Hyde Park, where he is known and respected for his 
enterprise and public-spiritedness. In 1878 he was elected a member, and chosen president, of 
the board of trustees of the village, and in the following year elected to the same office, and again 
chosen president. During these two years the debt of the village was reduced $250,000. 



T 



HON. FAWCETT PLUMB. 

STREA TOR. 

HE subject of this biographical sketch, lately a state senator from La Salle county, and one 
of the prominent business men of Streator, is a native of Ashtabula county, Ohio, and was 
born in the town of Andover, December 10, 1834, his parents being Francis M. and Laura M. 
(Hyde) Plumb. Fawcett was reared on a farm, and thoroughly acquainted himself with all 
kinds of farm work. About 1853 he becaine a clerk in a dry-goods store at Burgh Hill, Trumbull 
county, remaining there four years, and was in Oberlin College when the civil war burst upon 
the land, in 1861. In that year he became a quartermaster's clerk, and filled that position four 
years. 

■ On leaving the service, Mr. Plumb went to the Albany Law School, from which he was grad- 
uated in 1866. He then came to Illinois; was here admitted to practice, and was the junior 
member of the firm of Fleming, Pillsbury and Plumb, of Pontiac. In t866 he married Miss 
Geraldine Plumb, daughter of Colonel Ralph Plumb, the founder of Streator, and two years 
afterward removed to this place, where his wife died in 1875. Here he engaged in the law busi- 
ness by himself, but not long afterward became interested in railroad matters, and aided his 
father-in-law in this branch of enterprise. To railroading, Mr. Plumb added tlie real-estate and 
coal business, in which he is making a success. 
61 



620 UNfTED STATFS BFOGRAPHrCAL D/CT/O.VARV. 

He has stock in the Streator Glass Works, the Tile Manufacturing Company, the Streator 
Novelty Works, etc., and is doing all he can to develop local manufactories and other important 
industries. He is a good sample of an energetic, thoroughgoing business man, and is by no 
means deficient in inventive talent. One of his recent successful undertakings is the invention of 
the first steam tile ditching machine ever made. A few of these machines have been put in 
operation, and are working admirably. They cut a ditch ten inches wide, and at any depth up 
to forty-eight inches, making a complete ditch at the rate of four or five feet per minute. The 
cutting wheel is raised or lowered with the greatest facility, and secures a uniform grade to the 
bottom of the ditch. The work is all done by once passing over the ground, and the machine 
never fails to cut a perfect ditch. 

Mr. Plumb represented La Salle county in the state senate from 1875 to 1S79, being nominated 
as an independent, and defeating the regular republican nominee. Politicall)', he is still an inde- 
pendent, or, perhaps, more properly speaking, a greenbacker, and morally, he is a prohibitionist. 
His social instincts are all in the right direction, and he labors for what he regards as for the 
best interests of society. 



OTTO PELTZER. 

CH/CA GO 

THE subject of this sketch is a native of Germany, born November 29, 1836, in the city of 
Stollberg, near Aix-la-Chapelle, in the Rhine province of the kingdom of Prussia. His 
forefathers being descendants of the Huguenots, were among those who left France after the 
wars under the Prince de Conde and Henry of Navarre against Louis XIV, about 1685. His 
father's name was Charles Eugene Peltzer, and his mother's maiden name was Maria Agnes Hey- 
nen, an estimable lady, who died November 30, 1844, at the family country seat, called Kempen, 
situated near the Eifel Mountains. His grandfather, on the paternal side, was interested in 
copper mines, and was proprietor of one of the largest copper mills, of which there were several 
near Stollberg. His grandfather, of the maternal line, was an extensive contractor for furnishing 
material and building the viaducts and tunnels for the government railroads in that part of Ger- 
many, and an extensive manufacturer of brick and owner of large limestone quarries. The father 
of our subject was educated for mercantile pursuits, but being fond of rural life, left the business 
of his father, which he represented at V'erviers, in Belgium, shortly after his marriage, purchas- 
ing a large country seat, to the management of which he devoted himself. He departed for 
America, with his second wife and five children (four sons and one daughter), in 1849, settling on 
a farm near Burlington, Racine county, Wisconsin. 

Young Peltzer, scarcelv fourteen years of age, left the farm in the spring of 1850, coming to 
Chicago in April of that year, and entered a book bindery as an apprentice. With this estab- 
lishment, located at the corner of Lake and Dearborn streets, was connected a small circulating 
library and German book store, situated on Wells street, near Washington, the latter of which 
Peltzer attended in the evening as clerk. Here he took every opportunity of reading and study- 
ing the English language, with which, up to that time, he was unfamiliar. 

In 1852 he left this business, entering the real estate office of Horatio O. Stone as a clerk. 
Showing some abilitj' as a draughtsman of maps, in this connection, it opened the way for him 
into the recorder's office of Chicago, in 1853, as recording draughtsman, under the regime of 
Louis D. Hoard, then clerk of the circuit court and ex-officio recorder. Here Mr. Peltzer remained 
until the spring of 1857, when he left for Saint Paul, Minnesota, taking a similar position in the 
recorder's office in that city. To avoid the rigor of the northern winter, he left that place in the 
fall of the same year, returning upon the Mississippi River, by the way of Dubuque, Rock Island, 
Saint Louis and New Orleans, and back again, by way of Cairo, to Chicago. 

Here, after serving a few months in the custom house, under Bolton F. Strother, then collector 



UNITED STATES R[OGRA PHICM. DICTION'ARY. 62 1 

of customs of this port, he entered the law office of Monroe and Spencer, the former still being a 
practitioner at the Chicago bar, where he remained some eighteen months in the study of the 
law. Finding this avenue to greatness and success dry and dusty, he abandoned Blackstone, 
(Ireenleaf, Monroe and Spencer, taking another trip to New Orleans, remaining there during the 
winter of 1860-61. The war of the rebellion breaking out, he was driven from Louisiana on 
account of his strong anti-slavery sentiments, coming up the river on the last steamer that was 
permitted to pass Fort Pillow. His father died shortly after his return to Chicago. 

In the position of chief draughtsman in charge of the map department of the board of public 
works, which he then held, among other important duties, he was here (where he continued to 
remain until 1876) intrusted with the examination and approval or rejection of all new sul)di- 
visions, and the laying out of new streets within the city for the purpose of providing a more 
uniform system of streets, so far as this was possible at this late date. Here he also continued 
the compilation of the city atlases and the supervision of the river and dock surveys. 

In the year 1869, Mr. Peltzer was elected collector of ta.xes of North Chicago, taking an active 
part in the people's movement, which made that year so eventful in the political history of Chi- 
cago. Then came the great calamity of the fire of 1871, with its destruction of all the records of 
the city and county. Having subsequently restored, for the use of the city public works depart- 
ment, the maps and records in the form of atlases, he published, in 1872, in printed form, from 
copies of his own, his now well known "Atlas of Chicago." The importance, immensity and 
usefulness of this work may be judged from the fact that he sold 100 copies, at $400 each. It is a 
well known work to the city and county offices, and to all real estate agencies of this city, Chicago 
being the only city that can boast of such a work in printed form. In the publication of this 
important work he was much hampered by certain parties, impelled by selfish motives, appealing 
to the courts to prevent its issue. Although litigation, dragging its length through the various 
courts for over seven years, devoured the legitimate profits which would otherwise have been the 
just reward for its lasting benefits to the community, this work alone is an enduring monument 
to a man's usefulness and energ)-. 

Mr. Peltzer also took an active part, as a republican, in the Greeley movement. He was the 
only republican that was elected from the Chicago districts to the twenty-eighth general assem- 
bly of 1872-3-4 of the state on the Greeley ticket. Here he first introduced a bill for compulsory 
education, another for a state board of health, and bills for the general licensing of physicians 
and druggists, as well as surveyors. He also introduced man}' reforms in the laws for the record- 
ing in the county records of the routes and locations of new roads, streets and railroads, most of 
which were adopted. 

In 1875, Mr. Peltzer sold to the county of Cook a set of abstract books, in which he had 
obtained a controlling interest, for the sum of $45,000, and this against the most labored opposi- 
tion of the entire Chicago press. The acquisition, according to the provisions of the statutes, of 
these valuable books by the county, was intended as a partial relief from the monopoly of a few 
private firms, theretofore engaged in the abstract business. These books are now in use in the 
abstract department of the recorder's office, to the entire satisfaction of even the most bitter 
opponents of their original acquisition by the county. 

In December, 1876, he left the board of public works, and was appointed deputy recorder of 
the county, a position which he held until April, 1878, when he resigned, and opened his present 
abstracts of title office, which is second to none in business prosperity. In this he has certainly 
shown himself an exception to the general rule of men once in public office, although himself 
peculiarly fitted by character and experience for official life. Most of these, from governors 
down, so far as local experience goes, having once tasted the sweets of public places, cling to 
them with the most desperate tenacity, even on a downward grade. 

Mr. Peltzer's father being a descendant of the French Huguenots, he was of course a Protes- 
tant, if anything, while his mother was a Catholic; he himself, until he left Germany, being a 
follower of the latter faith. But to-day, though tolerant toward others in every way, he is a 



622 UNITED STATES BIOGKAPHJCAL DICTIONARY. 

believer in libert)' of thought, and holds to the dictates of reason in his beliefs. He was married 
in 1861, at New Orleans, to Miss Annie Langdon, of Carrollton, near that city, who is still living. 
Mr. Peltzer has by this union four children living, three daughters and one son, the girls being 
respectively eighteen, fourteen and twelve years of age, and the son, at the present writing, six- 
teen. 

Mr. Peltzer is a gentleman of many fine social qualities, vi-ith a fondness for literary work in 
his leisure moments, as is evidenced by several dramatic productions. One of these, "Uriel 
Acosta," a tragedy in five acts, was played at Crosby's Opera House, in 1868, for several weeks, 
and afterward in other cities. A second, a local burlesque, was brought out about the same time 
at Aiken's Dearborn Street Theater. A third, a dramatic ballad from the Swedish, was produced 
under the direction of Professor Ziegfeld, at Farwell Hall, just previous to the great fire, and a 
fourth, a drama of domestic life, being brought out at McVicker's Theater a few years since. Mr. 
Peltzer is a man of integrity and decision of character. He is of robust form, of medium height, 
of dark complexion, of a warm, sanguine temperament, a true friend; and while he will resent an 
injury, he is charitable and forgiving; is a good citizen, and a safe and correct business man. 



DE STEIGER GLASS COMPANY. 

LA SALLE. 

THE De Steiger Brothers came to La Salle in the autumn of 187S, and in company with 
Adolph C. Schultz and William F. Modes, erected a bottle factory, and subsequently pur- 
chased the old Phoenix glass works, giving them the name of the De Steiger Glass Company. 
Since coming here they have exhibited a great deal of enterprise, enlarging their premises and 
adding to their working force from year to year. They now give employment to two hundred 
and sixty men and boys, and run out from $450,000 to $500,000 worth of merchandise per year, 
being the only manufacturers of export turned-mold beer bottles on this continent. They also 
make wine, brandy, schnapp and soda bottles, together with flasks, flint jars, packers, etc., and 
make a specialty of private mold orders. They likewise manufacture window glass in large 
quantities, second to nothing of the kind made in this country. 

They are full of energy and pluck, and in order not to be beaten by any glass company in the 
world, in 1881 they imported an entirely new set of skilled workmen, and were thus enabled to 
compete with the best workmanship brought into the market from any foreign country. At the 
same time they introduced and erected a Siemens' continuous gas furnace, the second and largest 
ever built in the United States, and now the only one operated in this country. This furnace 
differs widely in construction and mode of operation from the old-style furnace now generally in 
use in our country, and in regard to magnitude and capacity, presents an astonishing spectacle 
compared with the ordinary styles of furnaces. Unlike the latter, the fuel is first converted into 
gas in generators erected in a special building, whence it is conducted into the main furnace by 
means of pipes and natural draft mingling with heated air during its course, and resulting in an 
almost perfect combustion while entering the main furnace or tank. This tank is probably the 
largest in the world, containing when full a surface of glass eighteen by forty feet, and three and 
a half feet deep, aggregating about two hundred and fifty tons of molten glass, whereas the 
glass in the ordinary style furnaces is melted in fire-clay crucibles, called pots, which are charged 
with the mixture or batch, and melted during the night and worked out during the day. The 
tank furnace is operated without pots, charged from one end and worked at the opposite side 
continuously, thus dispensing with the expensive and often risky system of pots, and rendering a 
metal that far excels that melted in pots in regard to uniformity and purit)-, in the meantime 
avoiding all loss of time incurred by the ordinary system on account of frequent pot breaking. 
The De Steiger Glass Company introduced this style of furnace regardless of cost and the numer- 
ous incidents that they were likely to experience from this comparatively new enterprise for the 



r.VITF.D STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DrCTIQXARY. 623 

purpose of being able to compete with the foreign markets, furnishing articles in their line second 
to none made anywhere in the world. Having thus persevered in their gigantic undertaking, they 
are now on a fair road to reap the benefits of their mammoth enterprise. 

They are now (summer of 1882) the only parties in the'United States making beer bottles after 
the German manner, being the first to introduce them into this country. Their great enterprise, 
and their astonishing propensity to push business, are receiving ample reward, for they find a 
ready market for all their wares, none but the very best class being turned out. Of this flourish- 
ing industry, Philip R. De Steiger is president, and Augustus F. De Steiger, secretary-treasurer. 
They are thoroughly devoted to their great enterprise, and are making it a grand success. No 
city is likely to have a surplus of this class of public-spirited men. 



H. S. HINMAN, M.D. 

NEWTON. 

AMONG the younger physicians who appear in our volume of eminent and self-made men, we 
L place with assurance Doctor H. Simpson Hinman. He was born in Bartholomew county, 
Indiana, April 10, 1S47. His father was Hon. T. M. Hinman, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 
and the maiden name of his mother was Emily Jeter. She was a native of South Carolina. His 
father was a man of considerable note, and after accumulating quite a fortune, moved to Illinois, 
in 1852, settling eight miles north of Olney, where he began speculating in land, in which he was 
unfortunate, and soon became financially embarrassed, losing all the wealth he had accumulated. 
He died in the fall of 1865, leaving no property. Mrs. Hinman died two years prior to that time, 
leaving a family of eight children, of whom the subject of our sketch was the youngest. In the 
early settling of this part of the state there were no good schools, and our subject's early educa- 
tion was very sadly neglected. 

In the spring of 1864 he enlisted in the one hundred days'service, and served until about the 
middle of November of the same year. Having determined to receive an education, he, after leav- 
ing the army, began a systematic course of studies, and so rapidly improved that he astonished all 
who knew him, part of the time confining himself to study ten hours a day, without the assistance 
of a teacher. So great was his determination to be a scholar, that he mastered several branches of 
higher mathematics, all the natural sciences, and as a grammarian soon rose to distinction among 
the teachers and professional men throughout the countv. From early youth he has had a natu- 
ral taste for music, and has improved his talent in that direction, studying at various times under 
Professors Garison, Root, Pratt, and other eminent teachers and composers. 

In the fall and winter of 1865 and 1866 he began organizing music classes in various cities and 
towns throughout southern Illinois. He proved himself an excellent teacher, and soon gained 
quite a reputation in that direction. 

November 12, 1867, he was married to Miss Rose A. McWilliams, the daughter of a wealthy- 
farmer of Richland county, Illinois, he being twenty years of age, and his wife seventeen. Mrs. 
Hinman, a young woman of refinement, was also a devoted Christian, having united with the 
Methodist Episcopal church at the early age of twelve years. Mr. Hinman continued teaching 
tnusic until November, 1868, when he began teaching school at West Liberty, Illinois, and showed 
hiinself complete master of the situation. He was a constant student and a young man of so 
much energy that he rose very rapidly as a teacher. May, 1869, he began reading medicine under 
Doctor S. R. Youngman, of West Libert}'. He was employed to teach the school for three con- 
secutive years, 1868-70, and during that time vigorously pushed the study of medicine. 

May, 187 I, he removed to Olney, Illinois, and began reading medicine under the direction of 
Doctor Eli Bowyer, one of the most noted physicians of the state. While living in Olney he 
taught two terms at Oak Ridge, Illinois, and two at what is known as Leaf District, Richland 
county, Illinois, and during the five years he lived in Olney, was employed to teach in the normal 



624 UNITED STATES R IOC, RAPHICU. DfCTfOiVARY. 

institute, which is conducted annually during the months of July and August in that city. He 
took his first course of medical lectures at the college of physicians and surgeons of Keokuk, Iowa, 
in the spring of 1874, after which he again engaged in teaching. 

In the spring of 1875 he removed to Claremont, Illinois, and took charge of the graded school, 
at the same time forming a partnership with Doctor O. A. Battson. This continued until the fall 
of 1877, when he began his second course of lectures, graduating from the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons of Keokuk, Iowa, February 14, 1878. He remained a partner of Doctor Battson until 
May I, 1879, when he removed to Rose Hill, Illinois, and practiced for about one year, coming to 
Newton in May, 1880. He has since that time worked up a practice equal to any physician in the 
county, which may be attributed to his untiring interest in his patients, energy and perseverance, 
combined with his manly dealing and professional skill. 

Doctor Hinman is examining physician and surgeon of numerous insurance companies, 
namely. Home Life Insurance Company, New York; Covenant Mutual Benefit Association of Illi- 
nois; Royal Temple of Temperance, Buffalo, New York; Hartford Life Annuity Insurance Com- 
pany, Hartford, Connecticut, and others. He is also president of the Jasper County Medical 
Protection Society, and secretary of the Jasper County Medical Association. The doctor takes 
an active part in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Newton; he is leader of the choir, and super- 
intendent of the Sunday-school. 

They have seven children, four boys and three girls. Their eldest, a son of promise, is a bright 
lad of fourteen years, now in the high school, from which he will soon graduate. During the 
past few years the doctor has given considerable careful study to gynecology, and the diseases of 
children. In gynecology he has had several very difficult cases, in which he was eminently suc- 
cessful. He is now giving that branch considerable attention, together with his general practice, 
which is constantly growing. 

As a literary man. Doctor Hinman is without a peer in the community in which he lives. He 
is president of the school board, and always' conducts the final examinations of candidates for 
graduation in the high school. He is a man of excellent address, a good orator, and is often 
chosen to deliver orations on public occasions. 



JOHN J. TAYLOR, M.D. 

STREATOA'. 

JOHN JOSEPH TAYLOR, physician and surgeon, is a son of George and Elizabeth (Philpot) 
Taylor, and was born in Risber, Kent, England, March 24, 1841. His paternal grandfather 
was a British officer; and one or two members of this branch of the Philpot family were burnt at 
the stake as martyrs. In the autumn of 1852 George Taylor emigrated to this country, halting 
four years in Birmingham, Connecticut, and in 1857 settled cm a farm in Grand Rapids township. 
La Salle county, this state, where he and his wife and part of the family are still living. John 
J., who came to the same county one year earlier, was the third child in a family of fifteen chil- 
dren, twelve of whom still survive. The sons are all farmers, except our subject and one younger 
brother, Charles R. H. Taylor, who is a dentist, practicing in Streator. The first year our subject 
was in Illinois he worked on the farm of John Powe, for $75; and he farmed and attended school 
during the winters until the civil war began. As a farm hand he became very expert, excelling 
as a binder of grain and a husker of corn. 

In June, 1861, he enlisted as a private in company K, 20th Illinois infantry, and was in the 
battles of Fredericktown, Missouri, October 21, 1861; Fort Donelson, in February, 1862, and Pitts- 
burgh Landing in the following April. He had now become so debilitated by chronic diarrhoea 
that he was discharged. On returning to La Salle county, he organized a company of militia 
for home defense, there being immediate cause for such a step. 

In 1862, Mr. Taylor attended the Normal University, at Normal, one term, intending at the 



VXITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 625 

lime to take a three years' course, and to make teaching his life work. At the end of the term, 
he taught a school three months, and not liking the profession, abandoned it, and commenced 
the study of medicine with Doctor J. O. Harris, of Ottawa. He attended one course of medical 
lectures at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and another at Rush Medical College, Chicago, where he was 
graduated, February 25, 1867. While in Chicago, he studied under Doctor Orrin Smith, ex-pro- 
fessor of obstetrics and diseases of women and children, in the University of Vermont, at Mont- 
pelier. 

Doctor Taylor commenced practice at Ottawa, continuing it a little more than a year, when 
he was afflicted with hemorrhage of the lungs so badly that he was obliged to retire from practice 
fur a while. He went into the country a little north of Marseilles, where his health soon began to 
improve, though the hemorrhage continued, off and on, for six years. In 187 1 he went to the 
town of Wythe, Hancock county, where he rapidly built up a very large practice, having as much 
liusiness as one man could possibly do. 

In May, 1876, he left that field on account of the heaviness of the work, returning to La Salle 
county, and settling in Streator. Here he has sedulously refused country practice, except in 
cases of consultation. His business is all he could ask for, he giving to it all the strength he has 
to expend. There are several older physicians in the city than Doctor Taylor, — men who are a 
credit to the profession, — but none of them have a better professional record, or a higher reputa- 
tion for skill and success. 

The doctor has one of the best medical libraries in the county, and makes the very best use of 
it, being diligent in his studies, as well as in his practice, and keeping well read up. He is a 
member of the Woodford County Medical Association, and a member and trustee of the Congre- 
gational Church. He is a man of the very best impulses, and active in every good cause. He 
was married, February 21, 1867, to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Stanley, of New Britain, Connecticut. 
They lost their first-born child, a son, and have two sons and one daughter living. 



HON. SETH F. CREWS. 

MOUNT VERNON. 

SETH FLOVD CREWS, the leading lawyer at the Jefferson county bar, and a minority rep- 
resentative in the general assembly from the forty-third district, is a native of this state, and 
was horn in Wayne county, on a farm, March 29, 1847. His father, Andrew Crews, was a native 
of Kentucky; his mother, whose maiden name was Nancy Jane Vandeveer, was born in Indiana. 
The families on both sides were industrious, well-to-do farmers. 

When three and a half years of age, our subject lost the use of his right limb, by disease, and 
at thirteen he had it amputated near the thigh joint. He received the ordinary mental drill of a 
country school, but is largely self-taught, and if anybody can be self-made, he belongs to that 
class. From seventeen to twenty-two years of age, Mr. Crews was engaged in teaching, studying 
law at the same time, and showing a wonderful degree of mental application. He was admitted 
to the bar in the spring of 1870, at Fairfield, in his native county, and was in practice there until 
June, 1875, when he moved to his present home, the shire town of Jefferson county. , That county 
has the reputation of having the ablest bar in southern Illinois, and perhaps it is enough to say 
of Mr, Crews that his practice is larger by far than that of any other man in that county. Mr. 
Crews is very popular in his county, not only as a lawyer, but as a citizen. His politics are 
republican, and in 1876 he was elected sttite's attorney for Jefferson county, overcoming a demo- 
cratic majority of 600 votes. He is a man fif a good deal of personal magnetism, and of great 
power on the stump. 

In November, 1882, he was sent by iiis republican constituents to represent, in part, the forty- 
third district in the thirty-third general assembly, and the duties of that post he is performing at 
the time this sketch is written, and he is doing it in an eminently praiseworthy manner. Although 



626 UNITED STATES 8I0GRATHICAL DICTIONARY. 

a new and untried member, he was selected by his republican confreres to nominate the speaker 
which he did in so terse and eloquent a manner as to call forth very high encomiums of the Illi- 
nois press, as well as of his associates on the floor of the house. Mr. Crews is chairman of the 
finance committee, one of the most important committees in a legislative body, and is also chairman 
of a sub-committee of the finance committee to examine the Illinois Central Railroad Company's 
account with the state; also railroad committee, revenue, judicial department, and federal rela- 
tions. No new member of the house has a higher standing than Mr. Crews. He is a member of 
the Knights of Honor, and served one year as grand dictator of the grand lodge of the state. He 
belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. 

November 27, 1870, he was married to Helena Slocumb, daughter of the late Judge Rigdon 
B. Slocumb, of Fairfield, and they have buried one daughter, and have a daughter and two sons 
living. 

GEORGE A. MEECH. 

CHICAGO. 

C^ EORGE APPLETON MEECH, son of Appleton and Sybil (Brewster) Meech, was born in 
J Norwich, Connecticut, January 19, 1824. His father was captain of a war vessel, a priva- 
teer, during the war of 181 2-14, and afterward had command of a vessel engaged in the East 
India trade. His grandfather was Jacob Meech, a captain of the revolutionary war, a prisoner at 
one period, and afterward wounded in the battle of White Plains. His mother was a descendant 
of Rev. William Brewster, of the Mayflower.. 

Our subject is a graduate of Yale College, class '43; he taught one year at Norwich, Con- 
necticut, after receiving the degree of bachelor of arts, reading law at the same time with Hon. 
Lafayette S. Foster, who was afterward president of the Ignited States senate. He went to the 
South, and taught two or three years, where he also read law'with Mr. Manning, of Demopolis, 
Marengo county, Alabama, and then returned to New England. He finished his legal studies 
with Hubbard and Watts, and Hon. Robert Rantoul, of Boston, and was admitted to practice in 
his native state in 1848. The next year he was appointed justice of the peace, and in 1853 was 
elected judge of the probate court in the Norwich district, Connecticut, and in the autumn of the 
same year resigned that office, and removed to the West, hoping thereby to improve his wife's 
health. He settled in Chicago, and soon had a good practice, finding here a wide field for the 
exercise of his legal talents, and the exhibition of his excellent drill received at the East. In 
1862 he was elected city attorney, the duties of which office he discharged with ability and to the 
satisfaction of the public. The next two j'ears he served as city assessor of the South Side, doing 
his work with the utmost faithfulness. From 1864 to 1875 he gave his whole time to his profes- 
sion, and had a very lucrative practice. For a long time he managed the celebrated Commodore 
Bigelow estate, a very important trust, in which he displayed great ability and the highest degree 
of integrity. 

In the spring of 1875, Mr. Meech was selected by the judges as one of the justices of the South 
Side, and at the nomination of justices in the spring of 1879, he presented a monster petition for 
the consideration of the appointing powers. It was signed by all the bankers and business 
men, and embodied the signatures of ever}' bank president in Chicago. The petition of the 
bankers was as follows: 

"The undersigned bankers of this city respectfully request of your honorable body the nomi- 
nation of George A. Meech for reappointment to the office of justice of the peace of Cook county, 
for the public known reasons, that he has for four years filled that office with intelligence, and 
the dignity becoming a court of justice." 

Similar petitions were presented by the underwriters and other business nten. 

Mr. Meech received the unanimous vote of the judges. His office is located at 151 South 
Clark street, and is a model one in every respect. It is free from that class of vagrants who are 



UNfTF.D ST.ITF.S FSfOGR.I PfrrC.t L DIC7/0NARV. 629 

usualU' Iniiiul around a justice officf, and in every respect presents a quiet and ditjnified appear- 
ance, beina; as orderly as the liighest courts of the city. Mr. Meech is too neat in his tastes, too 
refined in his manners, too polished in mind to run a slip-shod police court. As a lawyer, he is 
well read and clear-headed, and is a jud^e thorough in his investigations of the law, careful and 
deliberate in his opinions, and honest in his decisions. He was reappointed to the same otTice in 
i.Syy, and again in 1883, and is now serving his third term. 

Says a Chicago journalist; "As a citizen, he is loyai and true, and has been especially faithful 
1(1 the cf)mmunity in which he lives. y\s a man, he possesses most admirable qualities, warm and 
sympathetic in his friendships, courteous, affable, social and genial, he possesses that plain style 
and matter-of-fact directness of purpose, and that modest and unobtrusive manner to be expected 
in one who, like himself, has an utter contempt for all shams and mere pretense." 

Mr. Meech is classed among the democrats, and during the civil war was pronounced as a war 
democrat; is a Royal Arch Mason and Knight Templar, a member of Apollo Commandery, No. 
I, and in religious belief is an Episcopalian. 

He is a polished and high-toned gentleman. Mr. Meech has a third wife; he first married in 
1850 a daughter of Rev. Daniel Dorchester, of Norwich, Connecticut, who died in 1859. In 1861 
he married a daughter of Hon. Milo Hunt, of Chenango county. New York, she dying in 1878, 
and in 1880 he married a daughter of Captain William Story, of Norwich, Connecticut, by whom 
he has his only living child, a son. 

The highest compliment that can be paid to Mr. Meech is the hearty indorsement which he 
has received at the hands of the bench, and by our better class of citizens generally. He has 
won and retains the esteem and confidence of the community by his rectitude of purpose, and 
the faithfulness and honesty with which he has performed his duties as a public functionary. 



WILLIAM H. NANCE, M.D. 

I'KRA/ONT. 

WILLIAM HARRISON NANCE, one of the oldest physicians and surgeons in Fulton 
county, is a grandson of Rev. Clement Nance, in his latter days a New Light preacher, 
l)eing a member of an old Virginia family. William was born in Floyd county, Indiana, Decem- 
ber 24, 1814, being a son of William Nance, a native of the Old Dominion, born in 1784, and 
Nancy (Smith) Nance, a native of Rockingham county. North Carolina, born in 1785. In 1802 
the family moved into Kentucky, and thence a few years later into Indiana, being among the pio- 
neers in that state. William Nance was in the battle of Tippecanoe, under General Harrison. 
The place where he settled in Indiana is now known as New Albany. He was a farmer, and 
died at Columbus, Adams county, this state, where he and his wife are buried. 

Our subject had an ordinary English education, studied medicine at New Albany with Doctor 
David G. Stewart, and commenced practice at Vermont, his present home, in 1841. In 1848 he 
attended lectures at the medical department of the University of Missouri, Saint Louis, and 
received his diploma in 1849. He continued in practice at Vermont until 1862, when, for various 
causes, he retired, having been eminently successful, and having made an excellent record as a 
physician and surgeon. Years ago he placed himself in very comfortable circumstances, and is 
living quite at his ease. Doctor Nance has shown himself willing to bear a part of the burdens 
of public offices, doing his best work, probably, as a supervisor, in which board he was very use- 
ful and popular. He is a first-class financier. In politics he was originally a whig, with anti- 
slavery leanings, and became a republican on the formation of that party. For a year or more 
he was the editor of the " Fultonian," a paper published in Vermont about 1856-58. He is a man 
who has always done his own thinking, and his actions have shown him to be a considerate and 
kind neighbor. 

The wife of Doctor Nance was Susan Lane, a daughter of Joab and Hannah I,ane, formerly ot 
02 



630 UXITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Monroe county, Indiana. They were married April 14, 1836. They have buried one daughter, the 
wife ot'GilmoreC. Maxwell, and have four children living: Arethusa Lane, the oldest child, is the 
wife of Andrew W. Lewis, a farmer in McDonough county; Henry H. is a farmer irear Bushnell, 
same county; Albert is a lumber dealer at Stromsburgh, Nebraska, and Mary E., the youngest 
child, is the wife of Andrew V. Carlson, of the same place. 

Doctor and Mrs. Nance are still journeying on hand in hand, toward the goal of life, enjoying 
the esteem of a large circle of friends and neighbors, and a good measure of the smiles of Prov- 
idence. 

GEORGE VAN VALKENBURG. 

HUXTLE Y. 

GEORGE VAN VALKENBURG is a son of Joseph and Margaret (Page) Van Valkenburg, 
and was born in Saint George, Upper Canada, now Ontario, October 10, 1834. His father 
was a native of Steuben county. New York, and his mother, of New Jersey. In 1846 the family 
moved to Demark, Lee county, Iowa. Joseph Van Valkenburg was a blacksmith by trade, and had 
also a farm, on which our subject was reared to habits of industry, attending school during the 
winter season, until twenty years of age, obtaining a fair business education. He was engaged in 
speculations in western Iowa until 1858, when he went to Chicago, and read law with Cornell, 
Waite and Jameson, and Goudy and Waite. He received his certificate, but his health failing, he 
never commenced practice. 

In 1864 Mr. Van Valkenburg went to Montana, Idaho, California, and Oregon as general agent 
for the Gold and Silver Mining Company, of New York city. Returning to Illinois the next 
year, he went into the lumber and grain trade, in Palatine, Cook county, and in 1868 he moved 
to Huntley, McHenrj^ county, resuming the same business. The last few years Mr. Van Valken- 
burg has devoted to the care of his property, having been successful in life in most of his ven- 
tures. He has owned between five hundred and six hundred acres in the vicinity of Huntley, cut 
up into farms, one or two of which he has recently sold. He has also property in Michigan and 
Iowa, his industry and foresight having been liberally rewarded. 

Mr. Van Valkenburg was a justice of the peace while a resident of Palatine; held the same 
office in Huntley for a period of eight years; was supervisor of the town three years, and is now an 
efficient member of the village school board. He has a liberal share of public spirit, is full of 
enterprise, and is a valuable citizen. 

The politics of Mr. Van Valkenburg are democratic, and he is an active and influential mem- 
ber of his party, often attending county, district and state conventions. He is a Master Mason. 

The wife of Mr. Van Valkenburg was Miss Mary Reiff, a native of Philadelphia, their mar- 
riage occurring in 1866. They have two children, Margaret and Charles, who are attending school. 



ROBERT I). BRADLEY, M.D. 

TEKIN. 

ROBERT D. BRADLEY, the leading operative surgeon in Tazewell county, is a native of 
this state, being born in Green county, January 9, 1845. He is the seventh son of Robert 
and Laurana (Osborn) Bradley, who had a family of thirteen children, eight sons and five daugh- 
ters, all of them living to manhood and womanhood. Robert Bradley was born in Richmond 
county, Virginia, and belonged to an old family in that state. His wife was born near Nashville, 
Tennessee. 

Robert D. was in Illinois College, Jacksonville, when the civil war began, and his patriotism 
being stronger, for the time being, than his love for study, in August, 1861, he went into the army 
as clerk of company C, 6th Illinois cavalry, and served for fifty-three months. He was soon pro- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 6 :; I 

melted to the rank of sergeant-major of the regiment, and in 1864 to the rank of captain of the 
company mentioned. Colonel (Jrierson was commander of the regiment until he was promoted, 
and was noted for his dash and bravery. The subject of this sketch was in between one and two 
hundred skirmishes and battles, and received only one slight wound, it being at the battle of 
Nashville, in December, 1864. 

In the summer of 1866 Captain Bradley commenced the study of medicine at Bloomington, 
witii Doctor Noble; the next autumn went to Philadelphia, and attended lectures at Jefferson 
Medical College, and there received the degree of doctor of medicine, in March, 1869. Doctor 
Bradley commenced practice at Bloomington, and while there, in October, 1870, he was married 
to Miss Elizabeth Karr, whose family was from New Jersey. They have one son, Robert C, aged 
ten years. 

In the autumn of 1872 Doctor Bradley settled in Pekin, the seat of justice of Tazewell county, 
and soon built up a highly remunerative practice. It is general, and yet he makes a specialty of 
operative surgery, in which he has a fine reputation. He is a surgeon for the several railroads 
centering in Pekin, and was county physician for a number of years. We cannot learn that he 
holds any civil or political office. He votes the republican ticket, and does little more than vote, 
his professional duties having the precedence over everything else. He is a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, and surgeon for the Pekin post. 

Doctor Bradley is a member of the Illinois State Medical Society, and secretary of the Taze- 
well County Medical Society; occasionally reads essays before the latter body; contributes to the 
medical periodicals of the day; is ambitious for self-improvement, desirous, evidently, of honor- 
ing his profession, and is a growing man. 



HON. THEODORE D. MURPHY. 

WOODSTOCK. 

THPIODORE D. MURPHY, the leading attorney in McHenry county, and at one period 
judge of the thirteenth judicial circuit court, and judge and chief-justice of the appellate 
court, is a native of Braxton county, Virginia, now West Virginia, and his birth is dated June 12, 
1829. His father, James G. Murphy, was born in the same state, the family being originally from 
Ireland ; and his mother, Nancy N. (Given) Murphy, traced her ancestry back to England. The 
father of Theodore was a slave-holder, and a conscientious Christian man ; and in the spring of 
1845, having previously come to the conclusion that slavery was a sin against God, he set all his 
negroes free, left the South a comparatively poor man, came to McHenry county, Illinois, and 
settled on land, one and a half miles from the spot where the city of Woodstock now stands. 
There he lived and toiled until 1867. when his declining years and impaired constitution rendered 
it necessary for him to sell his farm, which he did, and removed to Abingdon, Knox county, this 
state, where he had a son, and where he died in April, 1880, just as he was rounding up his four 
score years, he being born in 1800. His wife, born two years earlier, died in November, 1877, 
being in her eightieth year. For the last forty years or more, before their decease, this venerable 
couple were consistant members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They were distinguished 
tor their great industry and energy, and an unbounded affection for each other and their family. 
Our subject was educated in the district school at Woodstock, and the Rock River Seminary, 
at Mount Morris, Ogle county, farming more or less while securing his education, and until he 
commenced reading law in the office of Hon. Lawrence S. Church, of Woodstock, in 1S47. At the 
end of one year he changed to the law office of Piatt and Piatt, and two years later, June 12, 1850, 
the day he reached his majority, he was examined before the supreme court at Ottawa, and 
licensed to practice in all the courts of the state. He immediately went to Oregon, Ogle county, 
where he proposed to settle, and where he hung out his shingle, but before he had done any legal 
business, he received a very cordial letter from one of his preceptors, Phincas W. Piatt, inviting 



632 UNITED STATES BTOGRAFHICAL DICTIONARY. 

him to return to Woodstock and become his partner in the law business, which generous offer Mr. 
Murphy gladly and promptly accepted. The firm of Piatt and Murphy continued for one year, 
when Mr. Piatt removed to Texas. 

In 1857 the people of McHenry county elected our subject to the office of county judge, which 
office he filled for one term, four years, and then declined a renomination. In 1862 he was elected 
judge of the thirteenth judicial circuit, to which position he was twice reelected, holding that 
office in all a little more than seventeen years, it expiring in June, 1879. Meantime, in 1877, the 
appellate court of Ilinois was created by act of the legislature, and provided that the judges of 
that court should be selected from the circuit judges of the state by the supreme court Our sub- 
ject was selected for the first district, which embraces Cook county, and was ordered to the city 
of Chicago. The office of judge of the appellate court he held between two and three years, or 
until the expiration of that term in June, 1879, nearly all that period acting as chief-justice of 
that court. 

Judge Murphy was appointed by Governor Bissell, in 1858, to go to Washington, and represent 
the state of Illinois so far as the county of McHenry was interested in certain land grants there- 
tofore made by congress to the state, and he was eminently successful in his mission. 

Judge Murphy was originally a democrat, with free-soil proclivities, and left that party when 
the Kansas-Nebraska bill passed congress, and became a law, and has since been a republican. 
In 1872 he was a candidate for nomination for congress and was opposed in the convention by 
General Farnsworth; after vain attempts, and it was found that neither could be nominated, 
General Hurlbut was brought forward, nominated and elected. 

Judge Murphy married November 13, 1851, Miss Mary Prouty, of Middlebury, Vermont, and 
they have a son and daughter: Edwin D., his father's law partner, and Alice Mary, a graduate of 
Grant Seminary, Chicago, class '81. 



HON. CHARLES H. TRYON. 

RICHMOND. 

CHARLES HOPKINS TRVON, farmer and member of the legislature from the eighth dis- 
trict, is a son of Bela H. and Harriet (Billings) Tryon. both natives of Franklin county, 
Massachusetts. He was born in South Deerfield, that county, June 2, 1826. His grandfather, 
William Tryon, was in the revolutionary war, and both the Tryon and Billings families were in 
western Massachusetts during the Indian wars and massacres. 

Charles received a district-school education in McHenry county, this state, the family settling 
on land there in 1837. The township was called Hebron, and was so named by Mrs. Tryon. 
A tew neighbors were gathered at her house on one occasion, and while they were singing some 
of the old tunes, popular forty and fifty years ago, the question of naming the town came up, and 
at that moment the eyes of Mrs. Tr_von lighted on the tune of "Hebron." She suggested that 
name, and it was adopted. She lived to a good old age. dving in 1S76. Her husband died in 
1848. In 1837 the nearest postoffice to Hebron was at Milwaukee, and the nearest blacksmith 
shop was at Elgin. When a postoffice was established, it was kept at the house of Bela H. 
Tryon, and the mail was carried on horseback, on the first trip, in the c.irrier's pocket. 

Charles had an only brother, George, who died some years ago at the old McHenry county 
homestead. The sole surviving member of the familv, our subject has always been on the farm, 
where the family settled forty-six years ago. Before it was divided among the heirs, it consisted 
of more than a thousand acres. 

Mr. Tryon has held a few local offices, such as justice of the peace (in whicli office he took his 
father's place at twenty-one \-ears of age), school director, supervisor, etc., and in the autumn of 
1882, he was elected to the lower house of the general assembly. He was assigned to the com- 
mittees on agriculture, horticulture and dairying, drainage and state institutions. He is a man 
of good judgment and industrious habits, and a faithful worker in the interests of the state. 



UNITED states: BIOGRAPHICA I. DICTIONARY. 633 

Mr. Tryon was formerly a whig, and has acted with the republican party since it was organ- 
ized. He is a thorough-going man in politics, as in everything else. He is a Master Mason. 

Mr. Tryon was first married in 1848, to Miss Laura Hodge, of McHenry county. She died in 
1876, leaving two children, one of whom, Bela H., died in 1877. The other child, Jessie M., is the 
wife of George Trow, of Hebron. Mr. Tryon was married the second time, July 4, 1877, to Mrs. 
Elizabeth M. (Downs) Sherman. She is a native of Wisconsin, a well educated lady, in her 
younger years a teacher, and, like her husband, occasionally writes for the McHenry county 
papers. 

Mr. and Mrs. Tryon have one of the finest farm residences in the county, and their buildings, 
generally, are of the very best quality. 



PERRY AMOS CLAYPOOL. 

MORRIS. 

PERRY AMOS CLAYPOOL was born in Perry township. Brown county, Ohio, June 5, 1815, 
and was therefore four years the senior of his brother, Lawrence W., whose sketch can be 
found in this volume. At the age of twenty he was married to Miss Mary Halstead, in their 
native place in Ohio, and brought his young wife with him to the new home on the ever-advanc- 
ing frontier, in 1834, settling in Wauponsee with the rest of the family. 

Like his father and brother, and his ancestors before him, he was a man of great energy, and 
foremost everywhere among his fellows. Although young, his fellow-citizens conferred upon him 
the responsible office of assessor and treasurer of Grundy county, which position he filled at the 
time of his death. He was killed instantly by the kick of a horse, at the age of thirty-two, leav- 
ing: a wife and four children, all of whom still survive. 



HON. ARCHELAUS N. YANCEY. 

BUNKER HIIL. 

ARCHELAUS NFIWTOX YANCEY, one of the representatives from Macoupin county, and 
a prominent lawyer in that county, is a son of James E. and Mary E. (Waller) Yancey, and 
dates his birth in Montpelier. Orange county, Virginia, March 24, 1844. His grandfather, Charles 
Yancey, was a somewhat prominent citizen of the Old Dominion, being at one period grand mas- 
ter of tiie Freemasons of that state. The father of Charles Yancey was a captain in the army 
during the struggle for independence. The Yanceys and Wallers are old Virginia families. 

When Archelaus was thirteen years old the family moved to Oldham countv, Kentucky. He 
received an academic education at Hilton, Virginia; spent two years in Dartmouth College, 
Hanover, New Hampshire ; read law in Louisville, Kentucky ; was graduated at the law depart- 
ment of Michigan University, Ann Arbor, in 1867, and has been practicing at Bunker Hill since 
thai date, making a splendid record in all the courts in which he has had cases. Mr. Yancey is a 
tine advocate, being a clear, candid and forcible reasoner, and having great influence with a jury. 
A gentleman who has often met him in the appellate court states that he had a number of cases 
there, that he presents them with a great deal of force, and is regarded by that court as a strong 
man. Mr. Yancey is a strictly honest and honorable man, very tenaciou^s of his clients' interest, 
and his practice is increasing, and he is growing in popularity in Macoupin county. 

He was at one period city attorney of Bunker Hill ; has been attorney for some years of the 
Indianapolis and Saint Louis railroad, and in 1880 was elected to the lower house of the general 
assembly. He served his constituents so faithfully and well that they sent him back in 1882, and 
he is now serving the second term in that body, being on the committees on judiciary, railroad, 
public charities and fees and salaries. 



634 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Mr. Yancey has always affiliated with the democratic party, and never fails to take a leading 
part in a political canvass, being a powerfnl stumper. In 1882 he was the unanimous choice 
of the Macoupin county delegation for congressional nominee. He is a Master Mason, and a 
vestryman of the Episcopal Church. 

November i, 1867, Mr. Yancey was joined in marriage with Miss Belle Bryan, of Oldham 
county, Kentucky, and they have three children living and have buried three. 



JOHN L. HAMILTON, M.D. 

PEORIA. 

JOHX L. HAMILTON is one of the oldest physicians in Peoria, still in active practice, he 
having been here since 1850. He is president of the City Board of Health, and occupies a 
high standing in the community both as a physician and citizen. He is a native of Venango 
county, Pennsylvania, born February 12, 1826, a son of Richard Hamilton, a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, and Ann (Reynolds) Hamilton, a native of Birmingham, England, whose mother was 
Welsh. James Hamilton, the grandfather of John L., was born in the County of Antrim, Ireland, 
and was of Scotch-Irish descent, making the blood of several nationalities running through the 
veins of our subject. Richard Hamilton was a farmer, but the son did not incline to that voca- 
tion. He received the mental drill of a common school in his native state; came as far west as 
Ohio in 1845 ; finished his literary studies at the Springfield Academy; studied medicine with his 
older brother, Doctor James W. Hamilton, at East Liberty, Logan county; attended lectures at 
Starling Medical College, Columbus; there received the degree of doctor of medicine, in March, 
1850, and immediately settled in Peoria. 

Doctor Hamilton early worked his way into a good practice, and has steadily maintained it, 
his standing being in the front rank of the Peoria fraternity. He has held the office of president 
of the Peorta City Medical Society, and is a member of the Illinois State Medical Society, and of 
the American Medical Association. He has been in the habit of writing occasionally for medical 
periodicals, and, we believe, still furnishes a contribution, now and then, for the "Peoria Medical 
Monthly," which is edited by his son-in-law, Doctor T. M. Mcllvaine. 

Doctor Hamilton has a second wife; his first was Miss Anna H. Kirk, of Kentucky, to whom 
he was married in 1854. She died in 1857, leaving one child, Emma, the wife of Doctor Mcllvaine. 
His present wife was Miss Fanny S. Denison, of Woodstock, Vermont, married in 1861, she having 
had five children, three of them still living: Robert W., Charles E., and Fanny. 



HON. LORIN C. COLIJN.S. JR. 

CHICAGO. 

LORIN CONE COLLINS, JR., speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, is a son of 
J Lorin C. Collins and Mary (Bemis) Collins, and was born in Windsor, Connecticut, August 
I, 1848. His father and mother were born in Willtraham, Massachusetts. His great-grandfather 
was a soldier in the revolutionary war, and the flint-lock musket which he carried is still in the 
family. The Collinses came from Enfield, England, and were among the founders of the town of 
Enfield, Connecticut. Ui 1852, when the subject of this sketch was four years old, the family 
moved to Saint Paul, Minnesota, where Lorin C. Collins, Sr., engaged in farming. 

In his youth Lorin spent two years in the preparatory department of the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- 
versity, at Delaware. He entered the freshman class of the Northwestern University, at Evanston, 
in 1868, and was graduated in course, receiving the degree of bachelor of arts in 1872, and master 
of arts in 1874. 

Mr. Collins read law in Chicago with Clarkson and \'an Scliaack; was admitted to the bar in 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPIIICA I. DICTIONARY. 635 

September, 1S74, and since that date he has been practicing in Ciiicai>;(i. lie is <!!' liic firm of 
Collins and Adair, his partner being John D. Adair. 

Mr. Collins entered public life in 1878, when he was elected to the lower house of the general 
assembly, as one of the representatives from Cook county, his residence being at Norwood Park, 
a suburb of Chicago on the Wisconsin division of the North-Western railroad. In that, the thirty- 
lirst general asseml)ly, he was placed on the committees on revenue, judicial department, corpora- 
lions, and public buildings and grounds. Mr. Collins was reelected in 18S0, and was chairman of 
the committee on corporations, and served on the committees on revenue, canals and rivers, and 
senatorial appointment. In this assembly he was regarded as the parliamentary leader of the 
republican side. 

Mr. Collins was again reelected in 1882, and was the sole nominee of the republican party, 
\\itli which he has always affiliated, for the office of speaker, and was elected without a dissenting 
voice or movement on the part of any member of his party. He is a man of culture and courtes}', 
self-possessed, prompt to act, and a good expediter of business. 

Speaker Collins is a member of the Presbyterian Church at Norwood Park, and bears an irre- 
liroachable character. His broad and generous sympathy is seen in his remark that of all the 
duties he has had to perform as speaker, the'turning away of a large number of poor little boys 
who wished appointments as pages, was the only one that would deter him from again assuming 
the responsibilities of the office. 

He was married, September 17, 1873, to Miss Nellie Robb, who was born in Chicago, being a 
daughter of George A. Robb, the first ship chandler in business in Chicago, for many years of the 
firm of Hubbard and Robb. They have two children, a sweet little girl of eight years and a 
bright boy of six, who carries the paternal name, Lorin Cone Collins, to its third consecutive 
generation. 

ROBERT HERVEY. 

CIIICA GO. 

ROBERT HERVEY, lawyer, was burn in Glasgow, Scotland, August 10, 1820, his father, 
Alexander, being a West India merchant, and like the long-lost brother in the novels of the 
lime, owning a plantation in Trinidad. In his youth Robert attended the preparatory grammar 
schools, and entering Glasgow University, was graduated in 1837. Shortly after this event he 
turned his face to the new world, and settling in Canada, began the study of the law with Henry 
Sherwood, attorney general of the province. He was admitted to the bar in 1842, and com- 
menced practice in Bytown, now Ottawa, the capital of the dominion. His ability and solid legal 
acquirements soon won him a very extensive and paying practice in Bytown, but the city was 
small and, after all. provincial, and desiring a wider field he readily yielded to the solicitations of 
lUi uncle, long a resident of Illinois, to settle in Chicago. Removing thither in 1852, he became 
a member of the firm of Morris, Hervey and Clarkson, a firm existing until the elevation of the 
senior partner, Buckner S. Morris, to the bench. Mr. Hervey continued with Mr. Clarkson until 
1857, when he formed with Elliott Anthony the firm of Hervey and Anthony. In i860 Mr. Gait 
was admitted to the firm, and the copartnership continued to 1877, and was then the oldest legal 
firm in the city. 

He has always enjoyed an extensive and profitable practice in all the courts, state and 
national, civil and criminal. Mr. Hervey, indeed, has been retained in most of the cases of pub- 
lic importance, civil and criminal alike, which have come before our courts in his time. He 
assisted in the defense of the nineteen aldermen indicted for bribery, only one of whom was con- 
victed. He also defended Arthur Devine for the murder of Francis McVey, one of his employes, 
and secured Devine's acquittal, and of all the capital cases in which he has been retained, not one 
of his clients has suffered the extreme penalty of the law. He was retained by the state in the 
celebrated Hoops murder case, and again in the defense of the county commissioners, not one of 
whom was found guilty. 



636 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPiriCAL DICTIONARY. 

The list of his important civil cases would be too large for ]>ublication here. Ilis firm were 
the attorneys of the complaining stockholders of the Galena Railway Company, and succeeded 
in preventing its consolidation with the North-Western until their clients were paid the full value 
of their shares, and in almost innumerable cases of similar importance he has been counsel on 
the one side or the other. It may be said that he lives in the court, his special forte being trial of 
cases before a jury. He has fine literary attainments, and is an accomplished linguist. His 
integrity as a lawyer and a man is unquestioned. No corporation ever purchased his conscience, 
no client ever retained it. He is a prominent member, and one of the originators of the Chicago 
Bar Association, and has been frequently president of the St. Andrew's Society and chief of the 
Caledonian Club. 

He has been twice married: in 1843 to Maria Jones, daughter of Dunham Jones, collector ol 
Port Maitland, and in 1861 to Frances W. Smith. 

In personal appearance Mr. Hervey is rather distingue. His form is of medium height, very erect 
and well proportioned. His complexion is fresh, his -whiskers are gray and worn in the English 
fashion, his hair is silvery, his head well shaped, his eyes gray and keen, and the tout ensembh' that 
of a very pronounced Scotchman. In his demeanor he is very affable and courteous, and before 
a jury, and in the examination of a witness, as well as in his treatment of opposing counsel, is 
always gentlemanly and considerate. 



HON. HARVEY B. HURU. 

ClfICA GO. 

WHEN we trace the historv of our leading men, and search for the secret of their success, we 
find, as a rule, that they are men who were early thrown upon their own resources, and 
whose first experiences were in the face of adversity and opposition. Such was the case with 
Harvey B. Hurd, an outline of whose life may be found in what follows. 

He is a native of Huntington, Fairfield county, Connecticut, and was born February 14, 1828.' 
His father, Alanson Hurd, was of English descent. His mother's name was Elizabeth Lowe, of 
Dutch and Irish descent. Until his fifteenth year young Hurd worked on his father's farm during 
the summer, and attended the district school during winters. The narrow routine of such a 
life, however, had no attractions for him, and he determined to seek a wider sphere of action. 
Accordingly, having with considerable difficulty obtained his father's consent to leave home, 
May I, 1842, with his clothes tied in a cotton handkerchief, he walked to Bridgeport and entered 
the office of the Bridgeport "' Standard," a whig paper, as youngest apprentice, printer's devil. 
In the spring of 1844 he went to New York cit3^ where he remained until the fall, when he 
returned to Bridgeport, and, in companj^ with ten other young men, went to Peoria county, 
Illinois, and entered Jubilee College. He remained here one vear, when a misunderstanding 
with the president of the college, Rev. Samuel Chase, resulted in his leaving. He went 
immediately to Peoria, but not finding employment there, took passage in a baggage stage 
for Chicago, where he arrived January 7, 1846, with fifty cents in his pocket and thinly clad. 
He stopped at the Illinois Exchange, kept by a Mr. Lee, for whose generous treatment Mr. Hurd 
in after years, when the circumstances of the two men had been changed, expressed his gratitude 
in a substantial way. He at once obtained work in the office of the Chicago " Evening Journal," 
then published by Wilson and Geer, and afterward was engaged in the office of the " Prairie 
Farmer." In the fall of 1847 he began the study of law in the office of Calvin De Wolf, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1848. He began the practice of law with the late Carlos Haven, who was 
afterward state's attorney. He afterward formed a partnership with Hon. Henry Snapp, late 
member of congress, now practicing law in Joliet, Illinois. In 1850 he formed a partnership with 
A. J. Brown, which continued till 1854. The firm dealt largely in real estate, and were proprietors 
of 248 acres of land, which thev laid out as a part of Evanston, in which town Mr. Hurd was one 




^v^-^. ^^^w^oG 



UNITED STATES BIQCRA PIIICAL DICTIONARY. 639 

of tlie first to build, havino; commenced the house in which he now resides in the summer of 1854, 
and moved into it in September, 1855, His residence occupies a block of ground, and is one of 
the most beautiful and home-like in that beautiful suburb. 

Mr. Hurd was married May 18, 1853, to Miss Cornelia A. Hilliard, daughter of the late Captain 
James Hilliard, of Middletown, Connecticut. From this marriage he has three daughters: Eda I., 
the wife of George S. Lord, and Hettie B. and Nellie. He was married to his present wife, Sarah 
G., November i, i860. She was the widow of the late George Collins, of Chicago. 

He was an abolitionist, and took an active part in the stirring events that occurred in Chicago 
before and following the repeal of the Missouri Compromise line. He was a member of the con- 
vention held at Buffalo, New York, which formed the national Kansas committee, and became 
secretary of its executive committee which had its headquarters at Chicago. The other members 
of this executive committee were General J. D. Webster and the late George W. Dole; the 
former acting as its president and the latter as treasurer. Mr. Hurd gave his entire time to the 
duties of the committee for a year without compensation, taking the principal direction of its 
affairs. His position may be said to have been that of secretary of the Kansas war. Horace 
White, who was at one time an editor of the Chicago "Tribune," was assistant secretary, and Mr. 
Hurd speaks in praise of his services in that capacity. No higher commendation can be given 
to this committee than to say its labors were crowned with entire success in making Kansas a 
free state. 

To give a full account of Mr. Hurd's connection with the Kansas struggle would be to write 
the history of the struggle itself. There is one instance, however, deserving especial mention. 
The strife in the territory and on the western border of Missouri was so devastating that no crops 
of any considerable amount were raised in 1856; as a consequence, there was not a sufficient 
quantity of grain and other products to supply the demand for seed for the next spring's planting. 
A large increase in the population was expected through the improved means of travel which were 
secured by the committee. To hold this population in the territory it was necessary they should 
be enabled to raise a crop, and for this purpose seeds must be furnished. At a meeting of the 
committee in New York city, in February, 1857, a resolution was adopted instructing the execu- 
tive committee at Chicago to purchase and forward the necessary seed. At the same time an 
appropriation of $5,000 was made to John Brown, to be used by him in raising and equipping in 
Kansas a company of armed men for the ostensible purpose of defending the free-state settlers, 
but which it was feared by some might be used by Brown in making incursions into Missouri or 
some other slave state. 

Mr. Hurd, ascertaining on his return to Chicago that the funds in the hands of the treasurer 
were barely sufficient to answer one of these requirements, selected that which he thought 
most important, and the one which he believed would be the most efficient in the settlement 
of the contest as it affected Kansas, viz., the purchase of the seed, which he immediately 
set about doing, and when Mr. Brown a short time afterward applied for his appropriation he 
found the committee's treasury empty. At first Gerritt Smith and other friends of Brown were 
inclined to find fault with Mr. Hurd's course. They contended that he should at least have 
divided with Mr. Brown, and for a time there was fear that dissatisfaction would be stirred up; 
but Mr. Hurd soon found himself vindicated by the events which followed in due time. As had 
been expected, the restoration of the travel, from the tedious overland route through Iowa and 
Nebraska, to the Missouri River, by way of Saint Louis, Jefferson City and Kansas City, and the 
sale of through tickets from all important points in the North, resulted in a large immigration; 
claims were taken up and preparations made for permanent abode; but the seeds had been for- 
warded by a small steamboat which was to ascend the Kansas River to Lawrence. In conse- 
quence of low water its arrival was delayed about two weeks. The people therefore gathered at 
Lawrence from all parts of the territory, awaiting the arrival of the seeds. At one time it was 
feared that their expectations would not be realized, and their return to the states was contem- 
plated as the only alternative. When at last the boat arrived, and the agent of the committee 
63 



640 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAR\. 

announced that he was ready to make free distribution of seeds to all free-state settlers who 
desired them for the purpose of planting, such a shout of rejoicing was sent up that the action of 
Mr. Hurd received the universal commendation of the people of the North, and no further ques- 
tion was made by Mr. Brown or his friends as to the wisdom or propriety of his course. The 
free-state settlers were thus enabled to satisfy their enemies that they had come to stay; they 
were too many for the Missourians, as the proslavery party was called, and the latter gave up the 
strife. 

In 1862 he formed a partnership for the practice of law with Henry Booth, late one of the 
judges of the Cook county circuit court, and at the same time accepted a position as lecturer in 
the law department of the University of Chicago. This partnership continued, with several 
changes by the admission of junior partners, till 1868, when he withdrew from the firm with the 
intention of retiring from the practice of his profession. 

In April, 1869, Mr. Hurd, on the nomination of Governor Palmer, and confirmation of the 
senate of the twenty-sixth general assembly of Illinois, was appointed one of three commissioners 
to revise and rewrite the general statutes of the state. One of the commissioners, Mr. Nelson, 
having been elected to the house of representatives, the work of the revision fell upon Mr. Hurd 
and the other commissioner, Mr. Schaeffer, who acted together till the twenty-seventh general 
assembly adjourned, when the latter also withdrew, leaving the whole work in the hands of Mr. 
Hurd, who completed the same with the adjournment of the twenty-eighth general assembly in 
April, 1874, when the last of the chapters of the revised statutes of 1874 was adopted, and Mr. 
Hurd appomted by that body to compile, edit and supervise the publication of the same, which 
he accomplished to the entire satisfaction of the people of the state. Few people appreciate 
for how many reforms in the law they are indebted to Mr. Hurd, or how great a work it was to 
revise and rewrite the whole body of the laws of the great state of Illinois, and adapt them to the 
new condition of things resulting from the adoption of the new constitution of 1870. Ordinarily 
a revision means the rearrangement and adjusting of e.xisting laws, but the revision of the laws 
of Illinois under the circumstances meant radical changes in many of them; the rejection of old 
provisions and the construction of new ones; and in many cases the construction of entire new 
chapters, construing for the first time the provisions of the new constitution. Mr. Hurd's work 
as reviser has proved a success. The state edition of 1874 of fifteen thousand volumes was soon 
exhausted, and he has been called upon to edit three editions since, all of' which have received the 
unqualified commendation of the bar and public. In the summer of 1875 Mr. Hurd was again 
elected to a chair in the law school, which had then become the Union College of Law of the 
University of Chicago, and the Northwestern University, and now fills the position of professor 
of pleadings, practice and statutory law in that flourishing institution. 

He was nominated by the republican party as its candidate for the office of judge of the 
supreme court of Illinois, at the special election held December 21, 1875, but was defeated by 
his democratic rival, T. L. Dickey, who ran as an independent candidate, and not only received 
the support of his party but of the city government of Chicago, whose counsel he then was, and 
the powerful railroad influence, the railroad companies attributing to Mr. Hurd a large share in 
the enactment of the stringent railroad laws contained in his revision. A highly defamatory 
pamphlet was published against Mr. Hurd a few days before the election — too late to be success- 
fully met, and no doubt it had some influence in effecting his defeat. The falsity of this publica- 
tion was afterward fully established in the trial of its author for slander and unchristian conduct 
before the church of which both he and Mr. Hurd were members, and in which the author of the 
libel was found guilty and censured by the court that tried him. In this trial Mr. Hurd gained 
many friends for his fairness and Christian bearing, as also for his magnanimity toward the one 
who had thus wronged him. 

As a lawyer Mr. Hurd has long maintained a high position at the bar, his forte being in the 
argument of legal questions to the court, rather than as an advocate before a jury, though he is 
by no means unsuccessful in the latter character. His style in speaking is deliberate argumenta- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 64 I 

tive, rather than impassioned and declamatory. In the preparation of his cases he is careful and 
exhaustive, and is eminently a safe adviser. As a teacher in the law school he is accurate, 
methodical and thorough. 

One of the cases in which Mr. Hurd was early engaged, and which attracted a great deal of 
attention in Cook county, was that of Farrell vs. Cad well (1861), a case of malpractice on a ser- 
vant girl's eye, Mr. Hurd being counsel for the plaintiff, and obtained a verdict of $10,000 

Another case was that of Hartranft vs. Yundt, tried in Kane county in 1865, a criiii. con. case, 
in which Mr. Hurd was counsel for the plaintiff, gaining the suit with no less than seven or eight 
lawyers for the defense, including one of the ablest criminal lawyers in the Northwest. 

Mr. Hurd is an indefatigable worker. No one has more implicit faith than he in the ancient 
maxim, "Labor viiicit omnia." He possesses great tenacity of purpose, endurance and force of will. 
He is self-reliant, persistent in whatever he attempts and not easily diverted from the pursuit of 
his object. Being still in the prime of life, with the laudable ambition as well as the ability to 
still further distinguish himself, he may well be regarded as one of the rising men of the state. 



HON. JAMES W. LANGLEY. 

CHAMPAIGN. 

JAMES W. LANGLEY was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, January 17, 1837. He is the 
son of James and Jane (Weston) Langley, who were pious and industrious people, and early 
pioneers of western Pennsylvania, where they pursued an agricultural life and raised a family of 
twelve children. 

Judge Langley is eminently a self-made man, and one for whom the country has great esteem. 
His early life was that of a farmer boy, during which time he, by industry, obtained a fair edu- 
cation from the common schools. When about fifteen years of age he went to an academy at 
Waterford, Pennsylvania, where he remained for nearly two years. 

In the fall of 1854 he removed to the West, his first occupation being that of a pedagogue, 
and settled near Girard, Macoupin county, Illinois. Here he taught school for three years, at the 
same time continuing his studies, and in August, 1857, he began reading law under the instruc- 
tion of Hon. John M. Palmer, ex-governor of Illinois, and January 8, 1859, was admitted to the 
bar by the supreme court. In the spring of the same year he located in Champaign, and at once 
commenced the practice of' his profession. 

His practice was constantly on the increase, being that of general law, and he was engaged in 
many important cases of various kinds, and was in a very prosperous condition when, in August, 
1862, feeling his services were needed in the defense of his country, he enlisted in tlie Union army 
for three years. He entered as captain of a company, and at the organization of the regiment 
was elected lieutenant-colonel, in which capacity he served for three years, being twice breveted, 
once as colonel IJnited States volunteers and as brigadier-general. He took an active part in 
many important battles, among which were Perryville, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Buzzard 
Roost, Resaca, Rome, Kenesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesborough, Savannah, Averys- 
burgh and Burtonville. He was in the campaign of Atlanta and around the city, Sherman's 
march to the sea, and was present at the surrender of Johnson's army to General Sherman, and 
marched his brigade to Washington and participated in the grand review of all the armies, and 
was mustered out June 9 at Washington, receiving his final discharge in Chicago July i, 1865, 
having never been voluntarily absent from his command a day during his term of service, although 
being under almost constant fire and at the head of many severe struggles, one horse being shot 
from under him. Four slight wounds only attest the many perils of his long and arduous ser- 
vice. One very severe conflict in which he suffered severe loss was the battle of Kenesaw Moun- 
tain. Here his forces suffered great los.s, one company going into the battle with some sixty men 
and coming out with but fifteen, Inimediately after the war he resumed his former practice 



642 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

increasing his clientage and doing a very fine business, in which he continued to prosper until 
1870, when he was elected on the republican ticket to the state senate. Here he was brought 
prominently before the citizens of the state, after which he again returned to his practice, and 
became widely known throughout eastern Illinois, and in 1877 was nominated by the republican 
party and overwhelmingly elected judge of Champaign county, an office in which he gave such 
universal satisfaction that he was reelected in 1882. 

In politics the judge is a stanch republican, and has at times taken quite an active part in 
political affairs, but has never aspired to high oflfice. In local elections he is independent in his 
views. He was a delegate to the national convention, held in Chicago in 1868, which first nomi- 
nated General Grant for the presidency. 

June 4, 1861, he was married to Miss J. J. Young, of Champaign, a lady of fine accomplish- 
ments and most excellent family. His religious connection is with the Methodist church, in which 
he is a consistent and active member. Personally, Judge Langley has rare qualities, and by his 
upright course of life, his manly deportment and independence of character, has made for him- 
self an honorable reputation. Few men have more devoted friends than he; none excel him in 
unselfish devotion and unswerving fidelity to the worthy recipients of his confidence and friendship. 



STEPHEN A. DOUGLA.S YOLK. 

NEW YORK. 

WHEN Leonard W. Volk first went to Italy, in the autumn of 1855, he confided his wife, 
Emily C. (Barlow) Volk, and only child, Arthur Douglas, who died soon after, to friends 
at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where the subject of this sketch was born February 23, 1856. About 
a year and a half later he was brought by his parents to Chicago, where he spent his boyhood. 
When his father returned to Rome the third time, in the winter of 1870, he accompanied the 
family thither. The beautiful creations of art with which he found himself surrounded in Rome 
soon developed in him the latent thirst for its glories, and after about six months' enjoyment 
of the splendors of Italy he began in earnest the work of his life. When his father returned 
again to his native land he, by his own choice, remained to prosecute his studies. This he did 
with success. To Paris the young artist subsequently bent his steps, where he at once entered 
the government school of the beaux arts, and for two years enjoyed the instructions of the 
celebrated Professor Jerome. At the end of this period he was eighteen years old, and executed 
a small landscape called "In Brittany." This was one of about nine hundred works that was 
thought worthy to be hung in the salon at the exhibition out of about six thousand offered. It 
was his first piece offered to the public, and excited commendation. In 1875 he was permitted 
by his father to return home on a visit in Chicago, where he painted two pictures for the centen- 
nial, which received much favorable comment. 

Returning to Paris in 1876, he spent two years more under Professor Jerome. A small portrait 
painted about that time and placed in the salon for exhibition attracted such general notice as to 
place his name, already favorably known, prominently before the artistic world. In the latter 
part of 1878 he returned once more to his native land, and while on a visit at Quincy, Illinois, he 
received a call from the management of Cooper Institute, New York, to the professorship of 
figure drawing. 

He accepted the position at once, which he has filled with ability to the present time. 
Among the excellent works he has executed is the "Puritan Girl," purchased by T. B. Clark 
for his private collection, and which had the honor to represent his very fine collection in the 
"Art Treasures of America," published by Barry and Company, of Philadelphia. The nature 
of this tribute to his genius can best be appreciated by artists and those familiar with art, but the 
general reader can understand something of the matter when informed that the expense of pre- 
paring each picture for that collection is $500, 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA PHICA L DICTIONARY. 645 

Another very fine picture lately executed by him is called the "Puritan Captives." It repre- 
sents a sturdy Puritan and his wife in the foreground bound by hostile Indians and awaiting 
sentence. Their watchful foe stands guard near by, leaning against a tree, while the camp of 
hostiles is seen in the distance. This is a work of remarkable merit, and brought the author 
$1,000 the day it was finished and hung on exhibition in the Society of American Artists. 

Mr. Volk is a gentleman of undoubted genius, and has already achieved a national reputation. 
Astute friends predict a brilliant future, and it must be allowed that their anticipations seem to 
be justified by the result of his labors in the past. 

In 1881 Mr. Volk was happily united in marriage to Miss Marion Larrabee, daughter of the 
late William M. Larrabee, treasurer of the Alton railway, in this city. 

Although Mr. Volk is at present a resident of New York city,- yet he is to all intents and 
purposes a Chicago man, and such will ever remain. 



JULIUS S. GRINNELL. 

CHICAGO. 

THE designs and purposes of the boy are the beginning; the results and difficulties met with 
in the execution of these purposes are the middle; the resolution and unraveling of them, 
the end of a man's career. What a man accomplishes, and what he develops into, are the out- 
come of his inherent nature, modified by the direction given by himself, and not the result of 
chance. In this mention of Julius S. Grinnell, it is correct to say that he has so controlled and 
directed his own course that he has attained to a creditable success; first, because he had the neces- 
sary native elements in him, and second, because he has made good use of his capabilities and 
opportunities, as the details will evidence. 

He was born in Massena, Saint Lawrence county. New York, in the year 1842, and is of French- 
Welsh extraction, as to remote ancestry, but thoroughly New England as to immediate ancestry. 
His father was Doctor J. H. Grinnell, of New Haven, Vermont, his mother, formerly Alvira Will- 
iamson, also a native of Vermont. The Grinnell family is among the oldest and best families in 
the East. It may be traced back to its ancestral town of Grinnelle, now a considerable manufac- 
turing town, just within the new fortifications eastward from Paris, France; the town being named 
after the family. The monumental fountain there is also named from them. They emigrated to 
Wales, thence to this country, one branch settling in New York, where the name is a distinguished 
one, Moses Grinnell and others being descendants; another branch in Connecticut; a third in 
Vermont, and from this latter the subject of this sketch is descended, all families of note. His 
early education was obtained in the common schools in his native town. He fitted for college in 
Potsdam Academy, Saint Lawrence county. New York, and entered Middlebury (Vermont) Col- 
lege in 1862, and graduated in the fall of 1866, ranking high in his classes, and during his young- 
manhood foreshadowed future success in whatever profession he might engage, and his career up 
to the present time has been a fulfillment of this early promise. He chose the profession of law, 
and to that end engaged in studying (after he graduated) in the office of Hon. William C. Brown, 
in Ogdensburgh, and was admitted to practice by the supreme court of New York in 1868, and 
commenced practice in that cit}', which he continued two years; taught the Ogdensburgh Academy 
one year, giving excellent satisfaction in that capacity. In December, 1870, he came to Chicago, 
and engaged in the practice of his profession, depending upon his own energy and abilities to 
obtain success. He was an almost entire stranger here, there being but two persons, so far as he 
knew, with whom he had had any previous acquaintance. He had faith in himself, and in the 
future of Chicago, and trusted to his own efforts to attain success at this bar, contending with 
able and older practitioners. One of the decided characteristics of his nature is self reliance, 
backed by decision of character, and the public accord him the credit of possessing integrity and 
sincerity. He has won a success few men of his age win. 



646 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

When the great fire came, and swept the main business portion of Chicago out of existence, 
he liad scarcely gained a foothold in his practice, but in the reorganization and reestablishment 
of business, he was one of the number who had the force, courage and confidence in the rebuild- 
ing of the city, to assert himself and resume practice with renewed energy. He has come to the 
front, and must be accorded a position at the bar among the foremost of young Chicago attorneys. 

In the municipal election of 1879 he was nominated by the democratic party for the important 
office of city attorney, over competitors older in years and time of residence in the city, which 
facts indicate his popularity with the people. At this time the democratic party was not in power, 
and the city largely republican, but he was elected by a handsome majority, and served with such 
universal acceptance that he was renominated in 1881, and reelected by a still larger majority, 
indeed, led the ticket in point of number of votes, with the single exception of Mayor Harrison, 
and but a few votes short of his total. In this capacity he is acknowledged by all to be an effi- 
cient and vigilant law officer of this great city, with its multiplicity of interests, which the city 
attorney is expected to protect. He has discharged his duties well. He succeeds some of the 
oldest and ablest members of the Chicago bar, and has maintained the dignity and prestige of 
the office, and proven the equal of any of his predecessors, which is a deserved compliment, and 
carries with it its own significance. 

He married Miss Augusta Hitchcock, daughter of Doctor William Hitchcock, of Shoreham, 
Addison county, Vermont, October 5, 1869. They have two children, a boy and a girl, and a 
pleasant home. Mr. Grinnell is a gentleman of unexceptionable habits. In those walks of life 
in which intelligence, honor and manliness are regarded for what they are worth, he has, by the 
practice of these virtues, achieved an honorable and influential position in the community, and is 
respected by all who know him, either personally or by repute. He is in the prime of life, and 
has a future full of promise before him. 



GEORGE SAWIN. 

CHICAGO. 

THE subject of this biography is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and was born April 14, 
1834. He is the fourth son of John and Charlotte (Lash) Sawin, the former of whom was 
of Scotch and the latter of Welsh ancestry. During his boyhood George attended school at 
Chelsea, Massachusetts, where his parents resided for many years, but subsequently graduated 
from an institution of learning on Mayhew street in the city of Boston, under the instruction of 
William D. Swan. He was fond of study and reading, and early decided to enter the legal pro- 
fession. Accordingly, after closing his studies in school, being then about eighteen years of age, 
he entered the law office of Samuel E. Guild and Hon. George S. Hilliard, both prominent at the 
Boston bar. He remained there for about two years, at the expiration of which time, and before 
being admitted to the bar, he was compelled, by reason of failing health, to abandon his studies 
for a time. He thereupon made an extensive trip through the southern and western states, and 
finally, in 1854, settled in Chicago, where he has since made his home. 

In 1855 Mr. Sawin accepted a position in the mercantile house of W. W. and L. H. Mills, as 
credit man for the states of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. In 1856 he associated himself with 
Adam Carlyle in a real-estate enterprise, and laid out the town of De Soto on the Mississippi 
River, in Bad-axe county, Wisconsin, where he invested all his possessions in a saw-mill, warehouse, 
ice house and other buildings and improvements. The prospect seemed most favorable at the 
opening, but the financial panic that swept over the country in 1857 proved disastrous to the en- 
terprise, and involved Mr. Sawin in the loss of all that he possessed. Returning to Chicago, he 
took a position in the dry-goods house of Stacy and Thomas, which he held until 1859, when the 
firm went into liquidation, and he took a position in the postoffice at Chicago, under Hon. Isaac 
Cook, postmaster. Being on the night service, he had some time during each day for 3tudy. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. tA^I 

This he carefully employed in the law office of Hon. James P. Root, and by hard work completed 
his course of study, fitted himself for examination, and was admitted to practice in both the state 
and federal courts. The opening of the war of the rebellion, however, deterred him from at once 
engaging in his profession. 

He enlisted in the 58th regiment Illinois infantry, November i, 1861, and in the following 
February left Chicago for Fort Henry as quartermaster of that regiment, and with the exception 
of a short time spent in Springfield, upon the reorganization of his regiment after being liberated 
from Libby prison, he was constantly in the field. He participated in many of the most important 
and bloody battles of the war, of which may be mentioned Shiloh, Corinth, Pleasant Hill and 
Nashville, serving a greater portion of the time on the staffs of Generals Smith, Morrow, Dodge 
and Sweeny. 

After the close of the war Mr. Savvin returned to Chicago and established himself in the prac- 
tice of his profession, and has since continued it iminterruptedly, and achieved most satisfactory 
success. As a lawyer he is enterprising, able and upright, a careful and conscientious counselor 
and adviser, a good advocate and an honor to the profession. ' As a business man, he enjoys the 
confidence of all with whom he has to deal, and for upright, manly dealing bears a character 
above reproach. He possesses a vigorous and robust body, and with his fine mental attainments 
and unspotted record may confidently and hopefully look forward to future achievements. 

Mr. Sawin was married in 1855 to a most estimable lady, Miss Carrie L. Rust, daughter of 
Elijah C. Rust, of Jamesville, Onondaga county, New York. 



SAMUEL MARK WYLIE, M.D. 

PAXTON. 

PROBABLY no young man in the central part of this state is more thoroughly wedded to his 
profession than Doctor Samuel M. Wylie, who has an inborn love for the profession, and has 
given to it his earnest attention and study from early youth, notwithstanding the discouragement 
he had by the influence and persuasion of his parents, who thought him not strong enough to 
endure the many hardships which are well known to a western physician. He is a native of Illi- 
nois, and was born at Oakland, Coles county, July 15, 1855. His parents were the late Doctor D. 
Wylie, of Paxton, and Agnes (Crawford) Wylie. His father was an old practitioner of Illinois, of 
wide reputation, whose labors were appreciated by all who knew him. He was surgeon in the 
late war, and one of the most generous and kind-hearted physicians whose biography we have 
recorded, attending the poor with as much attention as the rich. He labored in his profession 
for more than twenty years, the last ten being in Paxton, where he built up a large and desir- 
able practice, and where he died in 1875. 

The subject of our sketch attended the public school of his native place until he was about 
thirteen years of age. He then entered the high school of Indianapolis, where he remained for 
two 3'ears, after which he studied two years at Monmouth College, Warren county, being com- 
pelled to abandon his studies for a time, on account of ill health. In 1875 he became stronger, 
and being determined in his purpose, went to Chicago, and entered the Chicago Medical College, 
where he studied during three regular terms under Doctor N. S. Davis, as preceptor. He was 
graduated with honor in 1878, and chosen by his class to make the valedictory address. The doc- 
tor has given special attention to the study of surgery, for which he has a natural talent and 
desire. When at college, a marked characteristic was to be present, and assist when possible, in all 
surgical operations. After obtaining his diploma, he came to Paxton, taking the place of his 
father, whose practice had been given up some two years, his death occurring during our subject's 
first year at college. Here the young doctor has met with wonderful success, not only retrieving 
the practice which his father had dropped, but adding to it the patronage of many wealthy citi- 
zens of Paxton and the surrounding country. He has a large and well selected library, and a 



648 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

good assortment of valuable instruments. Doctor Wylie has taken a prominent position in the 
medical societies throughout the state, and was appointed to make an address on nervous dis- 
eases before the state medical society in 1882. He is physician for the Lake Erie and Western 
road from La Fayette to Bloomington. 

Immediately after leaving college he organized a tri-county medical association, including 
Ford, Iroquois and Vermillion counties, and here he is widely known, and has a large consulting 
practice. 

Doctor Wylie married Miss Emily Bushnell, of Paxton, in 1878. His political sentiments are 
republican. He is liberal in his religious views, and is a supporter of all good causes, and stands 
high in the community as a useful and respected citizen, and fully merits the confidence and 
respect of his fellow citizens. 

HON. MICHAEL A. SULLIVAN. 

EAST S A IN T to UIS. 

MICHAEL ANGELO SULLIVAN, member of the state legislature from the forty-seventh 
district, is a son of Florance and Catherine (De Lecy) Sullivan, and was born in Saint 
Louis, Missouri, October 19, 1858. He finished his education at the East Saint Louis high school; 
began to teach at seventeen years of age, and that was his occupation until elected to the legisla- 
ture, in November, 1882, six years of his teaching being in Saint Clair county. His district is 
composed of Saint Clair county. He was nominated by the democrats, indorsed by the working 
men's party, and rai* far ahead of his ticket, he being quite popular where best known. 

In the thirty-third general assembly Mr. Sullivan served on the committees on education, labor 
and manufactures, and fish and game. Legislative business was a new school to him, and he ap- 
plied himself with diligence to his (duties. 

Mr. Sullivan is studying law at East Saint Louis, and will soon be admitted to the bar, where 
he will be likely to stand high as an orator, one of the special branches which he teaches being 
elocution, to which he has given a great deal of attention. He is an occasional correspondent of 
the Saint Louis daily papers. Mr. Sullivan is a member of the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men, and of one or two other secret societies. 

He was married May 5, 1881, to Miss Sadie J. Trotier, daughter of Emanuel and Sarah Penn 
Trotier, formerly of Kaskaskia, and one of the oldest families in the state. 



HON. LEWIS H. BISBEE. 

CHICA GO. 

LEWIS H. BISBEE was born in the town of Derby, Orleans county, Vermont, March 28, 1839. 
^ His father, David Bisbee, was a farmer. His education was acquired in the public schools 
of his native town, up to the time his ambition for a higher education led him to seek the means 
to obtain it. He worked on a farm summers, attending school winters, until about sixteen years 
of age, when he fell back upon his own resources to make a further advance in the direction of 
accomplishing the designs he had formed for his future. He had the courage, the ambition, the 
energy and the tenacity of purpose to overcome material obstacles. Prepared for college in the 
academies at Glover, Derby and Morrisville, in northern Vermont, and entered Saint Hyacinth 
College, near Montreal, Canada, when but nineteen years of age, graduating when twenty-one. 
The course there being conducted in the French language, he mastered it, and is now a proficient 
French scholar. He subsequently read law with J. L. Edwards, a prominent practitioner at 
Derby, paying his way mainly by teaching French, and was admitted to practice June, 1862. 
This course and outcome is a forcible illustration of the power and conquering force of mind and 
well directed will-power in overcoming obstacles which appear to those of less vigorous intellect 
and decided purpose insurmountable. 



UNITED STATES EIOGRAPITICAL DICTIONARY. 



651 



The same month he was admitted to the bar, he enlisted as a private in company E, 9th Ver- 
mont infantry, and was afterward promoted to the captaincy of company H, of the same re^^iment, 
and served with decided credit through all the hardships and severe service which that excellent 
regiment passed, and was always found at the front, in the thickest of whatever battle or service 
it was engaged in, which were many, and often severe. He was captured at Harper's Ferry, 
released on parole, and sent to Camp Douglas, Chicago, where he remained until exchanged! 
when he rejoined his regiment, and remained with it until 1864, when he resigned on account of 
sickness, and returned to Newport, Vermont, and engaged in the practice of law, soon building 
up an extensive and lucrative business. 

About this time he married Miss Jane E. Hinman, the accomplished daughter of Aaron Hin- 
man, of Derby, one of the first families in Vermont, and of that good old New England stock, 
the virtues and morals of which have spread through the West, permeating and elevating the 
tone and character of the people wherever they find lodgment. Mrs. Bisbee is an estimable, 
amiable and interesting woman, who presides with dignity over a home of attractive and pleas- 
ant surroundings. The elegant and costly residence which Mr. Bisbee has recently built in the 
beautiful suburban town of Hyde Park would grace and ornament the choicest residence streets 
of Chicago, or any other city. The hospitality and good cheer met with there are in keeping 
with the elegant home, whose hosts are esteemed by their friends and in social circles. They 
have an interesting and pleasant family, which makes the otherwise attractive home the more 
attractive. 

In 1865, Mr. Bisbee was elected state's attorney of Orleans county, where he lived, and was 
reelected in 1867, but soon resigned to accept the position of deputy collector of customs, which 
office he filled until 1869, when he was elected to the legislature. He was reelected in 1870. He 
was an active and prominent member of that body, being a member of the most important com- 
mittees, and was the leader of his party in debates, contested legislation, and was acknowledged 
to be the best, most vigorous and effective speaker on the floor in extempore debate. He made 
his mark there, and also his impress upon the acts of that body of men. From 1865 to 1870 he 
was United States commissioner from Newport, under the extradition treaty. 

In May, 187 1, he moved to Chicago, and had hardly become rooted in business when occurred 
the great fire. In the reorganization, rebuilding and reestablishing of order out of the confusion 
and chaotic condition in which the fire left everything, he came to the front by virtue of his supe- 
rior intelligence, tact, energy and judgment. Old established lines of prejudices and ruts of 
business were partially obliterated by the fire, and Lewis H. Bisbee saw his opportunity to enter 
an open field for a free and equal contest for a high position, in which the bravest and best were 
sure to win. He had unwavering faith in the future of Chicago, seized the opportunity, and has 
won. 

He has been associated with different persons in his practice, but much of the time alone. He 
has been and is one of the most successful jury and chancery lawyers in the Northwest. He 
enjoys a large and lucrative practice of the higher order. His conduct of the case known as the 
B. F. Allen blanket-mortgage case, for Hoyt Sherman, especially, was conducted with great abil- 
ity and tact, and he was highly complimented by courts and. bar; also, the noted Sturges case 
and many others could be enumerated, for the management of which he has won signal credit. 
Few attorneys have attained to such high position at the bar in so short a time. 

In 1878 he was elected to the legislature of Illinois, receiving nearly the unanimous vote of 
his district, one of the most populous and wealthy in this state. In this body, whicTi counts 
among its members some of the ablest men in the state, he at once took a leading position as a 
ready and able debater, and an influential and judicious legislator, originating and championing 
some of the most important measures. He nominated John A. Logan for United States senator, 
in a speech the eloquence and force of which did much to secure his election, which followed. 
He is a natural orator, a clean-cut, incisive and logical thinker and reasoner, a man of fine figure 
and physique and of commanding presence, which, with his attractive deliver)', makes him an 
64 



652 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

effective and interesting, a graceful and forcible speaker before a jury or a promiscuous audience 
He is an ardent republican, and his voice and eloquence are heard in the important campaigns when 
the principles of the party are at stake. He is an affable, genial and generously endowed gentle- 
man under all circumstances. Clothed with becoming dignity, he is still without vanity; cour- 
teous and obliging, but permitting no undue familiarity; painstaking and earnest in the interests 
of his clients, with fidelity to integrity and honor; gifted b)' nature with the sturdy qualities of 
mind, heart and body so characteristic of the best New England stock, he has developed and 
improved them. He is a successful man as a lawyer, and a good citizen, — a man of exemplary 
habits. He is a self-made man in the fullest sense, and being in the prime of life, there is a future 
of promise before him. He has already illustrated the annals of this state at the bar, in the legis- 
lature, and in shaping public opinion and sentiment. A man of force and character, he is liable 
to make a still further impress on the history of his time. 



HON. ROBERT P. HANNA. 

FAIRFIELD. 

OF the different professions, none afford greater opportunity for the development of native 
ability than the law, for here one is led into investigation of subjects, more vital to the in- 
terests of one's fellows, and may, if he will, become versed in the grandest questions of his country 
and state. The subject of this sketch has taken advantage of these various facilities and oppor- 
tunities of development, and risen to the foremost rank of the attorneys of Southern Illinois. 
Robert P. Hanna was born in Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio, December 10, 1834. His father 
was John Hanna, a native of Ireland, and the maiden name of his mother was Sarah Conn, who 
was born in Philadelphia, and her parents were of the old Quaker stock, dating back to the Revo- 
lutionar\' period. 

The father of our subject descended from an old and well known Presbyterian family, and 
some of his ancestors were prominently connected with the Presbyterian church ; he, however, 
was a Catholic. He emigrated to America, settling in Ohio about the year 1818. Here he carried 
on a merchandise business, and was engaged in general trading. 

The early education of Mr. Hanna was obtained in the common schools. When about thir- 
teen years of age he entered a printing office, and there displayed considerable ability, and soon 
won a reputation as being the best workman in the office. He remained in this business until 
about sixteen years of age, when he went to Athens University, and there completed his education. 

In 1855, Mr. Hanna came to Fairfield, and, entering the office of Judge E. Beecher, began 
the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He immediately began the practice of law 
in Fairfield, which has since been his home. Mr. Hanna has been an eminently active and ener- 
getic man, and taken a great interest in the development and improvement of the state and local 
affairs. 

In 1S62 he was elected as a member of the state constitutional convention, where he took an 
active part, notwithstanding he was the youngest member of that body. He then returned to his 
practice, and soon acquired considerable reputation in his profession as an orator and advocate. 
In 1866 he was elected by the democratic party to the legislature, where he also acquired con- 
siderable fame, and while there he was the means of procuring the charter for the branch of the 
Ohio and Mississippi railroad, known then as the Springfield, Illinois and Southeastern railroad, 
which became embarrassed in the crisis of 187 1, and is now under the control of the Ohio and 
Mississippi railroad ; he was director and attorney for the road until that time, and is now the 
local attorney for the Ohio and Mississippi railroad. 

In 1869 Mr. Hanna formed a partnership with Robert D. Adams, a promising young attor- 
ney, who has since then taken full charge of the office and abstract business, as in connection 
with their law business they are doing a large abstract and chancery business. 



UNITED STATES BIOCRAPHrCAL DICTIONARY. 653 

In 1S70 Mr. Hanna was again elected a member of the Illinois state constitutional conven- 
tion, which formed the constitution of Illinois, and introduced the measure providing for the 
minority representation, which was afterward modified. 

In 1876 Mr. Hanria was elected to the state senate on the democratic ticket from a republican 
district, and there took a very active and prominent part, and was on almost all the important com- 
mittees. He has always been a democrat, and very enthusiastic in all the different campaigns, 
making many public speeches in his different canvasses, and being a strong supporter of the 
principles of the party. He has been a delegate, and attended every democratic state conven- 
tion since his minority, besides variovis other presidential conventions. His first important canvass 
of the state was in 1858, when the democrats indorsed Stephen A. Douglas for the United States 
senate as against Abraham Lincoln. 

Mr. Hanna is the oldest active practitioner in Wayne county, his practice extending over the 
greater portion of southern Illinois, and comprising all branches of the law. 

Mr. Hanna has one of the finest law offices in Illinois, outside of the large cities, and a very 
large and well selected library. He has also taken an interest in the promotion and improvement 
of Fairfield, and has been a liberal supporter of all public enterprise. 

In February, 1859, Mr. Hanna married Miss Clara Smith, of Albion, Illinois, the daughter of a 
well known merchant and trader, Moses Smith, who emigrated from England, and settled at 
Albion among the very early pioneer settlers. They have had four children, two girls and two 
hoys. His eldest son, Francis B., is a member of the bar, practicing in Fairfield. 



HON. JOHN P. CARUTHERS. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE subject of this sketch is preeminently a self-made man ; a native of Lincoln county, 
Tennessee; he was born July 9, 1818, the son of James Caruthers and Tyru (Finley) Caru- 
thers, both of whom were natives of Tennessee. The father was, by occupation, a planter, and 
also owned a half interest in a country store, situated near his plantation. 

John passed his boyhood at his father's home, receiving such education as could be afforded by 
the district and private schools at that time, until he was fifteen years old, when he was sent to an 
academy at Fayetteville. He afterward spent about one year at the Nashville University, and 
during these years developed a fondness for study and literary pursuits that has marked all of his 
subsequent life, having early turned his mind toward that profession in which he has achieved a 
most enviable success. In 1836, being then eighteen years of age, he enlisted as a volunteer in 
the Florida war, and served six months under General Armstrong, and after the close of his ser- 
vice returned to his father's home, and devoted his time to study and useful reading. Three years 
later, in 1839, he began the study of law with his uncle, Robert L. Caruthers, then an eminent 
lawyer of Lebanon, Tennessee, and afterward one of the judges of the supreme court of that 
state. After completing his course of study, and receiving from the supreme court his license to 
practice, he established himself for a short time at Fayetteville, but in 1840 removed to Memphis. 
Here his success was most marked ; having been a thorough and conscientious student, not only 
of books, but also of men and their doings, and possessing that tact so essential to the successful 
practice of his profession, together with personal and social qualities of the highest order, he soon 
won his way in the face of poverty and the many obstacles that beset the young lawyer. In 1841, 
one year after establishing himself at Memphis, he was a candidate before the legislature of his 
state for the office of attorney general of his district, comprising the counties of Shelby, Fayette, 
Henderson, Tipton, and McNarry, a position which he honored for a period of six years. At the 
close of his term of office, he was associated in business with General Cole and Judge W. F. 
Brown, both distinguished members of the Tennessee bar, under the firm name of Cole, Brown 
and Caruthers. In 1854 he was elected judge of the common law and chancery court for a period 



6^4 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

of six years, but resigned tlie office a sliort time before the expiration of his term in i85o. Owing 
to the unsettled and confused state of affairs in the South, growing out of tlie rebellion, he was 
for the next few- )^ears practically out of business, but at the close of the war formed a law part- 
nership with Edwin Jerges, a prominent lawyer, who died at Memphis in 1869. During the next 
eight years Judge Caruthers followed the active practice of his profession at Memphis ; but at the 
expiration of that time, in 1S77, removed to his present home in Chicago, where he has become 
widely known as a lawyer and jurist of eminent ability, and a man of strictest integrity. 

As bearing upon Judge Caruthers' character, the following letter addressed to the author of 
this sketch b}^ Hon. John L. T. Snead, one of the judges of the supreme court of Tennessee, will 
be of interest to the many friends of our subject : 

Memphis, Tennessee, March 21, 1882. 

Dear Sir; — Your note of the 17th inst. is at hand. I have known Judge Caruthers for many years, and it gives 
me pleasure to say, that as a lawyer, for most of his early life in this city and circuit, he enjoyed a variable and lucra- 
tive practice. He was made attorney general of the circuit in 1854, and discharged the duties of the office with dis- 
tinguished ability for six years. He was afterward elected judge of the common law and chancery court of Memphis 
and Shelby counties, and acquitted himself with satisfaction to the bar and the public. He was eminently a painstaking, 
safe and incorruptible judge. ****** Very respectfully yours, 

JOHN L. T. Snead. 

Judge Caruthers' personal qualities are of a very high order. He is a man of fine bearing, and 
possessing eminently refined and social tastes, wherever he may be, attracts to himself warm and 
life-long friendships. 

He was married at Memphis, July 21. 1861, to a most estimable lady. Miss Flora McNeil, 
daughter of Hon. Thomas McNeil, and granddaughter and heir of the late Malcomb McNeil, 
of Kentuck}', possessor, in his lifetime, of the valuable McNeil estate, comprising man)' costly 
blocks and buildings, and much valuable real estate in the city of Chicago. 



GEO. H. KETTELLE. 

CHICAGO. 

GEORGE H. KETTELLE, lawyer, is of French descent on the paternal side, his great-grand- 
father coming from Alsace, now a part of the German empire, and settling in Massachu- 
setts before the outbreak of the colonies. The grandfather of George was born in Charleston, 
in that state, and his father, Charles Kettelle, in Boston. The latter married Lucinda Dickinson, 
a native of Hadley, Massachusetts, and a member of a very old family in that commonwealth. 
Her mother belonged to the Stockbridges of Massachusetts, and our subject strikingly resembles 
that family. 

A little less than fifty years ago Charles Kettelle emigrated to the West and settled in Peoria, 
Illinois, where George was born December i8, 1838. His father was county clerk and recorder of 
Peoria county, Illinois, for thirty years, and lived on a farm in Woodford county until his death, 
March 14, 18S2; his mother is still alive. Mr. Kettelle was educated at the Hopkins Academy, 
Hadley, Massachusetts, where he fitted for college, designing to enter Amherst, but his plans were 
frustrated, and he spent several years in his father's (county) office. At the same time he read law 
with Judge M. Williamson for preceptor, and was admitted to the bar in 1864, but he did not open 
an office until 1868, being induced to temporarily engage in mercantile pursuits. 

Mr. Kettelle commenced the practice of the legal profession at Metamora, the county seat of 
Woodford county, and six years afterward, in 1874, removed to Peoria, where he remained two 
years, holding the office of city attorney one term. In 1876 he settled in Chicago, where with his 
fine legal attainments he finds ample opportiinity to display his talents. His practice is both civil 
and criminal, the latter largely predominating. Since practicing at the Chicago bar, Mr. Kettelle 
has been connected with many prominent criminal cases, including some forty in number for 
murder, and in this branch of his practice especially, has met with marked success. An eminent 
jurist of Chicago thus writes in regard to him; 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 655 

" He is, in my opinion, a lawyer well grounded in the fundamental principles of law, ready 
and accurate in their application, and always frank and honest in his presentation of law questions 
to the court. He tries his case well, is courteous and gentlemanly in his manners to his op- 
ponent, and clear and pointed in his argument to the jury." 

Mr. Kettelle is a democrat of the independent stamp, and a Blue Lodge, Chapter and Com- 
mandery Mason. He married in February, 1858, Miss Malina A. Keach, of Peoria, Illinois. 



ISAAC L. FIREBAUGH, M.D. 

ROBINSON. 

AMONG the younger class of physicians whose records appear in this volum'e, and who has 
L arisen to a position of prominence and honor, one may justly place the name of Isaac L. 
Firebaugh. He was born July 14, 1847, in Crawford county, Ohio. His father, a farmer by occu- 
pation, was David Firebaugh, a native of Ohio. His mother's name was Mary Ludwig; she was 
a native of Pennsylvania. His parents moved west when he was eight years of age, settling in 
Crawford county, Illinois, where they resided until 1882, when they removed to Robinson, the 
county seat. Our subject received his early education in the public school, and at an early age 
entered the State University of Indiana, where he remained a number of years. 

After closing his studies in school, he engaged in teaching, two years, running a saw-mill dur- 
ing the summer season at the same time. In 1872 he began the study of medicine, under the 
instruction of Doctor L. D. Misserne, of Robinson, subsequently attending the Miami Medical 
College at Cincinnati for two sessions, 1872-3, and 1873-4, under the instruction of Professor J. 
C. McKinzie, who was then professor of physiology. After completing his course, he passed the 
required examinations and was appointed resident physician in the Cincinnati hospital, which 
afforded him a most excellent opportunity to complete his education, by giving him a practical 
experience in both surgery and the practice of medicine. In the spring of 1875 he obtained his 
diploma, and returning immediate!}' to Robinson, has since been practicing with most excel- 
lent success, and, although a young man, ranks second to none in his county, both in professional 
ability and the extent of his practice. 

In 1881 Doctor Firebaugh was married to Miss May Sims, a native of Robinson, and the 
daughter of the late Thomas J. Sims, a very well known and respected citizen of that place. They 
have one child, William C, born September 15, 1882. 

In politics he is a republican, but does not take any active part in political affairs, his time 
being fully occupied in his profession, to which he is thoroughly wedded, and in which he is a 
constant and conscientious student, wliich with his adaptability is the surest guarantee of success. 



W. L. BRUSTER. 

TOLEDO. 

THE subject of this sketch, a native of Illinois, was born in Coles county, December 10, 1849. 
His father is David Bruster, a native of Kentucky. The maiden name of his mother was 
Elizabeth Glenn ; she was a native of the same state. They were among the early settlers of 
Illinois, coming here when the deer were still to be found, and the barking of the wolf was not 
unknown. They carried on farming for a number of years, but in 1858 settled in Cumberland 
county and engaged in the grocery business, which they still continue. 

His father in 1861 entered the Union army in fompany I, 5th regiment Illinois cavalry, but 
was honorably discharged in 1862, when he returned to his business. 

In 1856, when our subject was seven years old, his mother died, and he went to live with his 
uncle, where he worked on a farm and obtained an ordinary country-school education, studying 



656 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

during his leisure liours. He continued this course until 1865, when he came to Toledo and en- 
tered his father's store as clerk, attending the public school of Toledo during the winter season, 
and after his school days were ended he clerked in the store. In 1868 he married Miss Sarah E. 
Brewer, daughter of Hon. Thomas Brewer, of Toledo, whose sketch is found elsewhere in this 
work. 

In 1876 Mr. Bruster was elected circuit clerk of Cumberland county, on the democratic 
ticket, and reelected in 1880, and fills the position with entire satisfaction to the public. 

In 1882 Mr. Bruster formed a partnership with W. C. Everhart, and in connection with 
his office, he is carrying on a mortgage, banking and loan business, in which they have already 
had considerable success, having invested a large amount of money. 

In politics, Mr. Bruster is a democrat, and has always been an active worker in the party, 
the principles of which he indorses with his whole heart. Mr. Bruster has a fine home, which 
is beautified by a Christian wife and children, in whom he feels a just and pardonable pride. 



ABRAM WILLIAMS. 

CHICAGO. 

THE subject of this sketch is among the very oldest and most successful underwriters of the 
West. He has had a large and varied experience in the business, running from a local 
agent in Dubuque in 1864, to the successful manager of the Continental for twelve states in 1883. 
He comes of Welsh parentage, and was born in Utica, New York, March 30, 1830. His paternal 
grandfather was a Baptist clergyman, who came over from Wales and took charge of a church in 
Utica, in an early day. His maternal grandsire was also a noted preacher of the Sandemanians, 
of Danbury, Connecticut. His name was Ezra Barnum, and when Danbury was taken and burned 
by the British during the revolution, he was taken captive with all his congregation. He escaped, 
however, soon afterward, and found his way back to the American lines, and served his country 
faithfully during the remainder of the war. 

Mr. Williams' own father did not inherit the preaching tendencies of his ancestry, but went 
into trade and was a merchant in the earlier years of his life, but subsequently became con- 
nected with the Erie canal, and when he died was an officer in its management. He died when 
Abram was but thirteen years old, leaving his widow little more than a large family of children 
to care for. At the age of fourteen Abram went to New York, and found employment in a whole- 
sale haberdasher's establishment, as clerk, where he remained five or six years. He had in that 
time so far mastered the business that William H. Carey and Company gave him position as one 
of the buyers in their large establishment. After about one year spent in their employ he formed 
one of a new firm in the same line of goods. It was known as Sheldon, Harris and Williams, and 
became a very popular house in their line. For many years it did the leading business of that 
kind in New York, and was compelled to make its own importation contracts, which led to send- 
ing Mr. Williams to Europe to establish branch houses there. In 1855, when about twenty-five 
years old, with health somewhat impaired, but with some money, he left New York, and located 
in Dubuque, Iowa. Two years later he found himself greatly crippled by the financial convulsion 
that swept over the country, and in 1859 gave up his business and entered the clerk's office of the 
district court for the county of Dubuque, as chief deputy. Upon the breaking out of the war in 
1862, he entered into the service of the government as quartermaster of the 6th Iowa cavalry. 
After serving in that capacity one year he took a position on General Sully's staff, where he 
remained till his discharge, in the spring of 1865, being at the time chief of cavalry, with the rank 
of major. On retiring from the service he engaged in the insurance business in Dubuque. He 
was the first general agent appointed by the Hartford Live Stock Insurance Company, and the 
first general agent of the Yonkers and New York Fire Insurance Company, having charge of all 
territory west of the Mississippi River. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 657 

In 1869 he removed to Chicago to take charge of an enlarged field for the company, with head- 
quarters here. He had the management of the western department, and under his administration 
it soon grew into a large business, and his company took position among the leading insurance 
companies of the land. 

In 1870 he pointed out to the New York office the danger and probable loss of business arising 
from a continuance of business in Chicago, but his warnings were disregarded, and in spite of his 
protestations the business was continued under direction from the home office until the fire of 187 1 
swept both the company and its business out of existence. In 1874 he was tendered the manage- 
ment of the western department of the Continental Fire Insurance Company of New York. He 
accepted the position, and has held it until the present time. The department embraces no less 
than twelve states, and has more than doubled its business since he became its head. It has more 
than kept pace with the general progress of the country in the time mentioned, and is still doing 
an increasing business. Mr. Williams has achieved a most enviable reputation as a careful and 
successful imderwriter, and as an organizer and disciplinarian he has no superior in the business. 

In politics he is a conservative democrat, and a member of the Iroquois Club, yet so little do 
such political distinctions count among really patriotic and good men that it may be mentioned 
that he is also a member of the Union League Club, which is counted the most powerful republican 
political club in the West. He also belongs to the Calumet Club, a first-class social organization, 
and is a Mason and a Knight Templar. In religion he is an Episcopalian, a member and the treas- 
urer of Grace Episcopal Church, Chicago. 

Mr. Williams was married December 21, 1852, to Miss Frances S. Raynolds, and is the father 
of four children, of whom but one son and one daughter survive. His son. Nelson B. Williams, is 
settled in business in Chicago, and his daughter, a young lady of fifteen, is attending school. 

Although an exceedingly social and popular man in the circle in which he moves, Mr. Williams 
is very domestic in his tastes and habits of life, and rarely spends an evening away from his (nvn 
family circle. 

JAMES L. CREWS. 

WHEELER. 

THE subject of this sketch is preeminently a self-made man, who by his own determination 
and force of character has risen from a position of comparative obscurity to a position of 
prominence among the wealthy and influential men of Jasper county. He was born November 
14, 1825, near Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of John Crews, a native of Tennessee, and a farmer by 
occupation, and Elizabeth (McCoun) Crews, a native of Kentucky. His parents were among the 
early settlers of Indiana, where they settled on a farm, which still remains in the family, as early 
as 1821. James L. received his early education with that difficulty known only by those who, 
having had a thirst for knowledge, have been deprived of educational advantages, by which they 
could be aided in developing their natural talents for learning. He occasionally attended a school 
supported by subscription, but obtained the greater part of his learning by the light of a tallow 
candle, after his hard day's work was done. 

He remained on the home farm until the age of twenty-four, when he bought a portion of his 
present farm, and started for himself. By industry and perseverance he has gradually increased 
his property to about fifteen hundred acres, and is considered one of the wealthiest citizens of 
Jasper county. In addition to his extensive dealing in stock, raising large numbers of horned 
cattle, he conducts a large loan business, and deals in bonds, mortgages, etc., a branch in which 
he has been very successful. 

In 1850 he married a Miss Green, of Cumberland county. Mrs. Crews died in February, 1883, 
leaving a family of seven children, four sons and three daughters, all of whom are living at home. 
Mr. Crews, although not a member of any church, is a good, moral man, believes in a Supreme 
Being, and does his duty to the best of his ability. He has taught his family to have proper 



658 UNITED STATES BTOGRAPMICAL DICTIONARY. 

respect for the Sabbath, and religious institutions, and has given them the advantages of a good 
education. As a man he is kind-hearted, liberal and generous, and as a citizen, enterprising and 
public-spirited. 

He has never taken any active part in political affairs, preferring to devote himself to his own 
business and those matters pertaining to the comforts of his own home. 



ALONZO V. RICHARDS. 

FREEPORT. 

ALONZO VAN NESS RICHARDS, a prominent journalist in northwestern Illinois, is a son 
L of Truman P. and Eleanor (Swinnerton) Richards, and was born near Jacksonville, Morgan 
county, this state. May i, 1841. His mother was born in the same county in 1818, and hence is of 
the same age as the state. His father was born in Broome county, New York, two years earlier. 
When Alonzo was six years old (1847) the family moved to Hazel Green, Grant county, Wiscon- 
sin, and he finished his education at the collegiate institute, now normal school, at Platteville, in 
that county, paying his way while securing his education, as many resolute and plucky youths 
have done, by taking care of the school building, ringing the school bell, and working at farming 
during harvest time and vacations. He also taught school several terms. 

In May, 1861, Mr. Richards went from Platteville to Boscobel, a distance of forty miles, on 
foot, making it in one day, in order to enlist with the three months' men, but did not succeed. 
He was sworn into the United States service on the loth of the following September, in company 
H, 7th Wisconsin infantry, one of the regiments which eventually composed the famous "Iron 
Brigade" of the army of the Potomac. We learn from the " History of Stephenson County," that 
in the latter part of December, i86r, while his regiment was in camp at Arlington Heights, Mr. 
Richards was detailed, by order of the war department, to report to Colonel A. J. Meyer, at Sig 
nal Camp of Instruction, Georgetown, District of Columbia, Colonel Meyer being the inventoi 
of the signal code, then a new thing in the army. This corps rapidly grew into popularity 
with the army commanders, and was extended not only to every department of the army, but 
to the gunboats. The signal men were required to be on duty day and night, always in small 
detachments, and usually in exposed positions, not unfrequently beyond the picket line, affording 
with their attractive flags, targets for rebel sharp-shooters and batteries. Yet there was attached 
to their duties a great deal of interest, as well as danger, for their duties involved a knowledge 
of the operations of both armies, superior to that of any other branch of the service. Until March, 
1863, these signal men had no extra compensation for their hazardous duties. At that date con- 
gress placed the signal service on the same footing as that of the regular army, and thenceforward 
the men in that service and the non-commissioned officers ranked as engineers, and the officers as 
members of the general staff, all being mounted. Shortly after this law went into effect, Mr. 
Richards was promoted to quartermaster-sergeant, serving in that capacity until March, 1864, 
when he was ordered before a board of regular army officers to be examined for a commission. A 
large number were examined, and Mr. Richards was one of three successful enlisted men who 
passed the examination, and the next day he was relieved from duty as quartermaster-sergeant, 
and assigned to duty as an acting officer. He thus served for more than a year, not receiving 
his tardy commission with rank of second lieutenant till April, 1865. Subsequently, however, 
congress passed a special bill, awarding him the pay of an officer, which he had so well earned, 
during this interval. 

From the work already mentioned, we learn that Lieutenant Richards was with General 
McClellan at Fortress Monroe, accompanied him up the Peninsula in 1862, sharing in all the 
hardships of that memorable campaign, from the evacuation of Yorktown to the final evacua- 
tion of the Peninsula, taking part in the battles of Williamsburgh, the seven days' fight before 
Richmond, at Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, Bottoms Bridge, Savage Station, White Oak Swamp, 




cJ^^^^S..^^,^./y. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA PIUCAL DICTIONARY. 66 I 

Malvern Hill, Harrison's Landing, and later at South Mountain and Aptietam, and the cavalry 
skirmishes and forays in the Boonesboro Valley, and did valuable service during the siege of 
Washington, by Breckenridge, in 1864, being in charge of the signal station at Fort Sumner, 
Maryland, on the Potomac. 

June, 1865, the w^ar being closed, Lieutenant Richards was ordered to Fort Leavenworth, Kan- 
sas, and thence to Fort Laramie, Wyoming Territory, as signal officer on the staff of General P. 
E. Connor, whom he accompanied on his Powder River expedition against the Sioux, Cheyennes, 
and Arrapahoes. In one of the many battles with the Indians, that of Tongue River, in August, 
1865, our subject was struck On the jugular vein by a spent ball, but not seriously wounded. 

He was mustered out of the service at Fort Leavenworth, November 25, 1865, and was after- 
ward offered a brevet commission, but declined. He settled in Galena, whither his parents had 
removed during the rebellion, and, February 27, 1867, he was married to Miss Flora L. Miner, 
daughter of Simeon K. Miner, of that city. They have four children: Edgar Miner, Flora Maude| 
Ivucy Eloise, and Bessie Mildred. 

With the exception of one year spent in Warren (parts of 187 1 and 1872) the subject of this 
sketch resided in Galena from 1866 to 1873, being engaged in the insurance and real-estate business. 
In 1873 and 1874 he was employed by the department of the interior, to survey, and establish the 
southern and western boundaries of Wyoming Territory, a work of no meager proportions, and 
calling for a liberal outlay of energy and courage, as the lines ran through the roughest moun- 
tains and across trackless deserts, inhabited only by wild animals and wilder Indians. The com- 
missioner of the general land office at Washington, district of Columbia, speaking of this matter 
in his annual report, stated that the work was executed by astronomer Richards in the months of 
June, July, August and September, 1874, under his contract bearing date of May 29, 1873, involv- 
ing great labor, through a country devoid of settlements, and presenting formidable topographi- 
cal features. The following letter explains itself: 

Dep.vrtment of the Interior. 

. ,, „ Gener.\l Land Office, Washington. D. C, August 2, iSv^; 

A. V. Richards, Galena, 111.: ° " 

. Sir,— \ acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ult,, requesting to be furnished with a testimonial as to 
the character of the work which you returned to this office under your appointment, by the Hon. Secretary of the Inte- 
rior, as U. S. Astronomer and Surveyor of the southern and western boundaries of Wyoming Territory, and in pursu- 
ance of your contracts with this office. In accordance with your desire, I have caused an e.xamination to be instituted 
into the records of this office, and, finding that your observations for the determination of the astronomical boundaries 
have been correctly made, and boundary monuments planted in conformity with the deduced results of said observa- 
tions, and your instructions from my predecessor in office, who fully affirmed your work, I cheerfully bear witness to 
the excellence of the character and quality of the returns, consisting of field notes, astronomical data, and series of 
plats, illustrating the topography along the southern and western boundaries of the Territory of Wyoming, involving 
<)46 lineal miles of survey. Considering the distance of the lines determined, marked and sketched through a trackless 
country, and the many obstacles impeding the progress in your work, as evidenced by the field notes of your survey, I 
cannot withhold the expression of my opinion as to your said work, and have to say that it is not surpassed by any 
survey of the kind on file in this office, and that it reflects creditably upon this office and yourself. 

I am, very respectfully, etc., S. S, Burdett, Commissioner. 

September, 1875, our subject purchased a controlling interest in the Freeport "Journal," and 
settled in that city. In 1882 the Journal Printing Company was incorporated, with A. V. Rich- 
ards for secretary, editor and manager, and to the duties of these several posts he devoted all his 
energies and talents, and met with the same excellent success which had characterized his efforts 
"1 the army, and as a surveyor and astronomer. In March, 1882, he established and started a 
daily edition of his " Journal," which proved a paying institution from the first day, and was 
generally patronized by the public, the purity and high moral tone of the paper making it a wel- 
come visitor in the homes of the best families of all classes. April, 1883, Mr. Richards sold his 
stock in the Journal Printing Company, and retired from the editorial field, at least for the time 
being, with the esteem and respect of all parties with whom he came in contact, even though they 
did not always agree with him politically. 
65 



662 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Mr. Richards, as an editor, has left the impress of his mind and character upon the commu 
nity in which he has lived and labored; being of irreproachable character, and always espousing 
that side of every question which he believed to be right and just, without fear or favor, he 
wielded a large influence. Upon his retirement from the editorial management of the "Jour- 
nal," the press of the district made extended eulogistic notices of his services, from which we 
select the following: 

Mount Carroll "Herald": ''Captain Richards has had control of the 'Journal' since 1875, 
and has seen some pretty close sailing during his connection with the paper. A sharp criticiser, 
a man who scorned littleness and duplicity, and who was not afraid to show his contempt for 
small actions; a man who, when he believed he was right, hesitated not to declare his opinions, 
strike whom it might; who fought with fierce hand the scheming machinations of politicians and 
hunters after place; who, against overwhelming odds, the faithlessness of alleged friends, from 
whom he deserved better treatment, persisted in his course, and finally brought his paper to be 
one of the best, most reliable and readable in this part of the state." 

Savanna "Times" : "Captain A. V. Richards, who for the past seven years has been the fear- 
less and outspoken editor of the Freeport 'Journal,' has severed his connection with that paper. 
Mr. Richards is a gentleman of ability, a writer of much force when occasion calls, and has the 
power to punish his adversaries most severel)', which he has not hesitated to do many times dur- 
ing his connection with that paper. The 'Journal' has been the leading republican paper in 
Freeport, if not in this congressional district, and Mr. Richards' able pen will be missed by us all 
in future campaigns." 

Lena "Star": "In the retirement of Captain A, V. Richards from the editorial management 
of the Freeport 'Journal,' we lose one of the ablest, most outspoken and fearless writers that has 
ever figured in the journalistic history of the county." 

Ogle county "Reporter": "Captain A. V. Richards recently retired from the editorial man- 
agement of the Freeport 'Journal.' He is an able, outspoken writer, — an energetic teaser in a 
political fight. Captain Richards is bound to succeed in any sphere." 

Rockford "Journal " : "A. V. Richards, the retiring manager of the Freeport 'Journal,' was a 
fearless writer, and has proven himself on more than one occasion. He has been the recipient o'f 
many curses, but never lacked for an argument to substantiate his position. A clear-headed, 
logical writer, he will be greatly missed by the press throughout the district." 



ELIAS PATRICK. 

MARENGO. 

ELIAS PATRICK, whose parentage and pedigree are mentioned in the sketch of his brother, 
Richard M. Patrick, on other pages of this work, was born in Cortland county, New York, 
August 19, 1813. He was reared on a farm; finished his education in the Truxton High School; 
commenced teaching district schools in the winter, at seventeen years of age, receiving the first 
term ten dollars a month, and board, and continuing to teach until twenty-two years of age. He 
then, without any experience, went into the mercantile business at Nineveh, Broome county, New 
York, in company with a maternal uncle, Hiel Edgerton, and a few years later removed to Harpers- 
ville, in the same county, and was in trade there alone. Subsequently he changed to farming, 
and, working too hard, his health failed at the end of four years, and he abandoned agricultural 
pursuits. He sought and soon obtained a position in the New York custom house, making his 
home in Brooklyn. He remained in that position for seven years, and had for one of his associ- 
ates Mr. James, late postmaster-general of the United States. 

In 1868 Mr. Patrick came to Marengo, and for a short time found employment in the bank and 
store of his brother Richard. Two or three years later he became a member of the mercantile 
firm of R. M. and F. W. Patrick, two of his sons being also in the firm. They carry the largest 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 663 

Stock of goods in town, and are doing the leading mercantile business. Their salesroom is forty- 
six by sixty feet, with a storeroom adjoining, and they carry on dress making and tailoring over 
the store, and are doing a thrifty business in all departments. 

The company owns eighty-five feet fronting on State street, adjoining and directly south of 
their store and storehouse, from which they are preparing to remove three old buildings, and on 
which they intend to erect a brick block. They are thoroughgoing, enterprising men, and take 
much pleasure in adding to the improvements of the village. 

Mr. Patrick is a member of the Baptist church, and he and his family are generous supporters 
i)f religious and benevolent organizations. He has a third wife, and three children living by her, 
and one son by the second wife. That son, Albert S., is a merchant at Grand Island, Nebraska. 
Two sons by his present wife, Francis Wayland and Henry Eugene, are members of the firm 
already mentioned; and the only daughter, Nellie O., is secretary for Illinois of the Woman's 
Baptist Foreign Mission Society for the West. The family are Christian workers, and valuable 
members of the community. No village or city can have too many of this class of people. 



HON. ROBERT W. McCARTNEY. 

METROPOLIS. 

RCJBERT WILSON McCARTNEY, lawyer, lumber manufacturer and legislator, hails from 
Trumbull county, Ohio, being there born March 19, 1843. His father, John McCartney, was 
a native of Scotland, married Jean Brown, a native of the same country, farmed a dozen years or 
more in Trumbull county, went to Lawrence county, Pennsylvania, bought a small woolen factory, 
was subsequently a merchant at New Castle, same state, and there died during the civil war. 
The mother died several years before, when Robert was a child. He had the ordinary mental 
discipline of a common school, and in May, 1861, went into the army as a private in the 6th Ohio 
cavalry, and served three years in that regiment. He was slightly wounded at Chancellorsville, 
and severely at Gettysburgh. On account of this wound he was sent first to the hospital at Balti- 
more, thence to Maryland, and finally to Harrisburgh, Pennsylvania. While at the last city, he 
raised a company for the 83d Pennsylvania regiment, which was mustered in as company I, and of 
which, he afterward became captain. The gallant 83d was one of the regiments which saw General 
Lee stack his arms and surrender his army at Appomatto.^r The regiment was mustered out at 
Harrisburgh, in July, 1S65. While in the army. Captain McCartney had the profession of law in 
view, and carried Blackstone with him, reading it whenever he had leisure. After he received his 
second wound he was connected for a while with the assistant provost marshal's oflice, Harris- 
burgh, and did some studying there, as well as at times in camp. 

After leaving the service and spending a short time at Oil City, Pennsylvania, Captain Mc- 
Cartney read law with Colonel Montook, of Pittsburgh, went thence to the law school in Cleve- 
land, Ohio, and was graduated in the spring of 1867. He immediately settled in Metropolis, 
Massac county, and had a large and highly remunerative practice so long as he gave his whole 
attention to his profession. 

In the spring of 1868 he was elected city attorney, and held that office for three years. In 1873 
he was elected county judge, was reelected, and held the office, in all, nine consecutive years, mak- 
ing a very popular and efficient county officer. The second time he was elected judge, he had a 
prominent democrat, an old citizen of the county, for his opponent, and yet had nearly nine hun- 
dred majority, in a county which usually gives three hundred to five hundred republican majority. 
In June, 1879, he was selected as one of the republican candidates for circuit judge, and although 
defeated by a combination of democrats and greenbackers, he made a very creditable race, and 
came within a few hundred votes of being elected in a district of eleven counties. 

Since 1879 our subject has partially abandoned his profession, and given his attention to the 
manufacture of lumber, being at first of the firm of William Towle and Company, and now of the 



664 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

William Towle Lumber Company, which was incorporated in 1883, with a capital of $100,000, 
Captain McCartney owning nearly one-half of the stock. There are three men in this company. 
They make a specialty of manufacturing steamboat timber. Their saw mills are at Metropolis, 
where they are doing an extensive and thrifty business. 

In 18S2 Captain McCartney was elected to the thirty-third general assembly, from the forty- 
ninth district, which is composed of Massac, Pope, Hardin, Gallatin and Saline counties. He is 
chairman of the committee on drainage, and on the committees on judicial department, state 
institutions, and fees and salaries. In the legislature he is usually found in his place, attending 
to the interests of the state, being one of the hardest workers in the lower house. He has a good 
deal of influence and prominence in that body. 

He is a member of the blue lodge, chapter, and commandery in the Masonic fraternity. 

Captain McCartney has been twice married, the first time in September, 1868, to Mary C, 
daughter of Professor Priestley, an experienced teacher, formerly superintendent of schools of 
Massac county, she dying in 187 1, leaving two children, one of whom has since died; and the sec- 
ond time March ig, 1S73, to Julia, daughter of Rev. Edward Scofield. The family consists of two 
children, William Priestley, by the first wife, and Jean Elizabeth, by the second. 

In religion, the subject of this sketch is a Methodist, but as his wife is the daughter of a Pres- 
byterian minister, and a very zealous member of that church, they usually attend there. Captain 
McCartne)'' is a man of excellent habits, being strictly temperate, using neither intoxicating 
liquors nor tobacco in any shape. He belongs to that class with which legislative bodies are 
never too crowded. 



LEWIS F. CUMMINGS. 

CHICAGO. 

THE subject of this sketch was born in Albany, Oxford county, Maine, November i, 1843. 
His father was Francis Cummings, and his mother Mary Ann (Frost) Cummings. The 
Cummings family in the United States are descended from three brothers, Scotchmen, who emi- 
grated to this country soon after the landing of the Mayflcnver, and settled in Massachusetts. 
The paternal grandfather of the subject of the present sketch removed to Maine in an early day, 
and became prominent in state affairs. He was a member of the convention that formed the 
state constitution under which it became a state in 1820, and it is said drafted that instrument. 

His son, Francis Cummings, became the owner of a large tract of land upon which the village 
of Albany was afterward built. He became very wealthy, erected saw and grist mills, and was a 
man of great influence and power in his locality. He was both physically and mentally a man of 
great strength ; he weighed over two hundred pounds, and was very active and ambitious. 

He was married three times; by his first wife he had seven children, four sons and three 
daughters. His second wife bore him one son, the subject of this sketch, and one daughter, still 
living with her widowed step-mother at Bethel, Maine. About the time of his second marriage 
he became involved and lost the greater part of his property, but in great measure repaired his 
losses before his death, which occurred during the rebellion. The mother of Lewis was a woman 
of literary tastes and culture, and was a sister of Joel Frost, the author of a history of the revo- 
lutionary war. Her son was deprived of her care and instruction by her death when he was but 
four years old. As a result of the death of his mother, and his father's financial embarrassment, 
Lewis was apprenticed to his uncle. David Frost, who appears to have been a typical Scotch cov- 
enanter. He was a stern, conscientious inflexible man, of deep moral and religious convictions; 
a reformer by instinct, and hence a fanatic who would burn heretics or suffer himself to be burned 
with equal cheerfulness and constancy to his convictions. He was an active temperance and anti- 
slavery man, and wholly absorbed in these and other reformative movements. He was entirely 
unfitted to take charge of the education and rearing of a slender, retiring, sensitive child like 
Lewis. He did not understand or appreciate him, undervalued and treated him with contempt 





.V' €kAAAAyv\^^^^^/^^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 66^ 

and neglect; he neglected his education, and attempted to make of him an overworked farm 
drudge. He kept him upon the farm as steadily and as thoughtlessly as he did his horses or his 
plows. 

Yet, when but ten years old, Lewis was suddenly seized with the determination to become a 
lawyer; the desire fastened itself upon him with the strength of an inspiration, and no subsequent 
persuasion or ridicule could move him to abandon it. When he was fifteen years of age, his 
father married the third time, and, remembering his neglected boy, he purchased his unexpired 
time of his brother-in-law, and took him to his reconstructed home. Here he remained working 
for his father for four years, but without any assistance or opportunity for education, the literary 
instinct was so strong within him that, alone and unassisted, he delved away at his books at such 
times as he could till nineteen years of age. 

His father's brother was for over forty years editor of the "Christian Mirror," a Congrega- 
tional paper published in Portland, and his wife seems to have been a woman of some pene- 
tration and judgment, yet still possessed of the old Puritanical self will. After the death 
of her husband she became possessed of some wealth, and made Lewis an offer of assistance in 
his education. He joyfully accepted it, and went to Portland to attend school; but when he 
learned that his generous but inflexible aunt required, as a condition, that he should abandon the 
law for a mercantile career, he declined any assistance, and went to work to earn in summer the 
means to enable him to attend school in winter. This was in 1862, and the war coming on, he 
abandoned, with the consent of the trustees, a country school which he had engaged to teach, 
and although very small, youthful in appearance, and under age, he succeeded in enlisting in the 
25th regiment of Maine volunteer infantry under Colonel (now major-general of the regular 
army, retired in consequence of severe wounds) Fessenden, a son of the secretary of the treasury, 
commanding. 

They were sent at once to the defense of Washington ; they were located at Point of Rocks, 
where the regiment remained till the nine months for which they enlisted expired, when he at 
once returned home and set to work to raise a company for the 30th regiment. Of the required 
one hundred men he enlisted seventy, and more than earned a captain's commission, but his ex- 
tremely boyish appearance prevented his getting it, but he went to the front with his regiment 
wearing the shoulder straps of a second lieutenant. With his regiment he participated in Banks' 
ill-fated Red River expedition, and fin their return to New Orleans, of more than eleven hundred 
men in his regiment, only two hundred and fifty reported for duty, the rest being either dead, 
sick or disabled. 

From New Orleans they were sent to Bermuda Hundred, and joined Butler's command. They 
were afterward transferred to Sheridan, and took part in his famous raid down the Slienandoah 
Valley, and were in the reserve force at the battle of Winchester. He remained with that brilliant 
officer until the surrender of Lee, when he was ordered to Savannah, Georgia. This was in the 
latter part of July, 1S65, and feeling that the war had closed, and being anxious to resume his 
studies, he resigned his commission and returned home. 

In the fall of 1866, he entered the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann 
Arbor, where he worked with his hands and taught school to pay his expenses for two years and 
a half, when he graduated with honor in May, 1869, and came to Chicagp. He at once. set up an 
office, corner of Madison and La Salle streets, and entered upon the practice of law. Here he 
remained till the great fire swept away all his possessions, when he entered the field as a lecturer, 
and spent three winters delivering his lecture on "The Nobility of Labor," and his summers in 
reading and study. He had more calls than he could attend throughout the Northwest, but was 
finally compelled, by a fit of sickness while in Indiana, to abandon the field. He had contem- 
plated a trip to Europe, but this was also given up, and he returned to the law, leaving over one 
hundred unfulfilled engagements upon the platform. Since returning to practice he has, by close 
application to business, built up a highly prosperous business. 

In 1878 he carried out a long-contemplated scheme, and organized the Legal tind Mercantile 



668 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

League. This was completed and finally incorporated in 1880, and now numbers about three 
thousand members in all parts of the country. 

Mr. Cummings is a republican in politics, a Mason, and a Knight Templar, and a member of 
Professor Swing's congregation at Central Music Hall. 

While at Point of Rocks, and subsequently while in charge of the defenses of the hospital at 
Sandy Hook, near Maryland Heights, he became acquainted with Miss Olivia J. Moore, daughter 
of Captain Henry Moore, of Havre de Grace, Maryland, who was at that time attending school. 
She subsequently graduated at Bordentown Female College with the title of Mistress of English 
Literature. She was at that time a very spicy little reb, although her father, who was of New 
England stock, was a staunch Unionist. The attachment was mutual, however, notwithstanding 
the difference in political faith, and continued steadfast throughout many strange, painful and 
romantic vicissitudes till they were happily united in marriage after eighteen years' waiting, by 
Professor Swing, in Chicago, November 17, 1880. 



HON. CHARLES KELLUM. 

SYCAMORE. 

CHARLES KELLUM, one of the judges of the twelfth judicial circuit, and for years a prom- 
inent member of De Kalb county bar, hails from Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, being 
born at Springville, March 16, 1821. His father, Samuel Kellum, Jr., a farmer, lumberman, jus- 
tice of the peace, etc., was a native of New London county, Connecticut, where Samuel Kellum 
Sr. lived for a long period, and held a captain's commission in the state militia, after the revolu- 
tionary war had closed. The mother of our subject was Lucretia Eldridge, also a native of Con- 
necticut. Her father was from the North of Ireland, and of Scotch-Irish blood. 

Young Kellum received an academic education at Montrose and Mannington academies, both 
in his native county; was axman two years for an engineering corps on a canal; read law with 
Lusk and Little of Montrose, teaching school two winters at the same period; was admitted to 
the bar in August, 1844; worked between one and two years for his preceptor at $10 a month and 
board, when his health became somewhat impaired; went to Towanda, Pennsylvania, and 
resumed business in company with Judge Booth, remaining there until 1854, when he removed to 
La Porte, Indiana, and was assistant cashier of the Indiana National Bank. The next year he 
settled in Sycamore. Here he was in the successful practice of his profession until he went on 
the bench in June, 1879, prior to which date he had held various offices, such as township trustee, 
and chairman of the board, and b)- virtue of that office a member of the county board of super- 
visors, state's attorney for the old thirteenth judicial district, city attorney soon after Sycamore 
was incorporated, etc. 

Judge Kellum was endowed by nature with a judicial mind. He was not only made for a 
lawyer, but for a judge, and his natural endowments have been enlarged by a liberal education, 
and long practice at the bar. His mind readily grasps the most difficult legal problems, and his 
decisions are not only generally correct, but are marked, universally, by the utmost fairness and 
impartiality. Seldom is it that any error creeps into the record of a cause heard before Judge 
Kellum, and consequently his decisions are not often reversed in the higher courts. On the bench 
he is urbane and gentlemanly, and is universally esteemed by the members of the bar, who prac- 
tice in his court. He is especially the friend of the young attorney, and wherever possible 
smoothes over the rough path which that class are compelled to travel over before reaching emi- 
nence at the bar. These qualities make him one of the most popular judges in the state, and his 
friends confidently predict that he will yet be called to sit on the bench of the supreme court. 

In politics Judge Kellum was originally a whig. He joined the republican party on its for- 
mation, and before going on the bench was a very active worker in its interests, he believing that 
the good of the country required the perpetuation of that party in power. He was for a long 



UNITED STATES BTOCRAPHTCAL DICTIONARY. 669 

period chairman of the county central committee, and was repeatedly a delegate to republican 
district and state conventions. 

He is a Knight Templar, and has held the offices of king, scribe and high priest of the chapter. 

He married, March 15, 1855, Miss Chloe Clement, of La Porte, Indiana, and they have two 
sons, William Clement, an attorney-at-law, Sycamore, and Samuel, a clerk in Chicago. Judge 
Kellum is a stockholder in the Sycamore, Cortland and Chicago railroad, and the Marsh Binder 
Manufacturing Company, and is thoroughly identified with every public interest of the city, being 
himself quite enterprising as well as public-spirited. 



STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 

CHICAGO. 

STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS, son of the celebrated statesman, Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, 
was born in Rockingham county, North Carolina, November 3, 1850. His mother, whose 
maiden name was Martha Denny Martin, a daughter of Colonel Robert Martin, was a native of 
the same county, and died in January, 1853. The history of his father, who died at Chicago, 
June 3, 186 1, is familiar to the American people. The last intelligible words uttered by him were 
a message to his sons, Robert and Stephen, then at college, to "obey the laws and support the 
constitution of the United States." 

After completing his preparatory education, our subject attended Georgetown College, Dis- 
trict of Columbia, but left his studies during his senior year to look after his mother's estate, 
comprising several plantations in North Carolina, Mississippi and Texas. This occurrence led 
him to engage extensively in the leaf tobacco business. While in North Carolina, Mr. Douglas 
found himself early and deeply absorbed in politics, growing out of the excited and threatening 
condition of the country, and his patriotic instincts led him to promptly ally himself with the 
party of freedom. In 1870, before he was twenty years old, he was made chairman of the repub- 
lican county delegation to the state convention, and about the same time became editor in chief 
of the Raleigh "Standard," the organ of the republican party in North Carolina. In that same 
year he was appointed adjutant-general of the state, it being the incipient period of the ku-klux 
troubles, when two thousand troops were raised to protect the lives of the colored people, and of 
republican leaders of all complexions. The condition of things at that time in North Carolina, 
and some other southern states, together with Mr. Douglas' able leaders in the "Standard," led 
congress to consider the matter, and pass the ku-klux legislation, when Mr. Douglas resigned his 
post of adjutant-general 

In 1 87 2 he was appointed a presidential elector, and, young as he was, made a thorough can- 
vass of his district. Four years later (1S76) he was again placed on the republican electoral 
ticket in North Carolina, and ran several hundred votes ahead of his ticket, he making a full and 
vigorous canvass, speaking in at least fifty places. 

In November, 1S76, Mr. Douglas entered the North Carolina Law School, under Hon. Rich- 
mond Pearson, chief-justice of that state, and was there admitted to practice in June, 1878. He 
opened a law office in Chicago in the following March, and almost immediately took an honora- 
ble position at the Cook county bar. In October, 1881, he was appointed master in chancery of 
the county court. He belongs to the class of irrepressible young men whose talents and energies, 
always wisely directed, place them in the forefront in every^^contest. He seems to have inherited 
not only the build, but in a large measure the force of character, mental powers and magnetism 
of his father, and he may or may not reach the rounds of fame on which his father proudly stood. 
He is quite as much a favorite of the republican party as his father was of the democratic party 
at thirty years of age. In 1880 he was quite active in the Grant movement, and was elected at 
the state convention at Springfield, a delegate to the national convention held at Chicago, but 
was unseated on defeat of the "unit rule." During the memorable campaign of that year, which 



670 UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHrCAl. DICTIONARY. 

resulted in the election of Garfield and Arthur, he canvassed nearly the whole state of Illinois, 
and aided, by his persuasive eloquence, in securing an unusually large majority in Illinois for the 
republican nominees. Since the close of that great political contest, Mr. Douglas has been quietly 
practicing his profession in Chicago Few young men of his age have made an equal amount of 
history. Mr. Douglas attends the Reformed Episcopal church, but is not a member of any re- 
ligious association. 

JOSEPH O. GLOVER. 

CHICAGO. 

AMONG the distinguished lawyers who were early at the Illinois bar, few have been more 
iV closely identified with its system of jurisprudence, or contributed more to determine the 
character and present position of the state than Joseph O. Glover. A man of strong intellect, 
with a nice sense of right and justice, and with characteristic virtues in professional and private 
life, whatever he did was strongly affected bv these qualities. 

Mr. Glover was born in Cayuga county. New York, April 13, 1810. His father was Hon. 
James Glover, of New York, for many years judge of the Chenango county court of that state, 
and was appointed by Governor DeWitt Clinton, as one of the three commissioners who located 
and had charge of the construction of the Auburn penitentiary. Hon. George Rathbun, of 
Auburn, who was member of congress from the Cayuga district for several terms, was a brother- 
in-law of our subject. 

Mr. Glover was educated at the high school in Aurora, New York, and afterward studied law 
for a short time with his brother, Justus S. Glover, a prominent lawyer in Penn Yan. Mr. Glover 
came west in 1835, without having decided upon the law as his profession, but having been 
obliged, on account of the illness of his father's attorney, to attend personally to a case in the 
land office at Galena, involving a part of his father's estate, met with such success that he was 
immediately employed by strangers, in two similar cases. Thus he seems to have been led to 
take up the study and practice of law, and was afterward admitted to the bar, having completed 
the necessary period of study in the office of T. Lyle Dickey, now of the supreme bench of Illi- 
nois. He soon formed a partnership with Hon. B. C. Cook, which lasted over thirty years, with 
no other change than the admission of George C. Campbell as a partner. 

This firm was for many years one of the leading law firms of northern Illinois, as is attested 
by the reports of the state, and it was only dissolved after Mr. Glover bad been appointed United 
States attorney for the northern district of Illinois, Mr. Cook general solicitor of the Chicago and 
North-Western Railway Company, and Mr. Campbell general solicitor of the Chicago, Rock 
Island and Pacific Railroad Company. 

Mr. Glover was evidently born to be a lawyer, and the accident which determined his profes- 
sion was a happy one. He possesses great sagacity, is a keen observer and correct judge of 
human nature and human motives, and has seldom been deceived in his estimate of men. He 
has a thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles and rules of law, and great familiarity 
with the principal text writers in the different departments. His main reliance, when authorities 
were needed, was on principles, raiher than on adjudged cases, trusting to himself to apply the 
rule and its reason to the case in hand. 

While a man of strong convictions, tenacious, and hard to be convinced that he is wrong, 
when once he has carefully concluded he is right, he is of a most genial disposition, and has, to 
an uncommon degree, the faculty of being not only upon speaking, but friendly terms with 
almost every one he meets ; scarcely any one looks upon him as a mere acquaintance. His qual- 
ities were such that he naturally devoted himself to litigation upon the law rather than the 
chancery side of the courts, and was always found to be a formidable antagonist, on account of 
the shrewdness of his examination of witnesses, his aptitude in illustration, and his faculty of 
avoiding any antagonism with the sympathies and modes of thought of those he is addressing. 




JH~ 




UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 673 

Mr. Glover married, in 1837, Jeannette Hart, whose sister afterward became the wife of his 
partner, Mr. Cook, their father being Judge Orris Hart, of Oswego, New York, a member of the 
convention which framed the constitution of that state, and also one of the first superintendents 
of the Erie canal. Their children were three: Julia, the wife of George C. Campbell, one of the 
leading members of the Chicago bar; Henry T., a member of the Chicago bar, and Otis R., a 
broker in New York city. 

In politics Mr. Glover was formerly a democrat, and was the associate of Stephen A. Douglas 
and other leading statesmen in the West. But when that party repealed the Missouri compro- 
mise, and seemed to favor the introduction of slavery into the territories, he joined with others in 
forming the republican party, of which he has ever since been an active and earnest member. 
Few men have made more republican speeches in Illinois, and during the war his eloquence was 
heard throughout the state, rallying men to the support of the flag and the maintenance of the 
Union. To him and his contemporaries belongs the credit of shaping public sentiment before 
and during the war, thereby being greatly instrumental in its happy termination. 

Mr. Glover, though an ardent politician when there was work to do, has never been an office 
seeker, but he has held several offices. He was a member of the legislature at an early day, and 
exerted a strong influence in determining the character of the state. Although the city of 
Ottawa, where he resided the greater portion of his professional life, was strongly democratic, he 
was elected its mayor by a very large majority. In 1868 Mr. Glover was a presidential elector. 
He was appointed United States attorney for the northern district of Illinois, by President Grant, 
and reappointed at the end of the term. Since he has retired from active practice of law, he has 
been a canal commissioner of the state, now holding the position, under a reappointment, for a 
second term, and during the whole period acting as president of the board. A prominent feature 
of Mr. Glover's character is his unwavering and never-questioned integrity in every relation in 
life. This character well established caused him to be often selected for positions of special con- 
fidence, of which many wills and instruments of trust bear testimony, and gave him a complete- 
ness as a lawyer, which, wanting this, the brightest gifts would have failed to confer. 



HON. JOHN W. E. THOMAS. 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN WILLIAM EDINBURGH THOxMAS, lawyer and member of the legislature, is a son 
J of Edinburgh and Martha (Morgan) Thomas, and was born in Montgomery, Alabama, May i, 
1847. His father was a native of North Carolina; his mother, of Virginia. In his youth John 
received a plain English education, and has since done a good deal of private studying, fitting him- 
self for teaching by the time he was seventeen years old. That was his profession for years, both 
at the South and in Chicago. He first came to this city in his teens; returned to Alabama, and 
left that state finally in 1869. When the great fire occurred in October, 1871, he was a grocery 
merchant, and lost two buildings. After that calamity he returned to teaching. 

Mr. Thomas was elected to the legislature in 1876, being the first colored person in this state 
ever elected to a legislative body. He read law with Hawes and Lawrence; was admitted to 
the bar in 1879, and after practicing here two years, he went to Washington, District of Colum- 
bia, and held a clerkship in the office of the second auditor. While serving in that capacity in 
the autumn of 1882, his republican friends in the third senatorial district, nominated him for a 
seat in the thirty-third general assembly, and he was elected by an overwhelming majority, he 
running ahead of every man on the ticket. He was appointed chairman of the committee on 
public buildings and grounds, and on the committees on warehouses, engrossed and enrolled bills, 
labor and manufactures, and state institutions. He is a man of good sense, quite industrious, a 
fair speaker, and makes a highly respectable legislator. He is also a good sound lawyer. 

Mr. Thomas is a member of the Brothers of Union, Chicago, and was the president of the 
66 



1 



674 



UNITED STATES flrOGRATHICAL DICTIONARY. 



society for five years. He also belongs to the Knights of Honor, Washington, and the Olivet Bap- 
tist Church, Chicago. Before he went to Washington, he was for some time superintendent of the 
Sunday-school. His moral and religious character is irreproachable. 

Mr. Thomas was first married in 1865 to Miss Maria Reynolds, of South Carolina, and she died 
in 1878, leaving one child. He was married the second time in 18S0, to Miss Justine E. C. Latcher, 
of Chicago. 

HORATIO L. WAIT. 

CHICAGO. 

HORATIO LOOMIS WAIT, master in chancery of the circuit court of Cook county, is a 
native of the city of New York, dating his birth, August 8, 1836. His father, Joseph Wait 
was a merchant in that city. His grandfather, Marmaduke Wait, served in the second war with 
England, and his great-grandfather, Joseph Wait, of Vermont, was a colonel in the first war, serv- 
ing under General Ethan Allen. The mother of Horatio was Harriet Heileman (Whitney) Wait, 
a native of Boston, Massachusetts. She is still living. Her husband died 3-ears ago at Jersey 
City, New Jersey. 

Mr. Wait was educated at Columbia College grammar school ; came to Chicago in 1856 ; read 
law with Joseph N. Barker, but before being admitted to practice, the civil war having broken out, 
he entered the navy, and remained there for nine years, joining the European squadron after 
peace was declared. 

Mr. Wait left the navy in 1870, and in the same year was admitted to the bar, and opened an 
office in Chicago, soon finding a good business on his hands. In 1876 he was appointed master 
in chancery, and since that date has made a specialty of chancery practice. He ignores politics 
almost entirely, and attends exclusively to the study and duties of his profession. A gentleman 
who knows Mr. Wait well, thus writes to the editor of this work: "Mr. H. L. Wait is a polished 
gentleman, a scholar of unusual attainments, and a conversationalist of marked ability. He has 
also been an extensive traveler. As a lawyer he is well read, of excellent judgment and of unim- 
peachable integrity. He has for some years occupied the position of master in chancery of the 
circuit court of Cook county, by the appointment of the judges of that court." 

Mr. Wait is a vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Hyde Park, and a man of high stand- 
ing in the community. 

In i860 he was joined in marriage with Clara Conant Long, daughter of James Long, of Chi- 
cago, and they have two children, both sons. 



HON. LEANDER D. CONDEE. 

CHICAGO. 

LEANDER DEVINE CONDEE is a native of Athens county, Ohio, his birth being dated 
J September 26, 1847. His parents are Henry M. and Jane (Rickey) Condee. His paternal 
grandfather. Ami Condee, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and his maternal grandfather was a 
member of the first board of trustees of Athens county. Leander farmed with his father until 
seventeen years of age; received an academic education at Kankakee, Illinois, the family moving 
to this state in 1854; read law at the same place, and is a graduate of the law department of 
the University of Michigan, class of 1868. 

Mr. Condee opened an office at Butler, Bates county, Missouri, and while there held the office 
of city attorney for three years. Early in the autumn of 1873 he removed to Chicago, and has 
been in practice here since that date. He was alone for four years, at the end of which time he 
became a member of the firm of Condee and Bliss, his partner being E. R. Bliss, present county 
attorney of Cook county. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 675 

The residence of Mr. Condee is at Hyde Park village, of which he has been attorney since the 
spring of 1879. In November, 1880, he was elected state senator for the second district. South 
Chicago, and still holds that office. He is a strong republican, very active during a political 
canvass. 

In the senate he is chairman of the committee on corporations, a committee having great 
interests in Chicago to guard, and is also a member of the committees on judiciary, railroads, 
judicial department, municipalities, warehouses, canals and rivers, military affairs. 

Mr. Condee is a Knight Templar of the Masonic order, and has passed all the chairs in Odd- 
Fellowship. He was married in March, 187 1, to Miss Margaretta Stovie, of Butler, Missouri, who 
died in March, 1881, leaving three children; was again married August 24, 1882, to Mrs. M. J. 
Waterbury. 

HON. JOHN J. FOOTE. 

BEL VIDERE. 

JOHN J. FOOTE is a son of John and Mary B. (Johnson) Foote, and was born in Hamilton, 
Madison county, New York, February ir, 1816. His father is a lawyer, and still living, being 
in his ninety-seventh year, and his grandfather, Isaac Foote, was a state senator and circuit judge 
in New York, and was identified with the war for independence. A brother of Isaac Foote was 
also a judge of the state of New York. The family was from Connecticut. John was educated 
at the academy in his native town, and there pursued his classical studies, receiving the honorary 
degree of master of arts, from Madison University in 1837. He was engaged in the drug business 
.mtil he removed to Illinois in 1865. 

^Ve learn from " The Past and Present of Boone County, Illinois," a work published in Chicago 
m 1877, that Mr. Foote became early identified with the educational institutions of his native 
town, and maintained an abiding interest in their rise and progress, and also early took an inter- 
est in the politics of his state, he being a whig till that party became extinct. Although living in 
a democratic town, democratic thirty years ago, he was elected to such offices as supervisor and 
chairman of the county board. He also declined the candidacy of the whig party for canal com- 
missioner and state senator, but in 1857 the republican party, which he had aided in founding, 
elected him to a seat in the state senate, to represent the counties of Madison, Chenango and 
Cortland. In that body he introduced the farmers' " Personal Liberty Bill," the discussion of 
which drew out the keenest debater among his associates. We learn from the work already men- 
tioned that while in the senate Mr. Foote was taken into the counsel of such men as Governor 
Morgan, Hon. Thurlow Weed, the veteran whig and republican journalist, ex-Vice-President 
Wheeler, and other political lights of the Empire State. Mr. Foote showed himself to be a wise 
legislator, as well as a high-minded, shrewd politician and a man of unbending integrity. Those 
who know him best regard him as the embodiment of the most manly traits of character. During 
the presidential campaign of i860, Mr. Foote represented the counties of Oswego and Madison in 
the electoral college. 

In 1865, being in delicate health, he relinquished his business in New York, and came to Bel- 
videre to take charge of a large farm which he had purchased near town. Here his public spirit 
soon began to crop out. He became quite prominent among the agriculturists, and was twice 
elected president of the Boone County Agricultural Society. 

Some years ago, when heavy defalcations became common in the New York postoffice, and 
there seemed to be a total absence of system in its management, Mr. James, the postmaster, being 
one of Mr. Foote's early friends, sent for him to go to New York city, and take the responsible 
office of auditor, which Mr. Foote organized; and he soon wrought wonders in the postoffice, 
bringing order out of chaos, and establishing a system which was commended at Washington, 
and is now adopted by the larger postoffices in the country. Mr. Foote was also acting postmas- 
ter in the absence of Mr. James; and when, in April, 1876, he resigned to return to Belvidere, Mr. 



6/6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

James wrote him a very cordial letter, gratefully acknowledging his important services in connec- 
tion with the postoffice. The deputy postmaster and head clerks united in a similar testimonial 
of their appreciation of his services, and both letters appear in the historical work to which we 
have twice referred, and where we find most of the data for this sketch. 

Mr. Foote married, in 1839, Mary, daughter of Amos Crocker, of Hamilton, New York, and 
they have three children. He has recently moved into a large and elegant house in the city of 
Belvidere, completed in the spring of 1882, and is living a quiet and independent life. 



HIRAM K. AND C. GEORGE JONES. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

AMONG the oldest and most respectable class of physicians and surgeons in Morgan county 
L are the Joneses, whose names we have placed above. They are sons of Stephen and Mildred 
(Kinnaird) Jones, both natives of Virginia, being members of the agricultural class. The father 
of Mildred Kinnaird was David Kinnaird, a native of Scotland, yet a thorough patriot, fighting 
under General Washington in all his campaigns. 

Hiram K. Jones, the older of the two brothers, was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, August 
5, 1819. When he was about seven years old the family emigrated from Virginia to Troy, Lin- 
coln county, Missouri, where both parents died. In 1839 H. K. Jones came to Jacksonville to be edu- 
cated, and is a graduate of Illinois College, class of 1844. He studied his profession with Doctor 
Hardin, of Louisiana, Missouri ; attended lectures in the medical department of the Illinois Col- 
lege ; received the degree of doctor of medicine in 1846 ; practiced in Troy, Missouri, until 1849, 
and then settled in Jacksonville. He soon built up a good practice, and has made an honorable 
record in his profession. He was physician to the hospital for the insane for three or four years, 
and part of that time was also superintendent. Since leaving the hospital he has practiced in the 
city of Jacksonville, his rides, years ago, leading far into the country. Latterly he has given his 
attention almost exclusivelj' to office and city practice ; his younger brother, who has been in 
partnership with him since 1868, attending to the outside business. 

Doctor Jones has always taken deep interest in the cause of education, and has been for some 
time, and still is, one of the trustees of his alma ?nater, from which he received the honorary degree 
of doctor of laws in 1879. He has a speculative and philosophic turn of mind, and was the origi- 
nator of the Plato Club of Jacksonville, of which he has been chairman for a score of years or 
more. He has long been known throughout the country as the Platonist of Illinois. The Spring- 
field (Massachusetts) "Republican" stated, some years ago, that Ralph Waldo Emerson, who 
was an intimate acquaintance of Doctor Jones for a number of years, declared that Doctor Jones 
knew more about Plato than any other man in America. He is one of the five constituent mem- 
bers of the Concord School of Philosophy, which was organized in 1878. The other four mem- 
bers are A. Bronson Alcott, of Concord, Massachusetts; William T. Harris, LL.D., of Saint Louis; 
Frank B. Sanborn, of Boston, and Samuel Emery, of Concord, Massachusetts. Summer sessions 
of this school are held annually at Concord, and the essays there read and the addresses delivered 
are usually reported in the leading newspapers of the country, and attract a great deal of atten- 
tion. Doctor Jones is among the lecturers, and discusses a variety of subjects, literary as well as 
philosophical. For several years he has been in the habit of lecturing in public. 

The first appearance of Doctor Jones as a lecturer or conversationalist, at Concord, was in the 
summer of 1878, and a correspondent of the Massachusetts paper mentioned above gave a some- 
what lengthy resume of his Platonism as evolved in his conversations on that occasion. The 
correspondent spoke of the delight with which Mr. Alcott, Mr. Emerson, Miss Elizabeth Peabody, 
who had watched by the cradle of New England transcendentalism in Doctor Channing's Boston 
study half a century ago, and other thinkers in the Concord coterie, listened to the philosopher 
of Jacksonville, Illinois. Some of them were a little surprised that the doctor, being a physician, 




HC Csoper Jr 1 Cs. 



;^^ 




'^H^c-^^<^, 



UiVITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



679 



should set aside evolution and the coarser forms of Darwinism, and boldly declare that the origin 
of man is from above, not from below, and that we derive our knowledge not from experience, 
but from intuition and reasoning. 

Years before Doctor Jones went to Concord, he had been in the habit of lecturing in public. 
He has occasionally contributed to medical periodicals, and also to journalistic literature of a 
philosophic character, and his writings, on whatever subject treated, rarely fail to arrest the atten- 
tion of the public. He is one of the clear-headed, solid thinkers of the West, a very busy man, 
and never lonesome for want of thought. 

Before Doctor Jones left the state of Missouri, he discovered the aggressive influence of the 
slave power, and as a private citizen, he took issue with that power, doing all he could in public 
speeches to check its progress. In this state he was associated with the movement of Abraham 
Lincoln, Richard Yates, and others, in the incipient steps toward the organizing of the great party 
of freedom which placed Mr. Lincoln in the presidential chair in March, 1861. Doctor Jones was 
a pioneer stumper in presenting the national issues before the people, and, no doubt, had consid- 
erable influence in molding public sentiment. 

The wife of Doctor Jones was Elizabeth Orr, of Ashley, Pike county, Missouri, they being 
married in 1846. They have no children. 

Cumberland George Jones was born in the same place with his brother mentioned above, Sep- 
tember 3, 1827; received the degrees of bachelor of arts and master of arts at Illinois College, the 
former in 1854, the latter in 1857; studied medicine with his brother; attended lectures in the 
medical department of the University of Missouri, at Saint Louis, where he received his medical 
degree in 1868, and has been in general practice with his brother for more than fifteen years, 
making a fine success in his profession. Like his brother, he is very studious, the science of 
medicine claiming his entire and close attention. He is thoroughly wedded to this profession, and 
pays no regard to side issues. We cannot learn that he has ever held a civil or political office. 
His e-xcellent standing as a physician and surgeon is owing, no doubt, to the fact that he is a pro- 
gressive man, keeping well read up in everything pertaining to medical science. He has reported 
a few cases for medical journals, but is not much given to the pen. As is the case with his 
brother, he holds a membership in the county and state medical societies. His wife was Sarah 
Wing, of Troy, Missouri, their marriage taking place July 22, 1856. 



CHARLES A. DUPEE. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE personal history of the gentleman whose name and biography are here presented is 
worthy of record and a fixed place in the annals of the earlier days of Chicago. Charles 
A. Dupee was a native of Massachusetts, born at West Brookfield, May 22, 1831. His parents 
were Jacob Dupee and Lydia A. (Weatherbee) Dupee, his father being a descendant from a 
French Huguenot, who emigrated to Boston in the year 1685. His early education was com- 
menced at an academy in the town of Monson, and subsequently continued at the Williston Sem- 
inary, at East Hampton, Massachusetts. In 1850 he entered Yale College, graduating from that 
institution in 1854, with the degree of bachelor of arts. In November of the same year he came 
to Chicago, where he became principal of Edwards Academy, remaining in this position for six 
months, after which he spent some time in traveling. In the autumn of 1855 he returned to Chi- 
cago, and was appointed principal of one of the public schools, which position he held for one 
year. 

About this time the Chicago high school was organized, and Mr. Dupee was selected for its 
principal, and the task of creating and developing the system of this school must be largely 
accredited to him. The impress given by him to that institution still remains, and its system and 
workings have been extensively adopted by other high schools of the West. While principal of 



68o UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

this school he was also editor of the "Illinois Teacher," a monthly periodical published in Chi- 
cago, principally for the use of teachers. While engaged in teaching others, our subject illustrates 
the saying that "he who teaches others, teaches himself best," for he not only gave the necessary 
time and attention to his duties as an instructor in that institution, but at the same time spent a 
portion of his leisure hours in the study of law. Resigning his position of principal of the high 
school, in i860 he began a systematic course of the study of law, first in the law school at Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts, and afterward in the office of Gallup and Hitchcock, in Chicago. He was 
admitted to the bar by the supreme court of Illinois in 1861. About this time he was offered the 
presidency of the State Normal School of Illinois, and also the Latin professorship in the Chicago 
University, both of which proposals he declined. 

After admission to the bar, he commenced the practice of the profession in Chicago under his 
own name, and continued so for about one year, when he entered into copartnership with Jacob 
A. Cram, under the style of Dupee and Cram. 

In 1863 Mr. Dupee was married to Miss Jennie Wells, daughter of Henry G. Wells, one of the 
early settlers of Chicago. In 1864 the firm of Dupee and Cram was dissolved, and Mr. Dupee 
became a member of the firm of Hitchcock, Dupee and Evarts, which continued until 1872, when, 
by the retirement of Mr. Evarts, the firm became Hitchcock and Dupee. In 1876 the firm of 
Hitchcock, Dupee and Judah was organized, by the admission of Noble B. Judah. January 22, 
1881, Mr. Dupee was bereft of his wife, and later, May 6, 1882, of his friend and partner, Mr. 
Hitchcock, who had for so many years been associated with him. Upon the death of Mr. Hitch- 
cock, the firm of Dupee and Judah was organized, to which M. L. Willard was admitted as a 
partner in 1882. 

Mr. Dupee was married March 27, 1883, to Miss Bessie B. Nash, of Mac-a-cheek, Ohio. Mr. 
Dupee is a man of marked ability, and his success is the result of steady application to his pro- 
fession, and of unswerving integrity. As a lawyer Mr. Dupee is recognized and assigned as one 
of the most trusted and ablest at the bar. His methods of habit and process of action in the pur- 
suit of his chosen profession result not only from disposition, but temperament as well. " While 
the blood in the heart is warm and sympathetic to a degree, that in the brain is cool and full of 
the currents of cynicism for aught else than genuine, uncolored facts, and a clear legal maxim in 
its application to those facts. He is prone to rely less upon the accredited potency of utterance, 
which so frequently obtains with juries, but he tenaciously lays hold of and unfolds those princi- 
ples of law which serve to unerringly pilot the facts in a given case to a harbor of perfect justice. 
His reliance in every jury cause is especially upon the law applicable to the actual facts in evi- 
dence, and he trusts finally and largely to a confidence in the conscience and wisdom of courts of 
last resort. He is ever ready and willing to ascertain his results through a purely judicial rather 
than a jury decision. The latter frequently is the outcome of emotion, prejudice or ignorance; 
the former the yellow grain of a full harvest of deliberation, learning and e.xperience. This ten- 
dency of mind has so imbued itself into the professional feeling of Mr. Dupee that he has ripened, 
as to style, expression, arrangement of fact and thought, into the lawyer's ideal, that of being 
able, in written argument and brief, to win the most lasting triumphs from courts whose decisions 
are irreversible, and which become precedents and principles. Not only do the facts, under the 
magic of his pen, marshal themselves with the attacking force of an army, but each fact is so 
intrenched in law and precedent, and so armored in reason and logic, as to become and be irre- 
sistible. All the while these facts and this law are clothed in diction which lends a charm to 
those distinctions so uninteresting and dry to the layman, a diction which suggests the smooth- 
ness of Macaulay, the clearness of Addison, the strength, feeling and power of Junius. 

In personnel, Mr. Dupee is above the average height, and of commanding presence. His bear- 
ing is unaffectedly a blending of gentleness, which inspires affection, and of natural dignity, 
which wins respect. His manner toward the court and counsel is uniformly courteous and affable. 
He never regards it necessary to cease to be a gentleman in order to be a lawyer. In his profes- 
sional life he has largely been engaged in the services of railroad, banking and insurance corpor- 



UNITED STATES BIQGRA rifrCAI. DICTIONARY. 68 I 

ations, and his ripe experience in such cases has caused his opinions to be regarded as especially 
valuable. He is wholly devoted to his profession. The legal firms with which he has for more 
than twenty years been connected in this city have been of the highest standing, and have had 
the confidence of the courts and the public to an unusual extent. Few lawyers now engaged in 
Chicago, in professional life, have been concerned in so extensive affairs, or accomplished an equal 
amount of successful labor, or been equally rewarded. This confidence is the result of ripe learn- 
ing, a life of industry and experience, based upon a very extensive practice, and a personal and 
professional honor of the highest character. 



JESSE CLEMENT. 

CIIICA GO. 

JESSE CLEMENT comes of revolutionary stock. His grandfather, Moses Clement, at the age 
of seventeen was on guard the night before the battle of Bunker Hill, and participated in that 
early blow struck for independence. At the end of six months the young private returned to his 
farm in Dracut, Middlesex county, Massachusetts. He married Rachel Perham, of Tyngsboro, 
Massachusetts, and had a family of fourteen children. The second of these was Asa Clement, a 
farmer and poultry merchant, and the father of Jesse, who was born in Dracut, June 12, 1815. 
His mother was Elizabeth Wilson, of Pelham, New Hampshire, daughter of Captain Jesse Wilson, 
who also scoured his flint-lock about 1775. She died when the son was eleven years old. He 
was reared on the farm, but had no taste for agricultural pursuits. At nineteen years of age he 
left the farm for the academy at New Hampton, New Hampshire, and in the course of five years 
attended school about three, teaching district schools during five consecutive winters, and occa- 
sionally a select school. 

From May, 1840, to December, 1842, Mr. Clement taught in the English department of the 
institution, where he had been educated. In the last-named month he went to Buffalo, New 
York, and edited the "Western Literary Messenger" until the spring of 1S57. From 1847 to 1857 
he was also a traveling correspondent of the "Buffalo Commercial Advertiser." During this 
period he had the compiling and supervision of nine city directories. In addition to these labors 
he wrote more or less poetry for the "Knickerbocker Magazine," the "Ladies' Book," the "Union 
Magazine " and the "Southern Literary Messenger." In 1850 and 1851 he edited "The Noble 
Deeds of American Women," and wrote the first life of Adoniram Judson, the pioneer American 
missionary to Burmah. He also wrote regularly for two or three Baptist papers, for which he is 
still a contributor. 

In April, 1857, Mr. Clement removed to Dubuque, Iowa, and aided in founding the "Daily 
Times," of which he was associate editor until February, 1863, when he engaged in the business 
of life insurance, following it ten years. During these years, however, he did not wholly relin- 
quish his literary labors, often delivering lectures, poems and addresses before colleges, literary 
societies, etc. In the spring of 1868 he removed to Chicago, and for a while continued the life 
insurance business. For years he was a traveling correspondent of the "Daily Inter Ocean." 
Since August, 1876, he has given most of his time to the American Biographical Publishing 
Company. 

• He is a member of the Memorial Baptist Church, and has been one of its deacons since it was 
organized, under another name. He held the same office in Buffalo and Dubuque. He was 
among the first members of the Young Men's Christian Association, of Buffalo, and its president 
in 1855, and was at the head of the Sunday-school associations of both Buffalo and Dubuque. 

Mr. Clement was first married August 21, 1841, to Miss Mary E. Blood, by whom he had two 
children, only one of whom survived her. This daughter, Ada Elizabeth, is the wife of William 
J. Gilbert, law-book publisher, of Saint Louis, Missouri. His present wife was Lucetta H. Blood, 
to whom he was married April 25, 1859. She has two sons: Ernest Wilson, a graduate of the 



682 UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHICAL DTCTIONARY. 

University of Chicago, class of 1880, valedictorian and prize essayist, now principal of the Bur- 
lington College, Iowa, and Clarence Lincoln, a student at the same school. His wives are 
daughters of the late David Blood, of Dracut, Massachusetts, both women of fine mental 
attainments, and earnest workers in religious and benevolent enterprises. His present wife is 
president of the Woman's Hospital, of Chicago, a position which she has held since 1878. 



RICHARD S. TUTHILL. 

CHICAGO. 

THE subject of this sketch was the son of David B. Tuthill, and his wife, Sally Strong, 
daughter of Luke Strong, a prominent lawyer of Vergennes, Addison county, Vermont. 
Their ancestors on both sides are among the best New England families, and can be traced in its 
annals for many generations. The elder Tuthill was educated for an Episcopal clergyman, but 
on account of delicate health would not enter the ministry, but in 1819, with his wife, joined a 
company of pioneers, who settled on and gave name to Tuthill's Prairie, in Jackson county, in 
southern Illinois. The town of Vergennes was founded by them, and named by Mrs. Tuthill 
after her own native place, one of the oldest cities of Vermont. Mr. Tuthill became postmaster of 
Vergennes, and held the office for many years, under all administrations, without regard to their 
political complexion, though he himself was a whig and afterward a republican. 

His hospitable mansion was the resort of all the noted men of the state and nation who 
chanced to be in that part of the state, such as President Lincoln, Judge Breese, Bishop Chase, 
John A. Logan, D. L. Phillips, and many others. 

Richard Stanley Tuthill was born in Vergennes, Illinois, November 10, 1841. He was the 
youngest of the family of nine children. His education began in a private school established by 
his father, and was continued in the Saint Louis high school, in Jacksonville College, and finally 
completed at the Middlebury College, Vermont, where he graduated with high honors in August, 
1863. 

Immediately after graduating he joined the army before Vicksburg, with the intention of en- 
tering the ranks, but the promise of a commission delayed his doing so, and after a time he joined 
a company of volunteer scouts, and served with them on the campaign through Mississippi to 
Meridian. After spending some months in this most dangerous and exciting arm of the service, 
he returned to \'icksburg to find a commission awaiting him. Governor Blair, of Michigan, had 
sent him a commission as second lieutenant of battery H, Michigan light artillery, attached to 
General Logan's old division of the 17th army corps, Army of the Tennessee. He remained 
attached to this battery till the close of the war, taking active part in the campaign, which ended 
in the fall of Atlanta, and in the battles of Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Altoona, and in the 
numerous severe engagements in front of Atlanta, and afterward in General George H. Thomas' 
campaign against the rebel General Hood, in Tennessee, and in the final and victorious battle of 
Nashville. After the fall of Richmond, believing the war ended, and anxious to enter upon his 
profession, he resigned his commission. May 29, 1865, and returned to Nashville. He had with 
commendable energy and foresight spent his leisure hours in camp in the study of the law, and 
now he resumed his studies in the office of Hon. H. H. Harrison, of Nashville, Tennessee. In the 
latter part of 1866 he was admitted to the bar, and entered at once upon the practice of his pro- 
fession in the courts of Tennessee. 

In 1867 he was elected attorney general of the Nashville circuit, and served until 1870, when a 
change in southern politics threw all republicans out of office. In 1872 he ran for presidential 
elector on the republican ticket, and made a vigorous campaign, stumping the district which was 
largely democratic, and only lacked a few votes of an election. In 1868 Mr. Tuthill married Miss 
Jennie Smith, a native of Vergennes, \'ermont, by whom he had one child, a daughter, now living. 
Mrs. Tuthill's death occurred December 22, 1872, at Nashville, Tennessee, which, together with 




(/u^/ipt^i^ S^ X.c7X/^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA rillCA I. DfCTJOVARY. 6g- 

tlie breaking up of the republican party in Tennessee, and the general weakening of the ties 
which bound him to the South, sent him to Chicago in the early part of 1873. Here he found a 
more congenial and a wider field for his talents. He entered at once with determination upon 
the practice of his profession, to which he has devoted himself with unwearied diligence and 
marked success. In 1875 Mr. Tuthill was nominated by the republican party as its candidate for 
city attorney, and was elected with what was known as the reform council, by a majority of over 
five thousand. In 1S77 he was again nominated and elected to the same office by a largely in- 
creased majority. 

His service in the city law department was marked with unusual success. He soon became 
tiioroughly familiar with the law of municipal corporations, and established a high reputation as 
a corporation lawyer, as is well shown by the fact that he has since been employed by the city to 
conduct in its behalf the highly important suits yet undecided in the supreme court of the 
I'nited States, involving the right of the city to impose a license fee of $50 a car upon the street 
railway companies in Chicago, the amount involved not less than $50,000 per annum, and the 
piinciples of law involved making the cases of the utmost importance. At the close of his term 
of service as law officer of the city, Mr. Tuthill entered a law partnership with Colonel David 
Ouigg, an attorney of large experience and very high personal and professional character, which 
business association continues at the present time. 

While not a politician in the professional sense, Mr. Tuthill takes a deep interest in all public 
ciincerns. He is still an earnest republican and active in all party matters. He was a member 
of the state convention at Springfield in 1880, was one of the delegates to the national convention 
held in Chicago, and one of the phalanx of 306, who voted for the nomination of General Grant. 
Mr. Tuthill is in the prime of life, full of vigor and of unbounded energy; he is master of his pro- 
fession, full of ambition, enthusiasm, and personal magnetism, and is richly endowed with those 
qualities which manifest themselves only through the medium of an ardent and exalted friend- 
ship. He never betrayed a trust, never neglected a duty, never deserted a friend. Honoral)le in 
all things, he is a sincere hater of shams in business, politics or religion, and in the practice of 
his profession scorns to resort to subterfuges, or to secure victory by questionable means. He is 
a member of several military societies, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Veteran Club, and 
military order of the Loyal Legion. 

January 2, 1877, he married for the second time. His wife was Miss Hattie McKey, the daughter 
of Edward McKey, a noted dry-goods merchant, of Janesville, Wisconsin, by whom he has had 
two children. 



w 



HON. WALTER E. CARLIN. 

JERSEY V/LLE. 

ALTP2R EVANS .CARLIN, one of the members of the thirty-third general assembly, from 
the thirty-seventh senatorial district, dates his birth at CarroUton, Greene county, April 
II, 1844. His father was William Carlin, a farmer, and prominent man in Greene county, being 
county clerk at one period, and holding the office of circuit clerk at the time of his death in 1850. 
He was a brother of Hon. Thomas Carlin, once governor of the state. William Carlin married 
Mary Goode, a native of Virginia, and a distant relative of the members of that family who have 
represented that state in the lower house of congress. Mrs. Carlin is still living. 

The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools of CarroUton, at the school of 
the Christian Brothers, Saint Louis, and the Universitv of Wisconsin. August 17, 186 1, Mr. Car- 
lin enlisted in company A, 38th Illinois infantry. He was promoted to second lieutenant, to first 
lieutenant, and finally to captain, but on account of his age, being under nineteen, he declined to 
accept the last commission. He served for a while on the staff of General Jefferson C. Davis, and 
later on the staff of his brother, General William P. Carlin, a graduate of West Point. Lieutenant 
Carlin was highly commended by General Davis for his gallantry in the battles preceding that of 
67 



686 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



*\ 



Chicamaugua, and in tliat bloody contest he had two horses shot under him. He served three 
years, and at the close of the war was offered a second lieutenancy in the regular army, but de- 
clined it. For the last five years he has been major of the 15th battalion Illinois National Guards. 1 

He was chairman of the board of supervisors of Jersey county four years; an alderman of the ' 
city of Jerseyville the same length of time, and is now serving his first term in the state legisla- 1 
ture, being on the democratic side of the house, and on committees on railroads, warehouse reve- 
nue, and banks and banking. Banking is his business at home. He is a self-made man, and by , 
sheer industry and economy has placed himself in very comfortable circumstances. I 

Representative Carlin has filled all the offices of the grand encampment of the Odd-Fellows 
of the state, and is now serving the second term as representative from that body to the sovereign , 
grand lodge. In 1880 he was a delegate to the national convention, which nominated General 
Hancock for president. 

His religious connection is with the Presbyterian church. In April, 1880, he married Miss 
Mary Cross, daughter of Hugh N. Cross, president of the First National Bank, Jerseyville, and 
she died in March, 1882. leaving two daughters. 



EDMUND S. HOLBROOK. 

CHICAGO. 

EDMUND S. HOLBROOK resides in Chicago, and is a lawyer by profession. He was born 
in Grafton, Massachusetts, and there spent his earlier years. His parents, Stephen and 
Sally (Goddard) Holbrook, were of English ancestry and descendants of the earlier settlers of 
New England. They were farmers in the middle walks of life, and Edmund was the youngest 
of a large family. From his youth he evinced a strong and w-ell defined inclination, taste and 
aptitude for literary pursuits. After the usual education of the village public school, he took the 
preparatorv course at Phillips Academy, at Andover, entered Amherst College in 1835, and grad- 
uated in 1839, vi'ith high honors. 

Immediately upon graduating he was invited by the New England Anti-slavery Society to 
become one of its lecturers and standard bearers. As this suited well his inclinations as a friend 
of universal freedom and as a debater and orator, he entered bravely upon that field of labor, and 
it required bravery then to espouse so'unpopular a cause. 

In the spring of 1840, he resumed school life in Essex county, Virginia, as professor of lan- 
guages, belles-lettres and vocal music, and continued in that vocation till 1843. While residing 
there he took an active part in the cause of temperance, finding occasion sometimes to combat 
the Gospel ministers. He alscj took part in politics, sometimes in debates, sustaining the demo- 
cratic party and its principles, and in the celebrated campaign of 1840 he met in public debate 
the whig representative in congress of that district, Henry A. Wise, a great pet of his pai"ty, and 
distanced him so effectually that the democratic press boasted of his defeat by a Yankee school- 
master; whereupon the mad-dog cry of abolitionist was raised, a mob organized, and threats 
made, the ministers of the Gospel taking the lead; but the friends of the able debater rallied, 
talked as firmly and loudly as their opponents, and violence was abandoned. 

While engaged in teaching, the young professor devoted his leisure hours to the study of the 
law, and, without instruction, was admitted to the bar at Richmond. Discovering, however, that 
a pro-slavery community was in manv respects quite uncongenial to him, he came to the Far West 
in the fall of 1843, settled first at Ottawa and soon after at Peru, La Salle county, Illinois. 

In 1846, he volunteered under the call of the President for troops for Mexico, assisted in rais- 
ing a company, became a lieutenant, joined the ist Illinois under Colonel Hardin, served under 
General Wool, afterward under General Taylor; was in the battle of Buena Vista, and returned 
at the end of his service in July, 1847, having served faithfully and with honor. In 1848, he estab- 
lished a weekly newspaper, the Peru " Telegraph," free-soil in politics, supporting Van Buren for 



A 



UNITED STATES BIOCRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. 6<S7 

the presidency. It was the <inly paper of that kind in that section of the country, and had great 
iiiHuence in molding public sentiment to what it afterward became. He labored for the establish- 
ment of the republican party, and for the support of it in peace and in war, and has lived to see 
a result so little anticipated when in his youth he first set his face toward emancipation. 

In 1852 he married Miss Ann Case, of Racine, Wisconsin, the daughter of Caleb Case, for- 
merly of Oswego county, New York. In 1865, he opened a law office in Chicago, and a branch 
office at Juliet in 1870. In his profession he has devoted his time and attention to a general law 
practice. In the law on real property he is without a superior in the state of Illinois. His power 
of reason is comprehensive, extensive and profound, and readily masters the most abstruse, com- 
plex and subtle propositions. As an orator he is s\ifficientlv fluent to engage, and has command 
of language to express his ideas directly, tersely and powerfully to carry conviction, and yet upon 
occasion is full of wit and satire. As a conversationalist, he is pleasing, pensive, instructive and 
emphatic in expression. In person, he is robust and sound, enjoj^s life, makes acquaintances 
slowly, and is strongly and warmly attached to his friends. His learning and reading are of wide 
range, and so are his writings and essays. 

His genius for poesy developed in early youth, and is of a decidedly superior order. He was 
the class poet at the academy and in college. Among his numerous poetic productions are his 
poems entitled the "Mexican War," the most lengthy, published by the association of Mexican 
veterans, "Chicago and the Great Fire," "A Centennial," "Apostrophe to Man," "Tribute to the 
Memory of Judge Breeze," late of the supreme court of Illinois; and many others are equally 
worthy of mention. 

As specimens of his style and power these stanzas are here given: 

From the " Mexican War: " 

" ChapuUepec, the sentry of the city at her feet, 
How grand and fixed in .sweet repose, in armor how complete! 
Our last great work shall be our best, to lay her wondrous power, 
And float ' the Red, tlie White, the Blue,' above her highest tower. 
To say it, was the act-itself — the scalers volunteer! 
The cannons roar, the troops ascend yet nearer and more near! 
A conflict hand-to-hand ensues, the stormers mount the walls! — 
A moment more of life and death — the grand old Fortress falls!" 

From " Apostrophe to Man: " 

" Oh, man! endowed with mind of heavenly birth; 
Enthroned superior o'er the world below; 
Fired with ambition that o'erspans the earth. 
With energies to do, as powers to know; 
Let thy whole frame with living virtues glow; 
• Let truth and wisdom all thy counsels be; 
Love, mercy, charity on each bestow; 
And for thy soul, when death shall set thee free, 
Cherish the faith and hope of immortality." 

From "Excelsior" (an acrostic): 

" Excelsior! " the prayer of M.\n to God: 

"Come, Thou, the Guide of my aspiring heart, 

Conduct my footsteps on the /«>/;«• road ; 
Endow my soul with each diviner part, 
Love, Wisdom, Joy, and Truth's most truthful chart; 

Show how each crime and wrong I should abhor; 
Inspire each holier thought, each nobler art; 

Oppress me not in Life's e'er chafing war; 

Renew each day my strength, Excelsior ! ExcEl.sioR ! ! " 

As a religionist, Judge Holbrook's course and thought have been unique and peculiar. His 
parents were Puritans of the old stripe, and so also nearly all the companions of his youth. Yet 



688 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

he revolted against all these, and soon after his education was commenced, through the involun- 
tary action of his own reason, he came to doubt and to den\' the peculiar tenets of Calvinism as 
unreasonable and unjust. He then had no faith for many years. Considering that he found in 
Spiritualism what he sought in vain elsewhere, he has become its bold and earnest advocate, both 
by tongue and pen, and his writings, both in prose and poetry, are widely known in the journals 
and periodicals of that religious sect. 



N. L. SCRANTON. 

TOLEDO. 

AMONG the old settlers and representative attorneys of the Cumberland county bar, and one 
iV who ranks among the self-made men of Illinois, is the subject of this sketch. He is a native 
of Virginia, of English descent, and was born September lo, 1839. His father was Nathan Scran- 
ton, a native of Virginia, and a farmer by occupation. The maiden name of his mother was Lucy 
Lewis. She was a native of Louisiana. 

The subject of this sketch remained at home until about eighteen years of age, obtaining a 
common-school education, and then went south, spending about two years in New Orleans, where 
he learned the carpenter's trade. In 1861 he returned to the North, and settled in Clark county, 
Illinois, and followed his trade for about ten years, dealing to some extent in lumber and running 
a saw-mill. With a native desire for knowledge he, while thus employed, improved his spare time 
in the study of law, having obtained a few law books. With more extensive reading his desire 
to master the science of the law increased, and he determined to fit himself for the practice of the 
profession. By hard work he prepared himself for examination, and in 1869 was admitted to the 
bar. Removing immediately to Toledo, he devoted himself assiduously to his profession, and 
has made a grand success, having now a large and desirable clientage. He is a careful student, 
a close observer, and a lawyer whose opinions are based on his knowledge of the law. 

Mr. Scranton has had many important cases which have brought him very prominently before 
the public. Soon after coming north he married Miss Sarah Lee, whose parents were among the 
first settlers of Clark county, coming there when it was but a wilderness. 

Mr. Scranton is truly the architect of his own fortune, and what he has made in reputation 
and wealth is the fruit of his own honest and industrious labors. He is a good advocate before 
a jury, and uses every honorable means to enhance the interests of his client, and has taken at 
times an energetic part in the political field with the democratic partv. 



JOHN L. KING. 

• CHICAGO. 

JOHN LYLE KING, lawyer, was born in 1825, at Madison, Indiana, and is a son of the late 
Victor King, a merchant of that city, who was one of the pioneer settlers of that section, and 
for fifty years actively identified with the growth and interests of Madison. He was also one of 
the founders and most liberal patrons of Hanover College, and of the Presbyterian Theological 
Seminary, now the Theological Seminary of the Northwest, at Chicago. 

John Lyle King was a graduate of Hanover College when that institution was under the pres- 
idency of Rev. E. D. MacMaster, D.D. From his relationship it was almost a matter of course, 
that he should prepare for the legal profession. One uncle, Joseph G. Lyle, of Georgetown, Ken- 
tucky, and another uncle, Wilberforce Lyle, of Madison, Indiana, were eminent lawyers, while 
Joseph G. Marshall, also of the latter city, who was the leader of the bar, and of the whig party 
of Indiana, was a near relative. He accordingly entered the office of Wilberforce Lyle as a stu- 
dent, and shortly after his admission to the bar, his uncle and preceptor died. In the following 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



689 



year Mr. King was admitted as an attorney of the supreme court of the state. He afterward 
formed a partnership with S. C. Stevens, a former judge of the supreme court, and one of the 
noted early abolitionists and free-soilers of the West, and this connection lasted for several years. 
In 1852 he was elected a representative in the legislature, which was the first under the new con- 
stitution of Indiana. The session lasted nearly six months, during which the whole statute law 
was revised, and the code of practice was also adopted. He was one of the frequent and leading 
debaters in the discussions of the house, and a warm advocate of reform in the law and practice. 
He was a great admirer of Kossuth, and introduced into the house the joint resolutions of honor 
and homage to the great Magyar orator and patriot which were passed, and in the ovation ten- 
dered the exile, Mr. King was chairman of the committee which presented the Hungarian to the 
legislature. At a meeting of citizens of the capital, he made a Kossuth speech, which gave him 
great eclat. He was a whig in politics, though his party in the legislature was in a powerless 
minority. In a daily journal of his native city, of which Owen Stuart, afterward colonel of a 
Chicago Irish regiment in the war, was part proprietor, and to whose columns he was a constant 
editorial contributor, he fulminated the first and most vigorous anti-Nebraska articles in the 
state. 

In the beginning of 1856 he removed to Chicago, and formed a copartnership with Joshua L. 
Marsh, then city attorney, and mainly managed the law business of the city in the courts of 
record. He himself, in i860, was elected (on the John Wentworth ticket for mayor) citv attorney, 
over the late Colonel James A. Mulligan. Without any assistance, and relying on his own knowl- 
edge, industry and vigor, he conducted the city's whole law business during his term of office. 
He subsequently acquired a large general practice, both civil and criminal, to which he has since 
exclusively devoted himself. A very large share of his practice has been in jury trials, in which 
his resources, readiness and powers of advocacy have won him much success and distinction. In 
a celebrated libel suit, in 1869, against the Chicago "Tribune," he particularly evinced his special 
powers, and his speech, together with that of E. W. Evans, his associate counsel, was published 
and had a wide circulation. He has from time to time contributed numerous editorial and other 
articles, chiefly on legal subjects and favoring law reform, to Chicago journals. During his pro- 
fessional life his pen has been prolific. On his motion, the Chicago Law Institute, in 1872, 
adopted a resolution in favor of a change in the mode of reporting and publishing the decisions 
of the supreme court, so as to secure their speedier and cheaper appearance. As chairman of the 
institute committee, he prepared the "Address of the Chicago Law Institute to the Bar and Press 
of the State," a pamphlet of unusual force and brilliancy. 

This biographical sketch would be incomplete without some reference to his merits and qual- 
ities as a lawyer and man. His sterling merits are appreciated by all who know him personally. 
He has a high sense of honor and principle, which places him beyond suspicion of craft and trick 
in his profession. He is a true and genial friend, and of noted and unswerving fidelity to his 
clients, and of untiring zeal for their interests, and is courteous and affable with his brother 
members of the bar. He has a keen sense of professional rectitude, and is zealous only for just 
and rightful success, and commands the respect and attention of the court for his law and logic, 
while before a jury he is ranked among the foremost of advocates. His briefs in the supreme 
and appellate courts are concise, and models of logic and legal acumen, and "may be read as 
exceptional specimens of legal ability, industry and research, frequently relieved by allusions and 
illustrations which show .the breadth, richness and variety of an extensive and liberal culture. 
His attainments in general literature, aside from his professional ones, which are of the first order, 
are of no common kind, as is manifest from his written compositions, and in his forensic efforts. 
Shakespeare has evidently been much studied by him, and an occasional felicitous phrase or quo- 
tation from the great dramatist, has well served him to illustrate a position, or to point or impress 
an appeal. 

In 1878 he made a venture into the field of authorship, in the publication of an elegant vol- 
ume, entitled "Trouting on the Brule River, or Summer Wayfaring in the Northern Wilderness.'" 



690 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARy. 

The volume relates the experiences of the author and his part)^ of professional companions in the 
woods, and on the waters of the northern wildernesses of Wisconsin and Michigan, while tenting 
and trouting, on the Brule River, their summer vacations away. It is written in a charming and 
attractive style, with the enthusiasm of a lover of books, and of the great book of nature, a style 
always flowing and vigorous, often graphic and brilliant, with a delicate and subtle vein of humor 
and pleasantry, abounding in happy allusions, with passages bordering on poetry, and occasional 
graceful professional turns of thought, just enough to remind us it is a lawyer, writing of lawyers 
in their holiday freedom and play. This book has passed into a second edition. Ij 

Mr. King is still an active practitioner at the Chicago bar, and is enjoying the full fruition of | 
an honorable and successful professional career. [ 



WILLIAM H. CHAPPELL, M.D. 

OREGON. ' 

WILLIAM HENRY CHAPPELL is of pure French blood, both parents, Raphael James 
and Cecelia (La France) Chappell, being natives of the city of Paris. They were married 
there, and soon afterward came to this country, stopping awhile in Plattsburgh, New York, and * 
removing thence to Shoreham, Vermont, where William was born, January 5, 1847. There 
Raphael Chappell worked at his trade (that of an ornamental marble cutter) until 1850, when 1 
the family went to Fox Lake, Wisconsin. 

The subject of this notice was educated at the Wisconsin State University, taking a partial 
course: was clerk for three years in a drug store at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, where he commenced 
the study of medicine, continuing it at Madison. He commenced practice at Hebron, Jefferson 
county, Wisconsin, in 1868, and two \'ears later moved to Dartford, same state, where he remained 
five years. Meantime, he attended lectures at the Bennett Eclectic College, Chicago, and was 
graduated in 1873. 

In 1875, Doctor Chappell settled in Oregon, Ogle county, his present home, where he has a 
highly remunerative general practice, making, at the same time, a specialty of the study of sur- 
gery. He is a close student, and a progressive man. The doctor writes occasionally for medical 
magazines of his school; is secretary of the Rock River Institute of Homoeopathy, and has a 
highly creditable standing among the fraternity. He is an Odd-Fellow, and has passed all the 
chairs in -the subordinate lodge and encampment. ' 

The wife of Doctor Chappell was Josephine S. Dailey, of Cottage Grove, Wisconsin, their 
marriage being dated March 23, 1869. They have had two children, only one of whom, Clarence 
C, is living. 

HON. WALTER B. SCATES. ! 

CI lie A GO. 
ALTER BENNETT SCATES, once a judge of the supreme court of Illinois, and at one 



w 



period collector of customs at Chicago, is a native of Virginia, though reared in Ken- 
tucky, and was born at South Boston, Halifax county, Virginia, January 18, 1808. His parents 
were Joseph Scales, millwright, and Elizabeth Eggleston (Bennett) Scates. His maternal grand- 
father, an Irishman by birth, and educated for a physician and surgeon in London, England, came 
to this country prior to the revolution, and was a surgeon in that war, dying in his son-in-law's 
house in Kentucky, 1812. 

When our subject was three months old the family moved from Virginia, and in 1809 settled 
in Christian county, Kentucky, on a farm near Hopkinsville, on Little River, where Walter was 
engaged in farming, raising and stripping tobacco for his father till nineteen years of age, attend- 
ing school usually during the winters. Determined to have more education, which his father at 



i 



UNITED STATES BIOCRA rillCA T. DfCTIONAKY. 6g I 

first failed to give him, he left home without his parents' knowledge, and went to Nashville, Ten- 
nessee, where he entered a printing office. His father keeping track of him, and seeing the son 
was determined to study one of the professions, finally sent for him and made arrangements for 
him to take a course in law. 

Not long afterward, we find our subject in the law office of Hon. Charles S. Morehead, subse- 
(juently governor of Kentucky, and in the spring of 1831 he was licensed to practice. He settled 
at Frankfort, Franklin county, Illinois, where he remained for five years, serving part of the time 
as county surveyor and brigade inspector. In 1836, on being appointed attorney general of the 
state, he removed to Vandalia, then the seat of government. November 31, 1836, he married Miss 
Mary Ridgeway, daughter of John Ridgeway, formerly of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 
session of the legislature in 1S36, Mr. Scates was elected judge of the third judicial circuit, which 
embraced the southern peninsula of the state, extending from Cairo a hundred and twenty miles 
northward, and he took up his residence at Shawneetown. In 1841 a new law went into opera- 
tion, requiring the addition of five circuit judges to the supreme court bench, making nine in all, 
and judge Scates was one of the five selected, the other four being Sidney Breese, Thomas Ford, 
Samuel H. Treat and Stephen A. Douglas. In that year he removed to Mount Vernon, Jefferson 
county, and continued to hold his ciicuits until January, 1847, when he resigned and resumed the 
law practice. In the spring following he was elected to the constitutional convention, and was 
chairman of the judiciary committee in that body, a post of honor always assigned to a lawyer. 

In 1849 there occurred an episode in the judge's life which did not inure very much to his 
pecuniary benefit, and which, we venture to say, he does not even now contemplate with a dis- 
tressing amount of complacency. In 1849 he bought an interest in a coal mine at Caseyville, and 
helped build a railroad from that point to Saint Louis, the first road constructed with rail in that 
part of the state. To these enterprises of opening the mine, and constructing an outlet for its 
precious treasures, he gave four years of hard labor, and in 1853 returned to Mount Vernon, hav- 
ing been elected to the supreme court bcncii to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. 
Lyman Trumbull, who was soon afterward elected to the United States senate. In 1857 Judge 
Scates again resigned the judgeship, being then chief-justice, and removed to Chicago, where he 
was in the steady practice of the law until the civil war broke out. 

In August, 1862, Judge Scates went into the army, commissioned with the rank of major of the 
13th army corps, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, being on General McClerland's staff. Ap- 
pointed by a change of the law, by congress, he was soon assistant adjutant-general, with the rank 
of lieutenant-colonel in the 13th army corps, under General McClerland, and served until Jan- 
uary, 1866, when he was mustered out. After coming out he was brevetted successively lieuten- 
ant-colonel, colonel and brigadier-general. Says a writer who has long known our subject, " It 
would be unjust to history not to state that General Scates, in every post assigned him during the 
war, was vigilant, active, faithful, brave and zealous. The o'flficers of the 13th army corps, who 
were brought in contact with him, always speak of him as a tried and true soldier. * * 
Courteous and kind to his inferiors, respectful and obedient to his superiors, and though a com- 
paratively old man, full of the tire, courage and energy of the younger braves." 

General Scates had resumed the practice of his profession in Chicago when, in July, 1866, he 
was appointed by President Johnson to the office of collector of customs, Chicago, which position 
he held till July i, 1869, when he was turned out by President Grant, under whom he had served 
at Vicksburg, in order to make a place for a civilian, a partner of his brother. While collector, he 
was also United States depositary, according to the law then in existence, and which was soon 
after changed, making that a separate office. In every position, civil as well as military, which 
the general has ever held, he has discharged his duties faithfully, and with decided credit to his 
judgment as well as abilities. The office of collector requires the most sterling qualities of char- 
acter, and these our subject possesses to an eminent degree. No honester man, we believe, lives. 
His great abilities were seen to their best advantage when he was on the bench, and when the 
exigencies of the hour required that all his logical acumen and mental powers should be brought 



6q2 united states biographical dictionary. 

into exercise. With his dormant energies fairly aroused, his luminous mind fully ablaze, and his 
strong judgment brought to bear on a knotty question, one could not but feel that he was indeed 
a "natural born lawyer, and that God created him for a judge." It seems a pity that such a man 
could not have been kept on the bench. While there he truly adorned it, and his name will be 
handed down with the names of Breese, Douglas, Lockwood, Caton, Treat, Lawrence and others, 
to the latest generations. 

We have already mentioned the marriage of General Scales. His wife, who is still living, is 
the mother of ten children, seven of whom still survive, all grown, doing well for themselves. 
His present family consists of his wife, two daughters and two sons, at his home in Evanston. The 
general still retains his clearness of head, his strong memory and other mental faculties, and is 
quietly attending to his professional duties, being very prompt and careful in their discharge. 
His friends are numerous, abiding and appreciative, and he has the most cordial esteem of a large 
circle of acquaintances. 

HON. JESSE EMERSON. 

. BUDA. 

THE subject of this sketch is a son of Jesse and Mary (Stevens) Emerson, and was born in 
Newburyport, Massachusetts, March 20, 1824. Both parents were natives of New Hamp- 
shire. In 1836 the family came to this state, and settled at French Grove, near Buda. Jesse 
Emerson, Sr., was a drover and beef packer at the East, and a farmer in Bureau county, where 
both parents died. The son was reared on the farm, receiving meanwhile an academic education 
at Princeton, and teaching a school two or three winter terms. He was a clerk in a store at 
Tiskilwa a year or two, and was a merchant at Buda for ten years. While thus engaged, he 
studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1858, and soon afterward, closing out his mercantile 
business, gave his whole attention to the law. He has held various offices, such as magistrate for 
a decade'or more; supervisor and county judge, the last two positions one term each. He is a 
democrat, living in a republican county, and but for his popularity could not be elected to any 
official position. 

Judge Emerson has been a resident of Bureau county for forty-seven years, and is probably 
the oldest settler in the village of Buda still living here. He has many warm friends in the 
county. 

He was married in 1851 to Miss Sarah M. Gushing, and they have had three children, losing 
one of them in infancy. Charles W. is a farmer, living in Bureau county, and Minnie F. is at 
home. 

WILLIAM HOPE DAMS, M.D. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

WILLIAM HOPE DAVIS was born in Genesee county. New York, September i, 1835, his 
parents being David and Harriet (Wilder) Davis. His father's ancestors emigrated from 
Ireland long before the revolutionary war, and were noted for generations as Protestants and 
Free-thinkers. His mother belonged to the well known Wilder family of Massachusetts. When 
the subject of this sketch was five years old his parents removed to Michigan, then almost an 
uncultivated wilderness. Distinct among the memories of childhood is the recollection of the 
howling of wolves about their cabin, of seeing a black bear carry off their only pig from the pen, 
of the eyes of wild beasts glowing like coals in the darkness, and occasionally a black nose thrust 
between the logs. His father worked at the carpenter's trade in the summer, and at shoemaking 
in the winter. At the first-named useful occupation William was put as soon as he was large 
enough, working at it except when attending an occasional winter term at the district school. 
His father's family being large, it became necessary for William to depend upon himself 




^ir ){p(^^ l^nc^^,nttr 



UNriEli SIATES HIOCRAI'IIICAL DICTIONARY. 



''^95 



early in life. There was "little to earn and many to keep," and at the age of seventeen he left 
home to spend a summer in his native state. Hearing much of the Sunny South, he journeyed to 
Memphis, Tennessee, where he soon became acquainted with many of the best families in the city. 
Here he became a convert to the Christian religion, at the age of nineteen, and united with the 
Disciple or Christian church, in which he has ever since lived a devoted and consistent member. 

In the year 1854 he commenced the study of medicine under the instruction of Professor Gab- 
bett, who had occupied an important position in the Worcester Eclectic Medical College of Mas- 
sachusetts. In the winter of 1854-5 he attended a course of lectures in the Memphis College of 
Medicine, after which he pursued his studies at Barbees Academy until the spring of 1857, when 
he removed to Paris, Texas, and there commenced the practice of his profession, remaining 
about two years. 

During the summer of 1858 he crossed the plains to California, by way of Mexico, traveling 
the entire distance on horseback, and returning late in the autumn of the same year. In August, 
1859, he left Texas. Starting from Paris one Monday morning, he arrived in Memphis the next 
Tuesday week, having ridden the whole distance (four hundred and seventy-five miles) on a 
Texan pony, and slept upon the ground, three hundred miles of the way being through a dense 
and almost trackless wilderness. Selling his faithful pony at Memphis, he took the cars for 
Hillsboro, Ohio, which place he reached September 7, and on the loth of the same month, was 
united in marriage to Miss Rachel Anna Davis, who, although of the same name, was of no rela- 
tionship. On the mother's side Miss Davis was a descendant of the celebrated William Penn 
family of Pennsylvania. 

They have three children living, a son and two daughters. John Scudder, the eldest, has 
attended four full courses of lectures at the Eclectic Medical Institute, Cincinnati, and is now 
a worthy member of the profession. The daughters are named Millea and Eve. 

In the spring of i860 he bought a book and stationery store in Leesburgh, Ohio, but sold out 
in a few months and returned, with his wife, to Memphis. Here political troubles, of which civil 
war was soon to be the sad result, made a protracted stay on the part of Doctor Davis inexpedi- 
ent, and he soon returned to Cincinnati, Ohio, and went from there to Goodrich, Michigan, 
where he successfully practiced medicine, and at the same time conducted a drug store, accumu- 
lating several thousand dollars, but greatly impairing his health, owing to extensive night prac- 
tice. Here he was drafted for the army, but judging wisely that his services were needed more 
at home, and preferring to work for prolonging rather than destroying the lives of others, he was 
released upon payment of a few hundred dollars. About this time, suffering from a severe 
nervous affection, and needing rest and change, it was decided best that he should spend a win- 
ter in Cincinnati, which he did. attending meanwhile a full course of medical lectures at the 
Eclectic Institute, from which he graduated. Subsequently he recommenced the practice of 
medicine at Flora, Clay county, Illinois, but on account of ill health remained only one season, 
spending the next in traveling through the eastern states. 

Early in 1867 he located permanently in Springfield, where he has been engaged in an exten- 
sive practice up to the present time. In 1869 he procured a charter and organized the Illinois 
Eclectic Medical Society, of which he has been secretary for five years. He was unanimously 
elected editor of the journal of this society, and has acquitted himself in this responsible position 
with honor. 

At the meeting of the National Eclectic Medical Association, held in Washington, District of 
Columbia, in 1876, Doctor Davis was elected secretary. He has been a large contributor to peri- 
odical medical literature, and has read a number of papers before the state and national medical 
associations. In 1879 he was a delegate to represent the city of Springfield, at the meeting of 
the National Health Association at Richmond, Virginia. 

Doctor Davis was one of the first movers for the laws regulating the practice <>t medicine, 
now in force. He has been a member of the Springfield Board of Health for a number of year.^ 
and is regarded by his associates in that board as a very valuable member. 
OS 



696 UNITED STATES B lOGKAPHJCA I. DICTIONARY. 



3 



Doctor Davis' experiences have been varied, and lie is eminently a self-made man, having suf- 
fered the privations incident to poverty and pioneer life, and having laboriously earned his 
education. From a child the dream of his ambition was to become a physician. His pockets 
were stuffed with bottles when in the pride of his first trowsers, and his youthful experiments in 
surgery and the healing art were practiced on frogs and itinerant cats. In his youthful days he 
has camped with savages in Michigan, in the Indian Territory and .in Texas ; has become familiar 
with the Spaniards in Mexico, and has studied the character of the Chinaman in California. He 
has crossed the plains four times, twice on horseback and twice on the cars ; has traveled through 
all the South except Florida, and has a desire to see the whole world. He is industrious from 
principle, believing it far better to labor with no remuneration than to be idle. In his practice 
he has always been ready to attend the meritorious poor, with no hope of reward save in the final 
plaudit, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto Me." 



DANIEL L. SHOREY. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE bar of Chicago contains in its list a number of prominent men who hail from the Pine 
Tree State, and one of the foremost among them is Daniel Lewis Shorey, who was born at 
Jonesborough, Washington county, January 31, 1824. He comes of the very best revolutionary 
stock, his grandfather, John Shorey. enlisting as a private at the age of nineteen, taking part in 
the battle of Bunker Hill and serving until the close of the war, being part of the time a member 
of General Washington's body guard. The father of our subject, Joseph Shorey, a native of 
Wolfborough, New Hampshire, went to Maine wliile it was a part of Massachusetts, and was there 
engaged in agricultural pursuits. He served for many years as a justice of the peace, being one 
of the first appointed for the state of Maine, and was a man of more than ordinary intelligence 
and influence, being well read in English literature and the politics of the day. He married 
Sylvia Hall, a native of Washington county, Maine, and a descendant, on her mother's side, of 
the Mortons of Massachusetts. 

Mr. Shorey prepared for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, and was gradu- 
ated with honors at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, class of '51. He commenced 
reading law in Washingtcjn, District of Columbia, where he also taught the classics for two years 
in the Rittenhouse Academy, finishing his legal studies at the Dane Law School, Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, and being admitted to the bar in 1854 in Boston. There he practiced one year, 
and then removed to Davenport, Iowa, where he was in extensive practice for ten years. While 
there, he was a partner for some years of General J. B. Leake, now United States district attorney, 
Chicago. He was city attorney of Davenport from 1862 to 1865, and president, about the same 
time, of the city school board. He had greatly endeared himself to the friends of education 
while a resident of that progressive hawkeye city, and when he left it was a loss seriously felt, 
especialh' by the better class of people. 

Mr. Shorey removed from Iowa to Chicago in the summer of 1S65, and entered at once upon 
the practice of law. He had at one period James S. Norton for a partner; at another, Benjamin 
M. Shaffner, and latterly he has been alone. He practices in the civil courts exclusively, with a 
strong leaning to chancery practice. 

One of the weekly religious papers of Chicago thus spoke not long ago of our subject as a 
lawyer: 

Mr. Shorey 's training at that best school, the bar, has been unusually broad, and no lawyer in the city to-day has 
a better or more genial knowledge of every branch of practice, or is better equipped and able to handle successfully 
any case that may come into his hands, than he. His fine natural abilities have been rounded out by his thorough 
education and wide practice, and the law of natural selection has operated to give him one of the most lucrative and 
satisfactory legal businesses in the city. 

One of the best features in the character of Mr. Shorev is his great activitv in certain kinds of 



UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



69; 



public work, particularly in library matters. He drafted the first public-library law ever presented 
to the legislature of Illinois, and the impress of his mind is upon the law of that kind now in 
force in that state. He was a leader in organizing the public library in Chicago, and a director 
of the board for eight years, and president for four years, resigning when he became a member of 
the city council in 1880. It has been well said of him by a writer in Washington, District of Co- 
lumbia: "No citizen of the Northwest has been a more constant and intelligent friend to library 
interests than he." 

In politics Mr. Shorey was originally a whig, and on the demise of that party joined the re- 
publican party, in whose ranks he has since trained. The seat of alderman of the third ward, 
which he has held the last year, .is all the office he would accept, though his name has been men- 
tioned more than once in connection with a judicial position, for which he evidently has eminent 
litness. 

Mr. Shorey is a member of the First Unitarian Church, Chicago, and a very prominent lay- 
man in that denomination, having been for eight years president of the Western Unitarian Con- 
ference. 

He is a blue lodge Mason and high up in Odd-Fellowship. In 1870 he was appointed grand 
representative of the Grand Lodge of Illinois to the Grand Uodge of the I'nited States, and per- 
formed his duties in that connection with distinguished ability. 

The wife of Mr. Shorey was Maria Antoinette Merriam, of Bedford, Massachusetts, married in 
1856. They have two children, Paul, a graduate of Harvard University at the head of the class 
of '78, and with the highest honors in history, the classics and philosophy, now a lawyer traveling 
in Europe, and Mattie Hall, who is pursuing her studies in Europe. 



THADDEUS O. BANNISTER, M.D. 

ODELL. 

THADDEUS OAKS BANNISTER, physician and surgeon, is a native of Wayne county, 
New York, and was born in the town of Galen, June 13, 1833. His father, Augustus C. 
Bannister, a farmer, was born at Phelps, in the adjoining county of Ontario. His grandfather, 
Theodore Bannister, was a colonel in the second war with England. The Bannister family was 
from Massachusetts. The mother of our subject was Mary Vandemark, whose father was from 
the state of Delaware, and of Holland descent. Thaddeus received a district-school education, 
and farmed with his father until he turned his attention to his profession. He studied at 
Marengo, near Galen, with Doctor George W. Stocking: attended one course of medical lectures 
at Albany, and finished his studies at the University of New York, receiving his diploma in 
March, 1856. He practiced with Doctor Landon Wells at Waterloo until the autumn of the next 
year, and then went to Phelps to take the place of his uncle, Doctor Caleb Bannister, who had 
been in practice there for about fifty years. 

The subject of this sketch was at Phelps until 1862, when he went into the service as acting 
assistant surgeon in the department of Washington. He was at first in the F'airfax General Hos- 
pital, Virginia, then with Doctor D. W. Bliss, and finally in the Campbell Hospital, same city, 
where he was on duty when the war closed. 

In the autumn of 1865 Doctor Bannister came to this state, and settled at Odell, where he has 
an excellent practice, and has built up a fine reputation for skill. He is thoroughly devoted to 
his profession, in which he keeps well read up, adding fresh works to his library from time to 
time. He is one of the best surgeons in the county. 

The doctor is quite public-spirited, taking a good degree of interest in local matters. When 
the village of Odell was incorporated, he was one of the first trustees, and for the last nine years 
he has been a member of the village school board. He devotes a reasonable amount of lime in 
assisting to elevate and improve the grade of the public schools. 



bgS UNITED STA'/'ES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Doctor Bannister belongs to the democratic school of politics, but does not let such matters 
interfere witli his professional duties. He joined the Episcopal Church in Phelps, New York, but 
there being no church of the kind in Odell, he attends the Congregational Church. 

The doctor was married, in 1857, to Miss Hannah Elizabeth Pound, of VV^ayne county, and 
they have two sons ; George S. is a student in the Industrial I'niversity, Champaign, and Henry 
J. is at home. 

JOSHUA AND JEREMIAH COLLINS. 

SARA I'OGA. 

THESE men, who were widely known as among the most extensive farmers and stock-raisers 
and dealers in Illinois, were twin brothers, the sons of Joshua and Margaret Collins, and 
were born September 19, 1820, on the Hudson River, about twelve miles south of Albany, the 
capital of New York. The family are of Irish descent, two sisters and one brother immigrating 
to this country in an early day, and settling in Rhode Island. The mother's maiden name was 
Rowe, and her ancestors were among the early Dutch settlers in New York. The father was born 
in Rhode Island, but when a young (nan made his way into Dutchess county. New York, where he 
married. He learned the trade of a miller, and finding it a hard struggle to support his large 
family of nine children (seven sons and two daughters) the family decided to try their fortunes 
in the Far West. Philip, the second son, then a young man, was sent out first to select a location, 
and the family followed. 

They came, in company with several other families, via the Erie canal and the lakes, and 
landed in Chicago September 19, 1834. A location had been fixed on the Aux Sable bottom, in 
what was then La Salle county, near its junction with the Illinois River, and a log house erected, 
to which the family at once came on their arrival. Chicago had then about two hundred and 
fifty inhabitants, and Mr. Collins was offered and urged to buy lots on Randolph street for $15 
to $30, but declined to bury his money in a mud hole without the least probability of ever finding 
it again. He had but little money in fact, and preferred to invest it in a farm for his boys, and 
by the time a quarter section had been entered, and a few necessaries for the family comfort had 
been purchased, his little store was exhausted. But the family were rich in health and strength, 
were numerous and full of hope, and strong hands and willing hearts were better than a large 
patrimony without them. 

The story is an old one, oft-repeated in this country, but ever fresh and interesting, of the 
early struggles of the brave pioneers. No roads or bridges, no schools or churches, but plenty of 
Indians, ague and hard work. In August, 1841, the father finished his labors and was laid to rest. 
The sons had been trained to habits of industry from childhood, and as fast as they were able to j 
earn money, had added their mites to the family store, and helped to bear its expenses. In this 
school of poverty they had learned the value of money, and how both to earn and to spend-it. 

The family were affectionate and even clannish, and worked together for many years. The 
twins were fourteen years old when they came west, and till the death of the father, about the 
time they came of age, worked and lived at home. They had, however, saved a little money by 
outside work, and always invested it in calves and young cattle, so that, when they began life for 
themselves, they had quite a little herd. At first three brothers joined forces and worked together. 
These were Philip and the twins, and they all kept bachelor's hall together, but this arrangement 
was soon interfered with by the marriage first of Jeremiah and afterward Joshua, and the partner- 
ship was dissolved. 

When, however, both the brothers had got settled in their new relationship, they resumed 
partnership in all their business traQsactions. They bought stock extensively, fatted it for market 
and sold again. They jointly purchased large tracts of land till, at the time of their settlement, 
the company land amounted to no less than 2,800 acres. Their annual transactions in fat cattle 
amounted to many hundreds of thousands of dollars. They usually sent their cattle either to 
Chicago or to Albany, New York, and for many years were among the heaviest dealers in the West. 

i 




J^^^u^ ^M^ 



UNITED STATES B lOCRA PHICA I. DICTIONARY. -qi 

In the winter of 1871-72 Joshua had a very severe illness, which occasioned a dissolution of 
the partnership the following spring. In the settlement which followed Joshua purchased his 
brother's interest in the company lands entire, who even then remained the sole owner of 3.000 
acres, while he became by the purchase one of the most extensive land owners in northern Illi- 
nois. The partnership began in 1858 and ended in 1872, and maybe pronounced one of the most 
satisfactory and successful cooperative ventures ever carried out. 

Throughout its entire course brotherly affection and mutual confidence marked their inter- 
course with each other, and prosperity attended them in an unbroken train. It is a matter of 
profound regret that a proper regard for truth will not permit the biographer to say that this 
brotherly affection and harmony, so beautiful to contemplate, and to which both owed so much 
of their joint prosperity, should not have sustained them in the final settlement of their affairs. 
It, however, came finally to a satisfactory end, and we are thereafter called upon to follow the 
history of each separately. 

Joshua Collins was married August 28, 1845, to Harriet Crider, the daughter of Henry and 
Mary Ann (Hess) Crider, who came west with their family in October, 1833, preceding the Col- 
linses by one year. The young people had been companions from childhood, and their union was 
a very happy one. They remained under the household roof till the following March, when they 
moved into a new log house built for them during the winter on their own land. Here they lived 
for about nine years; here four of their five children were born, and here, Mrs. Collins declares, 
their happiest days were spent. In 1854, however, the old log house gave place to a comfortable 
mansion, near the same spot. Mr. Collins was then the owner of 480 acres of land in his own 
right, to which he added from time to time, until at the time of his death he owned a very large 
amount of farming lands, exclusive of a full section of 640 acres in the richest part of the state of 
Missouri. 

After the dissolution of the partnership with his brother Jeremiah, he continued the business 
of raising and dealing in cattle with the same energy as before, prospering in everything he 
undertook until the day of his death. June 14, 1879, he was killed by lightning while hitching 
his horses in his stable during a thunder storm. His sudden death was a great shock to the com- 
munity, and the funeral procession was over two miles long. His large estate was divided 
equally among his five children without recourse to law, everything being satisfactorily arranged 
with the counsel and assistance of Judge Hopkins, of Morris. It is pleasing to reVate that the 
warm affection between the members of the family of Joshua was more firmly cemented by the 
sudden death of the father instead of being ruptured, as is too often the case by the division of an 
estate. That affection remains undisturbed till the present time, and all the sons and daughters are 
settled in life, happy and prosperous. 

Cryder Collins, the eldest of the family, is the owner of 970 acres of land, which fell to his 
share from his father's estate. He has turned his attention largely to breeding horses, and has 
imported from Europe and the Canadas some of the finest animals brought into this country. 
He imported a very fine Cleveland bay stallion from England at a cost of $2,500. Two Normans 
from France cost him $1,500 each, and thirteen Clydesdale mares from Canada, the present season 
(1882), $200 each. He has now twenty-five breeding mares and some most promising colts. He 
is also paying attention to cattle raising, and keeps a flock of Leicestershire sheep, which he also 
imported. 

Joshua, the youngest of the family, has the homestead. He is not yet married, but is a very 
prosperous and successful farmer and stockman. 

The eldest daughter, Jenny, married Storey Mattison. She brought to her husband many acres 
of the original estate. Like all the family he is devoted to stock and grain raising, and is in 
every respect a first-class gentleman and a successful man of business. 

Anna married a cousin of Storey, A. J. Mattison, and Hattie, Joseph Wilson, both of whom 
are rich farmers and upright men, highly esteemed in the community where they reside. The 
family own among them a total of 7,000 acres of land. 



702 V.VITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

The widow Collins resides on the homestead with Jftshua, where a free table and a hearty wel- 
come awaits all comers, as it did during the life of her husband. She is a woman of remarkable 
energy and strength of character, purity of life and gentleness of heart; was idolized by her hus- 
band, is worshiped by her children, and loved by all who know her. 

Jeremiah Collins was married to Hannah Mary Cryder, November i6, 1844. She was a niece 
of his brother's wife, and lived only about eighteen months after her marriage. She had one 
child, a boy, who very soon followed her to the grave, leaving a sorrowing father wifeless arid 
childless. Ten years later, in 1854, Mr. Collins married Margaret W. Widney, by whom he has 
had three children, Joshua, the eldest, now about twenty-eight years old, Oscar now twenty-two, 
and Mary, who was the idol of her father, and died at the age of twenty-three. It was perhaps 
the greatest affliction of his life, and he has never fully recovered from the blow. 

At the time of the dissolution of the partnership with his brother Joshua, he was the owner of 
3, coo acres of land, r,ooo of which lay in one body, on which he built a fine mansion in 1880. In 1881 
he purchased the farm of Samuel Holderman, consisting of 5,364 acres, with the finest farm resi- 
dence and outbuildings in the county. This gives him an estate of nearly 9,000 acres, and places 
him at the head of the great landed proprietors in this part of the state. On the Holderman farm 
his eldest son, Joshua, has taken up his residence, and looks after its great interests. He has on 
that farm over 500 head of fatting cattle, 150 head of sheep, and fourteen horses. He is a prudent 
and skillful farmer, and will probably, in' a few years, equal any stock man or dealer in the state. 
His second son, Oscar, is still attending school. 

Mr. Collins is a republican in politics, but not a politician; he is a man of business, and cares 
little for political affairs outside of his own county. In personal appearance and general disposi- 
tion the brothers greatly resemble each other. They were men of warm hearts and generous 
impulses, and like their nation could love or hate with equal intensity. Mr. Collins is a man of 
strong will, and generally succeeds in bending everything to it. What he undertakes he will per- 
form, and from youth up has been remarkable for a sacred and steadfast adherence to his word. 
Men will take his promise as readily as his note, and no man ever knew him to dishonor either. 



HON. ANDREW J. BELL. 

PEORIA. 

ANDREW JACKSON BELL, lawyer, and state senator from the twenty-sixth district, is a 
. son of William and Mary (Wright) Bell, and was born in Madison county, Ohio, May 25, 
1839. His mother was born in Ohio. The Bells settled in Virginia in the first half of the eigh- 
teenth century, the progenitor of the family in this country being Andrew Bell, the great-great- 
grandfather of our subject. William Bell, Sr., the son of James Bell, and grandfather of Andrew, 
was in the second war with England. 

Senator Bell finished his education at Lombard University, Galesburgh, where he took a 
partial course. He taught school a few winter terms. In August, 1862, Mr. Bell enlisted as a 
private in company I, nth Illinois infantry, and served three years, coming out a non-commis- 
sioned officer. He went in with a company of 298 men, and was mustered out with about forty. 
He never received a wound. He was in the last charge at Mobile, Alabama. He read law at 
Lacon, Marshall county, with Richmond and Burns; was admitted to practice in 1866, and the 
next year opened an office at Lacon, where he remained about six years. Part of the time while 
at Lacon he held the office of city attorney. In 1867 he started the Illinois " Statesman," and 
conducted it about two years. 

In 1873, Mr. Bell moved to Peoria, and during the first twenty months was the political editor 
of the "National Democrat." As a lawyer he is a very earnest student, and is a growing man. 
He favorably impresses the court, and makes a good plea before a jury. He does a large busi- 
ness in the United States district court, as well as in the several state courts. 



VNiri:D STAfES li lOGRA PII ICA I. DICIIONARY. -q" 

In iSSo, the subject of this sketch was elected to the state senate, and at tlie lime of writing, 
he is serving his second session in that body, his assignment being to the committees on judicial 
department, state charitable institutions, appropriations, warehouses, roads, highways and bridges, 
canals and rivers, visiting committee to penal and reformatory institutions, and miscellaneous 
subjects. 

His affiliations have always been with the democratic party, and he takes a good deal of inter- 
est in building it up. Religiously, he is an adherent of the Universalist church. He is an Odd- 
['"ellow, and has passed the several chairs in the encampment. Senator Bell was married, March 
12, 1866, to Miss Amanda J. Davis, of Marshall county, and they have lost their onlv child. 



HENRY C. CASE. 

GALESBURGH. 

HENRY CLAY CASE, a model hotel keeper, is a son of a civil engineer, William Case, and 
Cynthia (Tobour) Case, the former being born in Connecticut; the latter, in Rhode Island. 
Henry himself, according to the Bible record, first saw the light April 15, i<S25, in the town of Ellis- 
burgh, Jefferson county, New York. He received a district-school education, and grew to man- 
hood as an apprentice at hotel keeping at Sackett's Harbor, Watertown, and other places in the 
Empire State, being graduated in 1850. 

To form an episode in his life, Mr. Case spent four years (1850-1854) in hardware and clothing 
stores in Watertown; then went to Utica, same state, and was a boot and shoe merchant for nearly 
a score of years. While there he was a member of the city council for several years. In 1874 he 
lost his health, retired from mercantile life, and kept the Vandyne House at Henderson Bay, near 
Sackett's Harbor, one season, and was then burnt out. He now took the Cooper House at Adams, 
New York; conducted it for three years, and in 1880 came to Galesburgh, and became proprietor 
of Brown's Hotel, which had had for years the reputation of being one of the best hotels in the 
state outside of Chicago and Springfield. It is enough to say that under Mr. Case's management, 
the character of the hotel has been elevated. Understanding his business thoroughly, he attends 
tn it in all its details, and every commercial traveler whose field is the state of Illinois, knows Mr. 
Case and the menu of his table. Many of them will go sixty or seventy miles out of their way to 
"make" his house on Saturday night, knowing they will be well taken care of. 

The landlady of Brown's Hotel was Miss Sarah A. Phillips of Watertown, New York, married 
in October, 1853, and they have two sons. Frank H. is traveling for the boot and shoe house 
which succeeded his father in Utica, New York, and W. P. is chief clerk of Brown's Hotel. 



JAMES M. FLOWER. 

CniCAGO. 
TAMES MONROE FLOWER, lawyer, hails from the Empire State, dating his birth at Han- 
J nibal, Oswego county, March 10, 1835. Both parents, Calvin and Hannah (Phillips) Flower, 
were natives of Ashfield, Massachusetts, and descendants of early settlers in that state. In 1844, 
when James was only nine years old, the family came west, settling on a farm at Sun Prairie, 
Wisconsin, where the father still lives, losing his wife in the summer of 18S1. Our subject was 
educated at the University of Wisconsin, teaching two winters while in college, and graduating 
in the class of 1856. He read law at Madison, Wisconsin, filling, meanwhile, from the autumn of 
1856 to the autumn of 1857, the office of deputy clerk of the supreme court. The next year he 
was clerk of the commissioners appointed to revise the statutes of the state, and went to Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, to assist in their publication, going thence to the Albany Law School, gradu- 
ating in May. 1859. 



704 UNITED STATES B/OCA'.l PN/CA I. DICTIONARY. 

Mr. Flower returned to Wisconsin, opened an office at Madison in tfie spring of i860, and 
there practiced until the close of 1872. While in that city he held the office of police justice two 
years during the civil war, and after its close was deputy collector of internal revenue. 

January i, 1873, Mr, Flower opened an office in Chicago, and soon built up a good practice in 
the several courts, making a specialt}' of commercial law. He is receiver for the German National 
Bank of Chicago. As a lawyer he is well educated, able, accurate and painstaking, and faithful 
in the cause of his clients. His standing at the bar is excellent. 

Mr. Flower is a decided republican in politics, yet we cannot learn that he devotes much time 
to such matters except to vote, his professional studies and practice taking the precedence over 
everything else. Evidently his ambition is to excel in his chosen field of intellectual labor, and 
he is taking the right course. 

His wife was Lucy L. Cones of Washington, District of Columbia, they being married in Sep- 
tember, 1862, and having three children. 



PETER MrGEOCH. 

CHICAGO AND MIIWAUKEE. 

THE career of him whose name heads this sketch well illustrates what one may accomplish 
by the exercise of native talent in the pursuit of a persistent purpose. Beginning life in 
comparative obscurity, and without capital other than his own native energy and ability, he has 
gradually risen to a position of commanding influence, having been the central figure and moving 
force in some of the heaviest grain transactions ever known in the West; and while his deals have 
not been uniformly successful, he has met reverses, which have resulted from combinations of 
circumstances entirely beyond his control, with a cool, deliberate and manly courage that has 
challenged the admiration of even those who have suffered through his misfortunes. He is a 
man of physical as well as mental and moral force. Five feet eleven inches in height, he weighs 
two hundred and ten pounds; is easy and deliberate in his movements, and impresses one with 
the fact that he posseses an immense reserved power. 

His perceptive faculties are largely developed, rather than the reflective, and show him to be 
a man of action rather than a philosopher. His vitality is immense, and gives his native talent 
for push a tremendous backing. He has a dark, but very kindh* and often humorous eye; is 
large-hearted, benevolent and generous, a very warm and faithful friend. He began his career in 
America at the bottom, and is justly proud of his success, as it is the reward of honest and faith- 
ful work. "No man," the writer heard him remark one day, "is dishonored bv honest toil, but I 
think no mai. honorable who does not toil." A circumstance connected with his life in Milwaukee, 
and which resulted in his being called the "Milwaukee milk man," well illustrates one of his lead- 
ing characteristics, and for that reason is here related. While living in Milwaukee, in 1867, he lost 
a babe, as he believed, through the use of the swill milk common at that time in the large cities. 
He was greatly touched by his loss and indignant at the cause, and said to his wife: "If I am 
ever able, I will furnish Milwaukee with pure milk." Not many years after, he owned a farm in 
the vicinity of that city, and beginning with twenty cows, soon increased the number to seventy- 
five, and then to one hundred, and soon controlled the milk trade of the city, and for a number 
of years supplied Milwaukee with pure milk. 

Mr. McGeoch would at once be recognized as of Scotch parentage. He comes of a long and 
famous line of ancestors on both sides. His maternal great-grandsire was the noted Duncan 
McDougal. His father, William McGeoch, was a native of Wigtown, in the south of Scotland, 
where he was both a farmer and trader, or merchant. He met the mother of Peter, then Miss 
Matilda C. Watson, in London, England, where they were married, and where Peter was born, 
February 16, 1833. His parents remained in London for six months after his birth, and then 
returned to Wigtown, where Peter was reared and educated till the age of sixteen, when he went 




■m 



pa 



^^:^^^#.^^ 



UNITED STATES JUOGA'A PI//C.I L DICTIO.VA RY. JQ-J 

to I.ondon and entered the dry-goods house of an uncle. He there developed executive ability of 
such a high order that he became manager of the concern within a year, and retained control till he 
was nineteen, when he immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York in November, 1852. 
He at once found profitable employment, but a year later removed to the West, and joined his 
father, who had lost his property in Scotland, and, with Peter's assistance, had settled on a farm 
near Lake Mills, Jefferson county, Wisconsin. 

At the age of twenty-two he married Miss Catharine Ellen Harvey, of Lake Mills, but a native 
of Vermont, and moved into Madison, Wisconsin. The team and wagon w-ith which he made the 
trip, together with his household goods, constituted all his earthly possessions, and he still owed 
$77 on them. His first business was to make his team pay for themselves, which he did, teaming 
by the job. He followed this for about six months, when he was unexpectedly introduced to the 
wheat business in Madison in a rather peculiar manner. 

He had taken a load of wheat to market for his father, and found some difficulty in getting 
his price on account of a ring which had been formed among the buyers. Knowing the fact, he 
proposed to store it till they came to his terms. This was resisted in a provoking manner by 
some of the ring, when the sturdy Scotch boy pulled his coat off and proposed to break that corner 
on wheat in a most emphatic and satisfactory manner. His display of muscle and pluck ended 
the controversy, and he ultimatelv sold his load to Nelson Van Kirk, now of the firm of Robert 
Lindblom and Company, commission men of Chicago. Mr. Van Kirk was not in the ring, and 
was so well pleased with the Scotchman that he at once took him into his employ. After work- 
ing for him about three months for $40 per month, and six months more in the employ of a man 
by the name of Taylor, he entered into a partnership with Mr. Van Kirk, which lasted without 
interruption for a period of twenty years. Li the course of their business the firm made succes- 
sive removals to Fox Lake, then to Cambria, and finally into Milwaukee. 

To the produce and commission business the firm, in the year 18 — , added the packing busi- 
ness, which continued till 1880. From 1857 till 1875 theirs was one of the principal wheat-buy- 
ing houses in Milwaukee. In November, 1875, the firm found themselves on the wrong side of 
the wheat deal, and in attempting to assist other parties lost their money, a misfortune which 
resulted in the dissolution of the long-standing partnership of Van Kirk and McGeoch. It was 
supposed to be a dead failure, but Mr. McGeoch took the assets, assumed all liabilities, continued 
the business in his own name, and paid eventually one hundred cents on the dollar. 

In July, 1878, lie repaid the boys in kind, and got all his money back and more with it. This 
fight, in which McGeoch ultimately won, was the beginning of a long career of contests of like 
character, in which he acquired a remarkable reputation and amassed a fortune. He is by nature 
a bull on the board of trade, and there is no man who is watched so closely or feared so judi- 
ciously by the bears as Peter McGeoch. 

In August, :88o, he formed a copartnership with Sumner Everingham and Frank Crittenden, 
in the produce and commission business, under the firm name of McGeoch, Everingham and 
Company, all speculative operations in grain being on his personal account. These, during the 
last few years, have been enormous, aggregating hundreds of millions of dollars. The largest 
transaction with which he has been connected, and that which has brought his name most promi- 
nently before the public, was the famous lard deal of 1883, which involved him in a total indebt- 
edness of $6,000,000. Of this amount there was due the banks $4,050,000, for which they held 
collateral to the extent of $3,900,000, leaving a net deficit due the banks of $150,000. Of $1,950,- 
000 due to customers and the trade there had been deposited as margins and security about 
$700,000, leaving a net deficit of $1,400,000 unsecured and due to creditors. Toward the payment 
of this amount Mr. McGeoch raised $700,000, and effected a settlement with his creditors, who 
numbered about two hundred, for fifty cents on the dollar. The transaction throughout was 
unprecedented in commercial affairs, and the honorable and manly mien with which Mr. McGeoch 
met his misfortune, and the satisfactory settlement which he effected with his creditors, were both 
characteristic and commendable. 

6g 



7o8 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



I 



As before stated, he is a man of wonderful vitality, and can perform an amount of work that 
would kill ordinary men. He is the principal owner of the stock of the Milwaukee City railway, 
and president of the same, and manages its concerns entirely himself. He at one time conducted 
his farm, his milk business, his produce and commission business, and his packing business, both 
in Milwaukee and Chicago, all under his own personal supervision. His milk business was estab- 
lished in 1867, and continued about twelve years, or till 1879. 

In politics Mr. McGeoch is a republican, but is too busy a man to be a politician, in the tech- 
nical sense. His time and business interests are about evenly divided between Milwaukee and 
Chicago, but his home is in the former city. The Chicago boys on the board of trade are, how- 
ever, too familiar with his winning ways to admit that he is a Milwaukee man. 



o 



MARION R. DAVIDSON. 

MONTICELLO. 

NE of the most promising young men at the Piatt county bar, is Marion R. Davidson. He 
is well read in his profession, is a diligent student, and possesses a comprehensive and prac- 
tical mind. He is a gentleman of strict and unbiased integrity, and of unexceptionable habits. 
He is a native of Illinois, was born near Mount Zion, in Macon county, April 4, 1847, and is the 
son of B. W., and Elizabeth (Harbaugh) Davidson. Marion was educated in the common schools, 
and at Mount Zion Academy, pursuing a thorough scientific and classical course. He commenced 
the study of the law with Hon. William E. Nelson, of Decatur, where he applied himself to 
the study of the rudiments of his profession with great assiduity for two years. He passed a 
creditable exainination before the supreme court and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1876. 

He then commenced the practice of the law in Moulton county, Illinois, with great success, 
afterward removing to Monticello, where he has pursued the practice of his profession ever since. 
He was associated in partnership with S. R. Reed, in October, 1882. This firm is doing a flour- 
ishing business. 

Mr. Davidson was married March 5, 1874, to Miss Emma M. Reeme, of Decatur, Illinois, an 
estimable lady. They have three children. Myrtle F., Mabel R., and Oscar C. 



HON. JOHN BURNS. 

LA CON. 

MARSHALL county seems to be richly favored with material suitable for jurists, and in this 
respect has been truly honored. We see it stated that Lacon, the county seat, has fur- 
nished the judges for this judicial circuit since Marshall county was organized in 1839. First 
came Judge Ford, then Mark Bangs, then Samuel L. Richmond, and more recently. Judges Burns 
and Laws, none of them second-class men. Judge Burns, of whom we propose to speak at this 
time more particularly, is a son of John and Rebecca (Welsh) Burns, and was born in Brook 
county, Virginia, March 19, 1819. His father was Scotch-Irish, born in the north of Ireland, an 
educator of some note, and a stanch Presbyterian, like a majority of the Christian people from 
that part of the Emerald Isle. 

The subject of this sketch left his native state in 1834; came to Morgan county, Illinois, with 
his older brother, Andrew Burns, and in 1835 settled in Marshall county, finishing his education 
at an academy in Putnam county, and was a successful school teacher. He entered the law office 
of Ramsey and Shannon at Lacon, in 1844, and that same year was elected recorder of deeds for 
Marshall county. While still a student, in 1846, he was appointed, by Judge Caton, clerk of the 
circuit court, to which office he was elected two years later, and he held it till 1852. The year 
prior to this late date he was admitted to the bar at Ottawa. 



UKITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. 



709 



From 1851 to 1873 oursubject was in the practice of his profession, with Lacon for his liome and 
radiating point, his business extending over a wide circuit, and into the federal as well as state 
courts. Years ago it was made apparent to the bar of the twelfth judicial circuit that Mr. Burns 
was not only an able lawyer, but an excellent judge of law, and a man of a judicial mind, and in 
1873 he was elected judge of the circuit just mentioned. By reelection he is serving his tenth 
year on the bench, and time has shown the wisdom of the selection. One of the leading daily 
papers of Chicago says of Judge Burns: "He administers law according to testimony, and his 
rulings are very seldom reversed by the supreme court." Regarding his general character, a 
Peoria paper speaks as follows: "In the walks of private life no man stands higher than Judge 
Burns. He is esteemed and respected by all, and is regarded as a gentleman of unswerving 
integrity. His great abilit)', and his long practice in his circuit and before the supreme court, 
eminently qualify him for his present position." 

In 186 1 Judge Burns was a member of the constitutional convention, representing Putnam, 
Marshall and Woodford counties, and some years ago he was a candidate on the democratic ticket 
for state senator. He was mayor of the city three times, and has held other local offices. 

The judge was first married in 1850, to Miss Priscilla Connon, of Lacon, she dying in 1866, 
and the second time in 1868, to Mrs. Catherine (Stedham) Swinheart, she being a resident of Lacon. 
He has three daughters and one son b}^ his first wife, and Mrs. Burns has a daughter by a former 
husband. 

Judge Burns is emphatically a self-built man. He laid his own foundation, and without the 
prestige of wealthy and influential friends, by his own great industry, native ability, studiousness 
and perseverance, he has reared a superstructure which any ambitious young man might be 
proud to copy. 

WILLIAM FULLER. 

CLINTON. 

THE subject of this sketch is a lawyer of excellent natural ability, who by industry and per- 
severance has attained a high rank at the bar in the section of the state where he resides. 
William Fuller is a native of Pennsylvania, and was born in Green county, February 19, 1823, and 
is the son of Daniel and Nancy Fuller. The father of Mr. Fuller followed the occupation of 
farmer and blacksmith, and excelled in the latter, especiall)^ in fine work. William was the old- 
est of a family of eight boys, of whom all but one are now living. He commenced his education 
in the common schools, and made the very best use of the advantages afforded him, and added 
materially to the knowledge gained therein after leaving school, by study of text books and gen- 
eral reading. He was a very apt scholar, which fact secured him a position as teacher in his 
native county, when quite young. He taught the first free school ever taught in his own district. 
In November, 1848, he came to De Witt county, and engaged in farming and. taught school four 
winters. He purchased law books, and during his spare moments devoted himself to the study 
of the elementary principles of the law. Long before he was admitted to the bar, and while he 
was teaching, he was often called into cases in the lower courts, and gained quite a wide reputa- 
tion as an advocate in this class of cases in which at one time his business exceeded that of any 
lawyer in the count}-. In 1854 he was elected sheriff of De Witt county, the duties of which office 
he performed with entire satisfaction to all. After passing a very satisYactory examination he 
was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1867, and has been in active practice ever since that time, and 
has been very successful in his cases in court, and has established the reputation of being an 
excellent counselor, well versed in all the subtleties of the law, and possessing integrity, upright- 
ness and a sense of honor surpassed by no man. He reasons from cause to effect, and often 
introduces similes and anecdotes to illustrate and illumine his subject. 

He is an excellent manager in a lawsuit, is reticent and has a rare faculty of eliciting the hand 
of his opponent without showing his own. 



7IO 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



He is well known as a democratic campaign speaker of great force and fluency, and has a 
happy style of address, a life-long democrat, a Mason, and an excellent citizen. He is a courte- 
ous gentleman, with social faculties of a high order. Few men are more highly prized. 

He was married to Miss Rebecca Parker, an estimable lady of Madison county, Ohio, Febru- 
ary 22, 1847. They have si.x children living, four boys and two girls. 



ROMAINE J. CURTISS, M.D. 

yOLIET. 

AMONG the medical practitioners of Will county, Illinois, is Romaine J. Curtiss, of Joliet, 
L where he has resided for ten years, steadily attending to his professional duties, and where 
he has established a professional reputation. He was born in Plymouth, I^ichland county, 
Ohio, October i, 1840. He received a good common-school education, and at the age of sixteen 
entered Hillsdale College, Michigan, and after leaving there, attended a series of lectures at the 
Buffalo Medical College. He remained there until 1862, when he entered the United States ser- 
vice as hospital steward for the 123d regiment Ohio infantry, and in April, 1863, was appointed 
medical cadet in the regular army, and did much hard work for the country, serving in the hos- 
pital boat, which, during the siege of Vicksburg, conveyed the wounded soldiers up the Mississippi 
River to Memphis and Saint Louis. He was afterward transferred to the general hospital, at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, where he completed his studies, and in 1864 graduated, receiving his degree of 
doctor of medicine, being full}^ equipped with unexceptionable experience as a physician and 
surgeon. In the same year he vi^as appointed assistant surgeon in the United States navy, where 
he served until the close of the war, after which he settled down in Erie county. New York, where 
he practiced medicine for seven years, and during this time he also pursued a special course of 
medical lectures at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, including private instruction by 
specialists. 

In 1873, Doctor Curtiss settled in Joliet, Illinois, where he has been since, faithfully engaged 
in the active duties of his profession, and where he has won the highest respect of the commu- 
nity. He is also honored with a professorship in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of 
Chicago, where he has a great field of labor, in which his knowledge and experience are put to 
valuable use by his fellow practitioners. Doctor Curtiss married Miss Sarah A. Real, of Erie 
county. New York, November 29, 1870. 



c 



HON. LEONARD SWETT. 

CHICAGO. 
EONARD SWETT was born near the village of Turner, Oxford county, Maine, on what was, 



and is now, known as the " Albine Richer" farm. His mother, about eighty-seven years of 
age, is still living on the homestead. At the age of twelve years, having previously been in the 
schools of his neighborhood, he began the study of Latin and Greek with Rev. Thomas R. Curtis, 
his parents and the wise ones of the neighborhood having, as they supposed elected him for the 
ministry. When fifteen years of age he went to North Yarmouth Academy, where he remained 
tv\Ti years, and then entered Waterville College (now known as Colby University), where he 
remained three years, and left on account of some misunderstanding with the faculty, involving, 
however, nothing dishonorable on his part. He then read law with Howard and Shepley, of 
Portland, two years, when he left to take his chances in the battle of life, and seek his fortune. 
He has fought the battle successfully, and has gained a fortune. He intended to settle in the 
South, but after traveling through the southern states for a time, he came west in 1847. At that 
time the war with Mexico was raging, and he enlisted as a private in the 5th Indiana infantry, 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 713 

commanded by General James H. Lane, afterward United States senator from Kansas. Although 
not commissioned as an officer, he had practical command as captain of the company, of which 
he was orderly sergeant. Having entered the city of Mexico after its capture, the company was 
detailed to guard trains from Vera Cruz to Jalapa, Pueblo and Cordova and return. In May, 
1848, he was taken sick at Vera Cruz, and lay in a hospital one month, when peace was made and 
he returned to the North with shattered health, which was not soon restored. Upon regaining 
his health he, in 1849, was admitted to the bar at Bloomington, Illinois, and there began the 
practice of law. He rode the circuit with Abraham Lincoln, Stephen T. Logan, John T. Stuart, 
U. F. Linder, Edward D. Baker, Edward Hannagan, and other prominent lawyers of that day, 
and while being trained in that school was recognized as one of the leaders and among the ablest. 
He spent six months of the year in courts with Lincoln from that time on until the latter was 
elected president, and always found in him a warm friend, a safe counselor and a congenial com- 
panion. This intimacy continued up to the time of Mr. Lincoln's death. 

When he started out to practice law there were two men who took him by the hand and 
helped him along, with that affection and kindness which marks a father's conduct toward a son. 
These two men were Abraham Lincoln and David Davis, who remained true and confidential 
friends to the last. Next to Judge Davis Mr. Swett was most influential in securing the nomina- 
tion of Lincoln for the presidency, and was the prime mover and controlling influence in planning 
and executing that remarkable campaign, which resulted in the election of that great man. 
Suffice it to say that both carfle to Chicago to secure this result, and Judge Davis being Swett's 
senior by twelve years, he was very naturally the nominal leader. The nomination was secured, 
under their management, through a combination of the Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania dele- 
gations, and in this the hand of Leonard Swett was powerful and controlling. 

But it is as a lawyer that he is best known. During the war he was in the employ of the 
Quicksilver Mining Company, a corporation owning the great Almaden cjuicksilver mine in Cali- 
fornia, which was involved in litigation for twelve years, the last four of which Mr. Swett had the 
full control, which kept him in Washington the greater part of the time. As he did not want anv 
office because of better etnployment, it left him untrammeled, and insured the full confidence of 
President Lincoln, and hence he was a power behind the throne to an extent of which few have 
any knowledge. In 1865 he came to Chicago permanently. He has held but one office, that of 
state senator one term, and has declined all tenders of office made to him. He has devoted him- 
self assiduously to the practice of his profession, to which he has been passionately devoted the 
past twenty-five years, attaining to an eminence which ranks him among the first at the bar, espe- 
cially as a criminal lawyer. ■ Of the nineteen murder cases which he has defended, he has lost but 
one, and these cases are among the most celebrated in the annals of our courts. He is a born ora- 
tor; has a fine physique and commanding presence; an attractive delivery; is an entertaining 
speaker, an affable and genial gentleman, and is esteemed and honored as a citizen and a man. 
In politics he is a republican, and his voice is heard in defense of that party in all important cam- 
paigns and from the lecture platform. He took an active part in the effort made to secure the 
nomination of General Grant to the presidency in the Chicago convention. 

He is still in the prime of life, and is a noble example of what may be accomplished by earnest, 
conscientious and faithful work in the direction of one's native inclination and abilities. He is 
one of the conspicuous citizens of Illinois, and is thoroughly identified with the history of the 
state; has been a part of it, and one of its most notable and important factors; at the bar he has 
ably illustrated its annals. His pleadings before the highest courts, his brilliant efforts from the 
platform as lecturer and orator, evidence his profound knowledge of law, the accuracy of his judg- 
ment, the extent of his scholarship and reading, the force of his logic and the grace of his diction. 
He has varied and comprehensive legal learning and general accomplishments which have won 
for him the highest respect of the bar, as w'ell as the esteem and confidence of the general public; 
a man of spotless integrity, which all attempts to assail have been fruitless, He is not a man of 
circumstances: he has made and controlled them. 



714 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

When he settled in Chicago, in 1865, he formed witli Van H. Higgins and Colonel David 
Ouigg a partnership which continued for several years. His previous reputation and well known 
ability brought him at once into prominence, and insured him a lucrative practice which he has 
to this day. The present firm is Swett and Haskell. He is retained in the most important cases 
which have come before the higher courts; he devotes himself almost exclusively to his profes- 
sion; and while his comprehensive and well trained mind and large experience and knowledge 
of men fit him for doing any work ably, it is as an advocate that he is most conspicuous. He is 
a clear reasoner, and applies to every subject he considers strong logical power, his appeals to 
jury or court often being masterpieces of oratory. 



CLIFTON H. MOORE. 

CLINTON. 

ONE of the most polished, scholarly gentlemen who grace the legal profession in central 
Illinois is Clifton H. Moore. He is a native of Ohio, and that section of the state where 
literature and scholarship are largely patronized. He is a son of Isaac Moore, a native of the 
Empire State, a man of great natural ability, who in a great measure overcame the inconvenience 
occasioned by the defective educational facilities afforded in the days of his youth, by general 
reading. At the age of eighteen years, he removed from Saratoga county, New York, to the 
Western Reserve, Ohio, accompanied by an unmarried and two married sisters and their hus- 
bands, and his mother, and settled in Kirtland, Lake county, Ohio, where he resided until 1880, 
when he came to Illinois to live with his children. He died in the fall of 1882, at his son, Milan 
Moore's. The maiden name of his wife was Philena Blish. She died May 14, 1832. The grand- 
father of our subject served during the entire period of the revolution as a soldier. He was of 
English ancestry, and possessed wonderful physical powers and activity, which he retained to a 
considerable extent up to the advanced age of ninety-three years. 

Clifton H. Moore commenced his education in the common schools, and afterward completed 
a thorough classical and scientific course under the instruction of a Presbyterian clergyman, at 
Bedford, Ohio, and at Paynesville Academy, and Western Reserve Teachers' Seminary, taught 
in the old Mormon Temple at Kirtland. While he was obtaining his education he taught school, 
and gained a high reputation as an educator. After arriving at his majority, he came to Illinois, 
and located at Pekin, entering the law office of Ragle)- and Wilmot. He assiduously applied 
himself to the study of the law until he had mastered its elementary principles; passed a satis- 
factory examination, and was admitted to the Illinois bar at Springfield in July, 1841; and in 
August of that year he located in Clinton, De Witt county, being the pioneer attorney in that 
county. His means consisted of a mind well informed in all matters pertaining to his profession, 
and possessing the courage and untiring energy that has characterized him through life, he at 
once entered upon a successful career as a lawyer, where he has remained ever since in the practice 
of the law, and has amassed a large fortune. 

Mr. Moore is a careful, painstaking lawyer. His examination of a subject is very thorough 
and exhaustive, tracing principles to their source, and examining conflicting decisions with keen 
analysis. His foresight is remarkable. He seldom fails in a case to which he has given his 
mature deliberation. He is excellent counsel, and can express his ideas in cogent, logical lan- 
guage. He is a shrewd manager in a lawsuit, but he always conducts all of his cases according 
to the highest standard of professional ethics. He is true to himself, the courts, and his clients, 
having great influence with the courts before whom he practices; for when he makes a statement 
in regard to any fact in a case, or refers to a decision, he never attempts to mislead the court. 
He has a fine law library, and in his luxurious home, which he well knows how to enjoy, he has 
fitted a room, extending from the first floor to the roof, and ornamented it with numerous oil 
paintings, engravings, and works of art. in which he has placed his magnificent library, selected 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 715 

with great care and refined taste; the largest library in the state, excepting one or two. Except- 
ing one only, it contains all of the principal encyclopaedias, historical and biographical works in 
great numbers, and extensive classical translations in English; works of nearly all of the ancient 
and modern poets; scientific works, works of fiction, and many rare curiosities in literature, 
including many ancient books that are not easily found elsewhere. 

The dwelling house of Mr. Moore is a very handsome building, and is surrounded by ever- 
greens and other ornamental trees. In the winter of 1883, these beautiful trees were heavily 
loaded with sleet, frozen to their trunks and branches, and while this magnificent sight was in its 
glory, sparkling like diamonds in the sun, Mr. Moore had photographs taken and enlarged of his 
home and its surroundings, which he has preserved and added to his collections of pictures and 
other beautiful things. 

Personally, Mr. Moore is a gentleman who is celebrated for his liberality, and is considered a 
public-spirited citizen, of broad views. He has a large circle of admiring friends, who prize him 
for the true manhood that is in him, and his intellectual attainments. He is courteous and oblig- 
ing, and in personal appearance is attractive, being of medium height, well proportioned, and 
stoutly built, with a high, broad forehead, and dark eyes. 

In 1852, in company with Hon. David Davis, he purchased large tracts of land, and they are 
still the owners of many highly cultivated farms. Their interests in land are very extensive, and 
Mr. Moore attends faithfully and with great ability to all of the details of this branch of business. 
Mr. Moore, in political sentiments, is a republican, and was formerly a whig; but his extensive 
professional and private business has so thoroughly occupied his time that he has refused to allow 
his name to be used in connection with public office. However, he consented to become a member 
of the constitutional convention in 1870, and made valuable contributions to its deliberations. 

He was married, August 14, 1845, to Miss Elizabeth Richmond, of Tremont, Tazewell county, 
Illinois, a lady of superior excellence, the daughter of Aronet Richmond, of Rhode Island. She 
died May 30, 1871. He had by her five children, two of whom are now (1883) living, being Arthur 
Moore and Mrs. Winifred Warner. In July, 1873, he was married to Miss Rose Onstine, an amia- 
ble lady, highly accomplished and refined. 



SAMUEL R. REED. 

MONTICELLO. 

THE subject of this sketch is a prominent lawyer, who has attained a high position by strict 
attention to business and fidelity to his clients' interests. He is a well read lawyer, and is 
equally efficient in all branches of the profession. He prepares his cases thoroughly, and as a 
trial lawyer has few equals. His examination of a subject is very thorough; he sees the points in 
a case clearly, and he can explain their details in a lucid, luminous manner. He is a logician of 
the highest order, and he enlivens his discourses with apt illustrations and comparisons. He is 
an eloquent advocate, and especially convincing on account of the sincerity and honesty of pur- 
pose manifested by him, and which coincide with his character as manifested in his daily life. 
For uprightness of character and unfeigned honesty, no lawyer at the bar surpasses him. In all 
of his professional practice, he adheres to a high standard of professional ethics, and in all of his 
business relations, never fails to do justice to all with whom he comes in contact. 

Samuel R. Reed was born in Monroe county, Ohio, June 16, 1842, and is the son of Rev. Sam- 
uel Reed, a Presbyterian clergyman, who was born at Gettysburgh, Pennsylvania, and educated 
at Cannonsburgh, and was graduated from the theological seminary at Allegheny City. His 
mother was, before marriage. Miss Margarett Thompson. Samuel R. resided in Ohio until he was 
eighteen years of age. He received a scientific and classical education in the high school, and 
removed to Piatt county, Illinois, in i860. He taught school and followed agricultural pursuits 
after he came to Illinois. He studied law with Judge Smith, of Champaign, Illinois, about two 



7l6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

years, and was admitted to the bar in 1866. He commenced the practice of his profession at 
Monticello in April, 1S67, where he has been in the practice of tlie law ever since, doing an exten- 
sive general practice. Of late he has been engaged in most of the important cases tried in 
Piatt county. He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1872, which office he held, giving the 
utmost satisfaction, until 1875; but the duties of that office interfering materially with his prac- 
tice, he resigned. In February, 1875, he was appointed master in chancery, which office he held 
until 1879, declining a reappointment. 

Mr. Reed was married, in 1863, to Miss Jennie Clouser. They have five children: George M., 
Erasmus E., Maggie L., Carl S. and Agnes D. 

Mr. Reed is a quiet gentleman, yet of a social turn, courteous and obliging, and modestly 
wears the laurels he has won. 

HON. HENRY W. BLODGETT. 

CHIC A GO. 

HENRV WILLIAM BLODGETT stands prominent among the few men whose personal 
and public history is inseparably connected with the jurisprudence of Illinois. His sound 
and clear judgment, his achievements, his upright character, his unremitting labors in ascertain- 
ing the right, and administering exact justice, have contributed largely tf) the high reputation 
which attaches to the bench of the United States courts in the Northwest. He commenced prac- 
tice during the formative period of the substantial jurisprudence of the West, and has been one 
of its most important factors from that time until the present. Throughout the period, while the 
great outlines of this jurisprudence were being established, and its foundations being laid upon 
an enduring basis, one may trace the impress of his mind upon every important advance step. 
Being so important a factor in formulating, and now in administering, he deserves the gratitude 
of the public since the jurisprudence is an indispensable element to the growth, prosperity and 
permanence of the commonwealth, conserving and harmonizing all other forces of civilization. 
Without an impartial administration of law and justice, no form of popular government can long 
survive. Judge Blodgett may be said to act with these considerations in view. In the investiga- 
tion of the many important cases which come before him, he is guided solely by facts in evidence, 
and the law applicable to them. His decisions are impartial, simple in style, lucid and forcible, 
never sensational, florid or highly ornate; he expresses his thoughts and opinions in a clear and 
concise manner, .not to be misunderstood, and with a pleasing diction. His fame rests mainly 
upon his scholarly attainments, and his profound knowledge of common and statute law ; his 
more important decisions are monuments of learning and research, and have won for him the 
profound respect of the bench and bar. He is an indefatigable worker and constant student, and 
has great power of concentration, a remarkable memory and a clear and accurate judgment. 

Judge Blodgett was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1821. His parents removed to Illi- 
nois when he was about ten years of age. His father was a blacksmith, his mother a woman of 
superior education and refinement. Both were sincere and earnest, and devoted themselves to 
the correct development and training of their children. When seventeen years of age Henry 
went to the Amherst Academy one year, whence he returned to Illinois, and engaged in teaching 
school, and subsequently, in land surveying until twenty-one years of age. In 1842 he com- 
menced the study of law in the office of J. Y. Scammon and Norman B. Judd, in Chicago, and 
three years later, in 1845, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Wankegan, Illi- 
nois, where he still resides. In 1844 he voted the anti-slavery ticket, and has since been an 
adherent of the anti-slavery and republican parties, remaining true to the principles and the cause 
he then espoused. In 1852 he was elected to the general assembly of Illinois, being the first 
avowed anti-slavery member who ever occupied a seat in that body, and in the following year 
was elected to the state senate. 

As a legislator he was one of the ablest and most useful, and was largely instrumental in 







f «. 




i^siBrNY 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 7I9 

shaping the legislation of the commonwealth, and in promoting the development of the immense 
resources of Illinois, by internal improvements and otherwise. In 1855, and for a number of 
years subsequently, he was associated with the legal department of the Chicago and North-West- 
ern railway, of which he was one of the projectors. He was the pioneer in the building of the 
then Chicago and Milwaukee railroad, on the lake shore from Chicago to Milwaukee, and was 
identified with it in the several capacities of attorney, director and president. He procured the 
charter for the road, and to his influence and personal efforts was mainly due the securing of the 
money necessary to its construction. Later he was solicitor of the Michigan Southern, Fort 
Wayne, Rock Island and North-Western roads, and retired when the business reached such pro- 
portions that it was impossible for one man to attend to it. As a solicitor he was regarded as 
the peer, indeed the superior of anyone in the Northwest. During all these years he had been 
industrious and studious, and formed habits which have characterized his subsequent notable 
career. 

In 1870 he was appointed, by President Grant, judge of the United States district court for 
the northern district of Illinois, and holds that position now (1S83), discharging the duties of his 
important trust with signal ability and fidelity. He brought to the bench varied legal learning, 
a self-gained scholarship (for he is essentially a self-made man), wide experience and an emi- 
nentlv judicial mind. His rulings and decisions will live as long as the jurisprudence of the 
United States courts exists, and his history and name will outlive him. He is a model of benev- 
olence and generosity in all the relations of life, and his deportment is characterized by courtesy 
and unswerving impartiality. Magnanimous and pure in private and official life, he is a worthy 
citizen, an upright judge and a true man. His deeds are indelibly written in the history of his 
time so plainly that all may read. He has turned his abilities to good account in bettering 
others, and developing in himself a noble manhood. Such is an outline of the life and career of 
one who mapped out his own course, guided by the teachings and admonition of a noble mother 
at the beginning, and inspired and impelled by a noble ambition to make the most of his powers. 
How near he has "hewn to the line," let his life work tell, for in this one may find the true 
measure of his success. 

HENRY DECKER. 

CHICAGO. 

HEXRV DECKER was born in Livonia, Livingston county. New York, December 4, 1832. 
His ancestors on the father's side were among the earliest settlers on the Livingston 
Manor, on the Hudson River. Henry Decker (the father) settled in Livingston county in 1795, 
and was a farmer of means and influence. He was a soldier in the war of r8r2. His mother's 
(Martha Mather) ancestors were among the first settlers of Connecticut, and her father was a 
pioneer in Ontario county. New York. The subject of this sketch received his early education at 
the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, in Lima, New York. Afterward he went to Genesee College, 
now known as the Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, where he spent three years. After- 
ward he entered .Williams College, where he graduated in 1854. Immediately thereafter he 
entered the law school of the Albany University, at Albany, New York. He was admitted to the 
bar in 1856. The same year, in company with his brother-in-law and partner. Colonel George B. 
Goodwin, now a distinguished lawyer in Milwaukee, he removed to Menasha, Wisconsin, and 
entered upon the practice in that village. Here he was quite successful, but failing health caused 
him, in 1859, to return to his old home in New York. 

Having finally recovered his health, Mr. Decker began again the practice in his native county. 
Here he was immediately successful, and became widely known as one of the best lawyers in that 
section. He was engaged in most of the large cases in that locality, notably the Genesee College 
case, in which it was sought to remove that college. He was retained by the citizens of Lima 
and vicinity to prevent the removal, in which he was triumphant. He also became widely known 
70 



720 UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. 

as a criminal lawyer, in which capacity he was called to Towanda, Pennsylvania, to prosecute 
Henry Ward for the murder of Wesley E. Shader, the murderer being a man of large means, and 
his victim of high social and business standing. This case is one of the causes ceTebres in the crim- 
inal annals of Pennsylvania. In 1873 Mr. Decker removed to Chicago. Here again he became 
almost immediately successful, but in a year or two his health again failed, and for two years he 
was almost entirely unfitted for work in his profession. Regaining health, he again started out 
to build up a practice in that stirring city, in which he was practically a stranger. In 1880, he 
formed a partnership, under the name of Decker and Douglas, with Stephen A. Douglas, Jr., the 
youngest son of the great Illinois senator, who had then just moved to Chicago from North Car- 
olina. He is now of the firm of Bisbee, Ahrens and Decker. 

In politics, Mr. Decker is a republican. In his religious faith, he is a Presbyterian, in which 
church he is a communicant, and in whose Sunday schools he teaches a Bible class. He is a stu- 
dent and a worker, a man of brains and character, who is most highly estimated by those who 
know him best. 

EMILIUS CLARK DUDLEY, M.D. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE subject of this sketch is a physician of much promise, having gained considerable dis- 
tinction as an able practitioner and skillful surgeon at an early age. He was born May 29, 
T850, at Westfield, Massachusetts, and is the son of John Harmon Dudley and Marana P. (Mason) 
Dudley. His progenitor in the paternal line landed in Boston in 1638, and proceeded to Guil- 
ford, Connecticut, and was one of the founders of that town. He belongs to the family of Dud- 
leys connected with the colonial history of Massachusetts. Two of his father's family were 
provincial governors of that state. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Dudley, and his brother, 
Harmon, were in the revolutionary war; were large New England farmers, and were typical men of 
their class. His father succeeded to the farm, but, having no taste for agriculture, became a school 
teacher, and afterward engaged in mechanical pursuits, as a carpenter, contractor and builder. 
His paternal grandmother was a sister of the late General Amos P. Granger, member of congress 
from Syracuse, New York; a niece of the old postmaster general, Gideon Granger, and a daugh- 
ter of Doctor William Granger, who practiced in Suffield, Connecticut, in the last century, and 
was a physician of note. 

His maternal grandfather was the village blacksmith in Belchertown, Massachusetts, a man of 
originality, and good natural ability. He came to Bureau county, Illinois, in the prime of his 
life, where he died, leaving his widow in Belchertown, Massachusetts, with a family of four sons 
and three daughters, whom she reared respectably, by her own exertions, and also amassed a 
small fortune. There is a legend that his mother's maternal great-grandfather, Hyde, was brought 
to America in his infancy, by individuals interested in his inheritance. His mother's maternal 
grandfather served as a sergeant in the revolutionary war. 

Doctor Dudley attended the public schools in Westfield until the age of thirteen, when 
at the death of his mother he became an under clerk in the wholesale drug house of J. W. 
Colton, in Westfield, where he remained three years. He then attended the winter session of 
four months at the village academy, and then was employed as chief clerk in Henry Holland's 
drug store, where he remained nearly two years. He then went to Willeston Seminary, East 
Hampton, where his father had been educated thirty years before, and made arrangements to 
study the natural sciences for one year, but before fairly entering upon his studies at the institution 
he was induced by an old friend, H. H. Scott, a sophomore at Dartmouth College, to devote 
the year to studies preparatory for college. Accordingly, at the age of eighteen, in September, 
1868, he went to Hanover, the seat of Dartmouth College, and commenced the studies of Latin, 
Greek and geometry, and to these branches and such others as were requisite in his preparation 
for college, gave his entire energy, with such assistance as Mr, Scott could give him, for a period 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 79 I 

of ten months, at the end of which time he was admitted, at the regular June examination, to the 
freshman class. 

Returning to Westfield for the summer vacation, he found his father strenuously opposed 
to his pursuing the course upon which he had entered, and for the following reasons: He 
was unable to maintain his son through the college course; he was disappointed that five 
years' experience in the drug businessvv as thus to be set aside; but perceiving that his objections 
were to be disregarded, he generously offered to contribute from his own scanty means toward 
the college expenses. For the following four years young Dudley could not have been idle, 
because during all this time he not only maintained his standing in college, but also earned by 
his own exertions sufficient money to pay more than two-thirds of all college expenses. The 
remainder was contributed by his father, and to his credit be it said, at great personal sacrifice, 
for his own means were then limited. It is said by one of his class that Doctor Dudley, during 
his college course, besides keeping up with his class, found opportunities of earning a larger 
amount of money than any other member of his class, and it may be said in this connection that 
the students of Dartmouth are to a greater extent dependent for their education upon their own 
exertions than are those of any other one of the more prominent eastern colleges. During these 
four years he taught in Blandford, Southwick and Great Barrington, Massachusetts. During 
his vacations he was engaged in various occupations, such as assisting the village physician, trav- 
eling as a commercial salesman, etg. He spent one or two summer vacations on Georges Banks 
as a fisherman before the mast. 

He was graduated from the academical department of Dartmouth in June, 1873, having in the 
senior year devoted a considerable amount of time outside of the regular course to the study of 
anatomy. After graduation, he continued the study of medicine. His preceptors were Doctor 
James Holland and E. C. Clark, of Westfield, and Doctor Robert Hubbard, of Bridgeport, Con- 
necticut, but the greater part of his under-graduate studies were at New Haven, Connecticut, 
where he attended his first course of lectures at the medical department of Yale College, and at 
Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, where he attended his second course, and 
graduated in June. 1875, as valedictorian of his class. During his professional career we again 
find him self-supporting, by teaching private pupils Greek, Latin and mathematics. 

After graduation in medicine the career of Doctor Dudley includes a number of changes in 
location and seeming changes of plan, at least he would seem to have possessed a temperament 
more than usually restless and impatient. He first proceeded to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where 
for a few weeks he filled the position of resident physician at the West Pennsylvania Hospital. 
About the middle of July, 1875, he came to Chicago, where he engaged in the practice of medi- 
cine until the following June, but feeling himself unprepared for the more responsible work of 
his profession, he returned to New York, and at once entered upon the duties of resident phy- 
sician at Charity Hospital, Blackwell's Island. Here he remained^nly three months. October 
I, 1876, he was appointed, by competitive examination, to a position on the house staff of the 
Woman's Hospital, in the state of New York, the first hospital of the kind ever founded. This 
hospital owes its fame to its founders. Doctor J. Marion Sims and Doctor Thomas Addis Emmet. 
The latter brilliant surgeon, and others, such as Doctor Edmund R. Peaslee, Doctor Fordyce Bar- 
ker and Doctor T. Gaillard Thomas, were then at its head. It was under the patronage of these 
gentlemen that Doctor Dudley commenced the study of his specialty. He remained in this insti- 
tution during the full term of service, eighteen months, serving successively as junior and senior 
assistant, and as house surgeon. At the expiration of this term in April, 1878, he returned to 
Chicago to engage in the general practice of his profession. But his practice early taking the 
direction of the diseases of women, he soon gave his attention more especially to that depart- 
ment. 

In January, 1880, he founded the "Chicago Medical Review," a semi-monthly magazine, 
devoted to medicine, surgery and the allied sciences, designed to circulate among physicians. 
He continued to edit this periodical three years, and then relinquished his editorial connection 



72 2 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

for the purpose of concentrating his energy in other professional work. Besides the editorial 
writing during the first three years of the "Chicago Medical Review," he is the author of a 
number of monographs on subjects pertaining to uterine surgery, published from time to time 
since 1878. 

In April, 1882, he was elected to the chair of the medical and surgical diseases of women in 
Chicago Medical College, which is the medical department of Northwestern University. This 
chair had for over twenty j'ears been filled by his distinguished predecessor, Professor William 
H. Byford, of Chicago. This professorship involves the giving of two lectures a week before the 
senior class in the college, and a surgical clinic once a week in Mercy Hospital. 

Doctor Dudley has gained his reputation more particularly with the profession than with the 
public, and is more especially known in the surgical branch of his specialty. 

June 29, 1S82, he was married to Miss Anna M. Titcomb, of Winnetka, Illinois, a niece of the 
late John L. King, the founder of the city library of Springfield, Massachusetts, of whose family 
she was a member during the early years of her life. Their family consists of themselves and one 
daughter, Katharine, born May 11, 1883. The history of Doctor Dudley requires no comment; 
the facts will speak for themselves. 



HON. FRANCIS E. BRYANT. 

BEMENT. 

THE subject of this sketch is a native of New Hampshire, and is descended from the best of 
New England stock. He was born in Nelson, February 3, 1818. His parents removed from 
Massachusetts to New Hampshire in 1815. His grandfather Bryant was a member of the patriot 
army, and served seven years, and was in the battle of Bunker Hill, and received a pension for his 
services during the remainder of his life. Francis E. has a pocketbook which his grandfather 
carried at the battle of Bunker Hill. The parents of Francis E. removed to Ohio in 1833, where 
they followed the occupation of farming. His mother was, before marriage. Miss Betsy E. 
Sprague, and taught school in her younger days. Francis E. was thoroughly educated and pre- 
pared to enter an eastern college, but he afterward changed his purposes, studied surveying, and 
June 15, 1837, he removed to Schuyler county, Illinois, where he followed the occupation of sur- 
veyor six years. He resided in Schuyler county nineteen years, and was married there July 4, 
1840, to Miss Sarah E. Brisco, a daughter of Colonel George H. Brisco, a soldier of the war of 
1812, and formerly a resident of Mercer county, Kentucky. He removed to Bement July 26, 1856, 
and engaged in the grain, salt and lumber trade, opening the first merchandise store of the place 
May 18, 1857. From that time until the present he has been the leading business man of that 
place, and has been instrumental in building up that town and developing its resources more than 
any other individual. He is a man of untiring energy, with excellent business talent. His judg- 
ment is unerring, and he is one of the cool, clear-headed business men to whom the Great North- 
west owes its marvelous development, and unparalleled prosperity. He has amassed a handsome 
fortune, is largely interested in real estate in Bement, owning six stores, the bank building, and a 
large amount of other property, both personal and real. 

The community in which Mr. Bryant has resided has not been slow to recognize his merits. 
In 1852 he was elected from Schuyler county to the eighteenth general assembly, where he served 
with distinction, at once advancing to a leadership, and was honored by being placed on several 
of the most important committees. He was also elected to represent the counties of Piatt and 
Champaign, in the twenty-eighth general assembly, where he devoted his time and attention 
strictly to the interests of his constituency. His associates confided in his judgment, and his clear, 
well trained mind was found as valuable in shaping the legislation of the state as it had been in 
his ever-successful business career. 

He took an active part in the organization of the Masonic lodge of Bement, and was appointed 



V.VITED STATES BIOGRAPIUCAL DICTIONARY. 723 

by the grand lodge its first master, in which capacity he served three years. Mr. Bryant has trav- 
eled considerably in this country, and spent the summer of 1878 in traveling over Europe. In 
1S82 Mr. Bryant erected an elegant residence which for beauty of design and artistic finish has 
no equal in that part of the state. It is one of the pleasantest and most luxurious homes in 
the West. He has been in the banking business for the last twelve years. He is the father of 
six children, only one of whom, Mrs. Bruer Sprague, is living. Their- two grandchildren, Edwin 
and Frank Sprague, cheer the declining years of Mr. and Mrs. Bryant. 

Mr. Bryant is a courteous, affable gentleman, in whose integrity and uprightness all confide, 
who are favored with his acquaintance. 



W. E. LODGE. 

MOXTICEI.LO. 



OF the reliable and liighly respected attorneys of central Illinois we are pleased to record the 
name of W. E. Lodge. He is well read in all the branches of his profession, is accurate in 
the details of oifice business, and is a good trial lawyer. He examines a subject very exhaustively, 
tracing principles to their source, and can enforce his ideas by cogent, logical reasoning. W. E. 
Lodge is a native of Ohio, and was born at Mount Hope, Hamilton county, December 8, 1834. 
He removed with his parents to Edgar county, Illinois, in 1837. He is self-educated, and has 
added rich stores of information every year of his life, by general reading. 

He studied law in the office of Green and Eads, of Paris, Illinois, two years. He removed to 
Piatt county, Illinois, February 4, 1859, and was admitted to the bar the following March, and 
has been in the successful practice of the law ever since. 

Mr. Lodge is an honorable, upright gentleman, and a citizen who stands high, and is respected 
by all for his true manhood and intellectual attainments. He has the confidence of the courts 
before whom he practices, the good will of his professional brethren, and the admiration of his 
many clients. 

He was married January 30, 1868, to Miss Frances Piatt, an estimable lady, daughter of Will- 
iam H. Piatt, and granddaughter of James A. Piatt, one of the pioneers of Piatt county, and for 
whom it was named. They have four children, William F., James P. and Charles V. (twins), and 
Paul E. 

OWEN P. MILES. 

MOUNT CARROLL. 

OWEN PHILIPS MILES, cashier of the First National Bank, Mount Carroll, dates his birth 
June 3, iS32,in Chester county, Pennsylvania, where his father, Nathaniel Miles, Jr., and his 
grandfather, Nathaniel Miles, Sr., were also born. The former was a mechanic and farmer at the 
East; moved to Mount Carroll in 1854, and here died in 1867. He was a deacon of the Mount 
Carroll Baptist Church, and a man highly esteemed by the community. He married Sarah 
Philips, of Pennsylvania, and she died in 1854. She was a granddaughter of Joseph Philips, 
who was born in Wales in 1716; came to this country in 1755, and settled at first near West 
Chester, Pennsylvania. From his sons have sprung a large family of Philipses, now scattered 
over most of the eastern and western states, representing the various industries and profes- 
sions. A very pleasant reunion of the family was held at the Vincent Baptist Church, in Chester 
county, Pennsylvania, May 30, 1877, when hundreds of the descendants of Joseph Philips were 
present. They are largely a Baptist people, with a liberal representation of ministers and deacons 
among them. The family is also noted for its longevity, showing that there is a vast deal of life 
in the Welsh blood. 

Owen was educated in the common schools of Chester county; farmed till nearly of age; was 



724 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. 

then a clerk in a country store for two or three years, and came to Carroll county with the family 
in 1854. He commenced business here in January, 1855, as bookkeeper in the flouring mill, in 
which he purchased an interest about i860, and which he retained till two or three years ago. In 
1877 he became cashier of the First National Bank of Mount Carroll, one of the best managed 
and most substantial institutions of the kind in Carroll county, and that position he still holds, 
the president being Duncan Mackay. 

Mr. Miles has held various town offices, and in 1859 was elected county treasurer, and by re- 
peated reelections held that office until the close of 1873, a period of fourteen years. He is one 
of those safe and reliable men on whom the citizens of the county like to bestow offices of trust. 
He is a member of the Baptist Church, and of its board of trustees. He is also an Odd-Fellow, 
and has passed the several chairs in that order. 

The wife of Mr. Miles was Miss Hannah Shirk, who was from Franklin county, Pennsylvania, 
and to whom he was joined in marriage October 15, 1857. They have buried two children and 
have seven living, their names, as recorded in "The History of Carroll County," being Joseph, 
Charles K., Jacob H., Adoniram Judson, Jessie F., Susan R., and Mary D. 



PROF. WALTER C. LYMAN. 

CHICA GO. 

\\ 7 ALTER C. LYMAN was born February 6, 1838, in La Porte county, state of Indiana. In • 
V V the same year his father and family removed to Geneva, in the state of New York, where 
our subject passed his boyhood, and received his early education. In 1852 he, with the family, 
returned to his native state, and settled at Edinburgh, and soon after commenced a course of 
studies at Franklin College, in the state of Indiana, from which school he graduated with distin- 
guished honors in his class, in the year 1857. 

He soon after removed to the city of Keokuk, Iowa, and opened a literary and news depot and 
book store, and to add to his income in this, his first business enterprise, he made a contract for 
carrying the "Daily Gate City," a periodical of Keokuk. In the meantime, our subject was pre- 
paring himself for the stage, having a strong inclination and determination to make that his call- 
ing, but through the influence of his parents and friends, he abandoned his purpose, and prepared 
himself for the profession to which he has devoted his life with such unparalleled success. 

In 1861 he was appointed professor of elocution in Asbury University, of Indiana, but upon 
the opening of the civil war, he, April 19, 1861, enlisted in the 14th regiment, Indiana infantry, 
and was chosen first lieutenant. After serving two years with his regiment, and sharing the for- 
tunes of " stern-visaged war," he resigned on account of ill health. In 1863, recovering his health, 
he returned to the army, in connection with the 30th Iowa regiment, and was employed as drill 
master in military tactics and manual of arms. 

He at one time acted as aid-de-camp on the staff of General Wyman, in the White River expe- 
dition. After the close of the war, he again resumed his calling of teaching elocution, opening a 
school for instruction in the science or art of voice training, and public speaking, at Saint Louis, 
Missouri, where he remained some three years. In 1868 he removed to the city of New York, and 
there followed his profession until 1875, when he came to Chicago, where he has since been 
engaged in his profession, with unrivaled success. 

Mr. Lyman was educated a Presbyterian, and brought up under strict discipline, but is liberal 
in his religious sentiments and belief. In politics he is now, and always has been, a consistent 
republican. Mr. Lyman has been married twice. He first married Miss E. B. (Seleck) Swan, a 
teacher of anatomy and physiology, a highly educated lady. His second marriage occurred 
December 11, 1879, he being united in wedlock to Miss Marie E. Boyce, of Geneva, New York, a 
most estimable lady. 

Prof. Lyman is about medium height, of fine personal bearing; has a pleasing address and 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 725 

manners. He stands in the first rank of his profession, and has traveled throughout the Union, 
lecturing and teaching elocution. Socially, Mr. Lyman is welcomed in the best society, and is 
fully appreciated by the literati of Chicago, as wherever his ability and fame is known in his pro- 
fession. 

He is often invited to give recitations by the literary religious societies, for the purpose of 
raising funds for benevolent purposes. 

Professor Lyman is eminently social, and being a natural born actor, it is an entertainment 
to spend an evening or a lesson hour at his rooms, where friends are at suitable times made wel- 
come. He is still young in years, and in his profession, and may still hope to achieve greater 
honors and still brighter laurels in the future of his life. 



GEORGE HERBERT. 

CHICA GO. 

GEORGE HERBERT was born at Ellsworth, in the state of Maine, September 7, 1815. Mr. 
Herbert was a descendant from legal stock, his father, George Herbert, who was a 
native of Deerfield, old Hampshire county, Massachusetts, was bred to the profession of the law; 
he was a student of Dartmouth College, having graduated from that institution in 1800. He read 
law with Judge Theodore Sedgwick, a great lawyer, and one of the judges of the old supreme 
court. 

Mr. Herbert, the elder, was inspired by the magnetic influence. This great man, the ancestor 
of three generations of distinguished lawyers, as a soldier, politician, statesman, philanthropist 
and judge, filled so many positions of honor and responsibility in the state and nation. With his 
earnestness and zeal, he entered on his profession at Ellsworth, Maine, in 1803, and closed his 
short and busy life in 1820, when the subject of this sketch, his eldest living son, was but four 
years of age. Hon. William Willis, in his " Law and Lawyers of Maine," has devoted more than 
twenty pages of his book, one of the most interesting, and to a lawyer most fascinating, books of 
its kind, to a notice of the elder Mr. Herbert. An interesting fact is that Judge Sedgwick was 
the author of the ordinance of 1787, under which the northwestern territory, including all north- 
west of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi Rivers, was ceded by Virginia to the United States, 
justly considered as the Magna Charta of five of our most magnificent states. 

The maiden name of our subject's mother was Charlotte Tuttle; she was a native of Middle- 
sex county, Massachusetts. 

Young Herbert obtained such education as the schools of his native town afforded. He early 
had opportunities to receive an academic course by attending a select school under the tutelage 
of the Rev. Peter Nausse, a truly great educator at Ellsworth, a man that comprehended the 
philosophy of the sciences he taught, and a man of genius in his day, a half a century at least 
ahead of his compeers. In 1831, Mr. Herbert commenced a classical course at Amherst College, 
where he continued until 1S34, when, being threatened with pulmonary consumption, he was 
forced to abandon his studies; but he rose above the impending disease, which has always pursued 
him. In 1834 he commenced reading law at Ellsworth, with Hon. J. W. Hathaway (subsequently 
a judge of the supreme court of the state), and afterward continued the study of his profession 
with the firm of McGaw, Allen and Poor, at Bangor. In February, 1837, he was admitted to the 
bar, and immediately took the office and business of Judge Hathaway, at Ellsworth, he having 
arranged to remove to Bangor and practice his profession in that city. 

Mr. Herbert continued in business at the place of his nativity until 1854, when he removed to 
Chicago. For the first three years of his residence in the city he engaged in mercantile pursuits, 
after which, in 1857, he again resumed the practice of the law. He followed his profession alone 
until 187 I, when he formed a copartnership with John H. S. Quick, constituting the firm of Her- 
bert and Quick, practicing in all the courts, state and national, at Chicago, and surrounding cir- 



726 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

cuits. In 1876, John S. Miller was associated with them as a partner. This firm, under the 
name and style of Herbert, Quick and Miller, are still practicing, and their names are associated 
with, and they are connected with, some of the most important suits claiming the attention of the 
courts of Chicago. 

Mr. Herbert has had a large chancery practice, and is thoroughly familiar with the principles 
and practice of courts of equity, and is very thorough in his investigation of cases, and careful in 
making up his opinion in cases intrusted to his management. He is firm and tenacious in his 
views and position when once formed; he is a safe counselor, and a reliable representative of his 
clients' rights; a man of integrity, and stands in his profession without reproach. 

Mr. Herbert was married at Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1840, to Miss Theresa T. Ames, 
daughter of Pliny Ames, a lawyer of Franklin county, Massachusetts. 



GEORGE D. HAWORTH. 

DEC A TUR. 

OF the enterprising and successful men of Illinois, we are pleased to record the name of 
George D. Haworth. He was born in Clinton county, Ohio, November 29, 1833, and is the 
son of Mahlon Haworth, who was born in Ohio. His grandfather was also named Mahlon 
Haworth. Both his grandfather and great-grandfather were natives of Virginia. His remote 
progenitors on the maternal line were English Quakers, and his grandfather on his father's side 
was also a Quaker. His mother before marriage was Miss Sarah J. Woolman, a relative of John 
Woolman, the early Quaker preacher and opponent of slavery. She was a native of Clark county, 
Ohio. Her grandmother was a Newton, a daughter of Samuel Newton, a cousin of Sir Isaac 
Newton. 

George D. spent his boyhood on a farm near Port William, in Clinton county, and he enjoyed 
and well improved the privileges afforded by the excellent school system in that part of Ohio, 
which was well settled at that time. But by close observation, and much general reading, he has 
abundantly added rich stores of knowledge, and perfected his education in later years. 

The discovery of gold in California had drawn great numbers of enterprising men to the 
Pacific slope, and in the spring of 1852 he made the most important venture in life on his own 
account. In company with his next older brother, Uriah E., he set out to try his fortune in the 
gold regions of the new Eldorado. Their route was by boat from Cincinnati to Saint Joseph, 
Missouri ; thence they started with a wagon train across the plains. Their journey was prosper- 
ous and pleasant until they had traveled westward several hundred miles, when his brother was 
taken sick, and he was obliged to return with him to Saint Joseph, where he died. This unfortu- 
nate incident ended his trip to California, and, in company with his father, he commenced his 
journey homeward through Illinois, and the favorable impressions gained by them as they passed 
through this state induced his father to remove with his family to Illinois the following autumn 
(1853), settling on a farm near Mechanicsburgh, in Sangamon county. 

Mr. Cyrus Correll and Doctor A. J. Randall, citizens of Mechanicsburgh, had been experi- 
menting for a considerable length of time, with the purpose of constructing a corn-planting 
machine, the need of which was greatly felt by farmers. Although Mr. Haworth had never regu- 
larly learned a trade, he was a good workman at the lighter kinds of blacksmithing. From his 
earliest boyhood he had manifested a taste for mechanical pursuits, and had become familiar 
with the working of various kinds of machinery. These gentlemen, accordingly, called upon 
him. He was then nearly twenty years old. The experiments were carried on during the winter 
of 1853-4, and by the following spring two hundred corn planters were ready for sale, some of 
the main features of which were Mr. Haworth's invention. These were the first corn planters 
ever placed on the market. Though crude and imperfect in comparison with those now made, 
they worked successfully. The corn was dropped by means of a trigger, and the machine was 
drawn by one horse. They were largely sold, but were finally superseded by the two-horse planters. 




^ /-y^zl^^c^cSi^t^^MJ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



729 



His attention having been attracted to the manufacture of labor-saving agricultural imple- 
ments, he began to consider the feasibility of constructing corn harvesters and reaping machines. 
In 1857 he went to Ohio, on account of the greater facilities for the manufacture of new machin- 
ery then existing in that state, and began work at Xenia. He invented a corn harvester, which 
was patented, July 21, 1857, to be used for shocking corn, a machine having many excellent 
points, but its great expense prevented it from going into general use. He removed from Xenia 
to Dayton. In 1858 he invented a combined reaper and corn harvester, a number of which were 
manufactured and sold. These mafhines worked well, but their construction on a successful 
scale requiring a large amount of capital, they were never made extensively. 

Returning to Illinois in 1859, he invented a two-horse corn planter, and began their manufact- 
ure in i860 at Mechanicsburgh. In 1S61 he manufactured these machines at Decatur, to which 
place his father had removed in 1S57, and then went to Springfield, where he was engaged in their 
manufacture, in company with John C. Lamb, until 1870. Other makers of corn planters still 
use some of the essential principles patented b)' him. While manufacturing the corn planters, he 
had seen the necessity for some invention to regulate by machinery the dropping of the corn from 
the planter and in 1866 began experimenting, with a view to meeting this difficulty, which experi- 
ments resulted in the Haworth Check Rower,"completed in 1869, being the first check rower ever 
invented, giving at once great satisfaction. In the fall of 1869, he was associated as a partner 
with his father, Mahlon Haworth, and his brothers, L. L. and James W. Haworth, and began the 
manufacture of check rowers. During the season of 1870, three hundred were sold. The next year 
the sales increased to two thousand, and in each succeeding year the demand has been increased. 

The Haworth manufacturing establishment is one of the features of Decatur, and has contrib- 
uted extensively to its reputation as a manufacturing center. Both wire and rope check rowers 
are manufactured. Various improvements have been made since their first invention, and great 
care is taken in their construction, in which only simple principles are involved. The great sav- 
ing of time, labor and expense to the farmer, has made their use very popular, and during the 
last few seasons, the number sold has been limited only by the capacity to manufacture them. 

He was married at Springfield in June, 1863, to Miss Kizzie McCandlers, daughter of Robert 
McCandlers. She was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and died in 1870. His present wife, 
to whom he was married, December 27, 1876, was Miss Mary E. Grunendike, a native of Monroe 
county. New York. She was born near the city 6f Rochester, and is the daughter of Captain 
Reuben A. Grunendike, a native of the same county, who removed, in i86i, to Illinois. Mrs. 
Haworth gained a high reputatiori as a teacher, an occupation she followed previous to her mar- 
riage in the schools of Decatur, where she was very successful. 

Mr. Haworth has led the quiet life of a private citizen, and has never taken an active part in 
public affairs. He is known, however, as a man of the highest personal character, and as a lib- 
eral public-spirited man. 

He went to California in 1881 and traveled over the state quite extensively, visiting interesting 
points. He has recently invented a corn planter, a very fine and useful invention, more perfectly 
adapted to the check rower than those in present use. 

His genius for invention has brought him wealth, which he has bestowed with a liberal hand. 
He has contributed largely toward giving Decatur a reputation as a city of fine residences. In 
addition to other fine residences built by him heretofore, in 1882 he built a magnificent residence, 
in which he now lives, on the corner of Jackson and El Dorado streets. For elegance in design, 
and fine finish, it has few equals. 

On religious subjects his views are liberal and progressive, and differ somewhat from the 
doctrines maintained by orthodox denominations. From his father, who was an early anti- 
slavery man, and was called an abolitionist, in the days when the term was a synonym with 
unpopularit}', he inherited views in opposition to slavery, which attached him to the republican 
party from its first foundation. 

Amid the cares of busy life, he has found time to indulge his natural tastes for fine literature. 
71 



730 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

While he has never sought distinction, nor cared to come into public prominence, his name 
deserves mention as one of that class who have been of the greatest benefit to the West, in revo- 
lutionizing agriculture, and placing in the hands of the tiller of the soil, in place of the slow and 
laborious implements of fifty years ago, machinery that enables one man to do the work of ten. 



HUGH CUNNING. 

CHICAGO. 

THE subject of this biograph)', a son of Patrick Cunning and Elizabeth (Nowry) Cunning, 
was born March 22, 1824, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father was a native of Coldrain, 
on the river Ban, North of Ireland, whence he emigrated to America in 1822, settling first at Bal- 
timore, Maryland, but shortly afterward removing to Pittsburgh. The mother of our subject was 
of Scotch descent. 

The boy first began attending school when he was five years old, in his native city; but two 
years later, his father, being unsuccessful in business in the city, leased a farm, and removed his 
family thither. The soil was poor, and it was onl}^ by dint of hard work that he could gain a 
livelihood, and give his boy the education which he desired. At that day the log school house, 
with its huge fire place, was to be seen in every district, and people were strangers to all those 
improved methods of instruction and educational appliances which characterize the public schools 
of to-day. Yet the society was good, and the farmers in their primitive and simple homes were 
happy and contented. 

Our subject early developed a fondness for study and self culture, and so applied himself to 
his studies, together with general and useful reading, that when sixteen years of age he was well 
fitted for teaching. After teaching two terms, he took a trip through the states of Illinois, Wis- 
consin and Iowa, and was so much pleased with the country and the enterprise which he every- 
where saw exhibited, that he resolved to induce his father to remove to the West. In this, how- 
ever, he was unsuccessful, since the old gentleman was firm in his determination not to "go out 
among the Indians." Nevertheless, he did induce his father to leave the place in which he was 
then living, and purchase a large farm near Beaver, twenty-eight miles from Pittsburgh. Here 
he employed his time managing the farm during summers, and through the winter months pur- 
sued his studies, often poring over his books until the hour of midnight. Thus he continued to 
work and study until 1850, when, all incumbrances being removed from the homestead, and feel- 
ing that he could be spared by his father, he began studying for the profession which he had long 
desired to enter, and which he has since honored. 

Entering the office of Hon. S. B. Wilson, an eminent lawyer of Beaver, he applied himself 
assiduously for two years, at the end of which time he passed an exam.ination before the author- 
ized examining committee, and received his license admitting him to practice. Immediately there- 
after, he removed to Port Washington, Wisconsin, and opening an office, began the work of 
building up a business, and making for himself a name. He remained at Port Washington until 
1S69, and became widely known throughout the state of Wisconsin, being associated in many 
cases with Hon. Matt H. Carpenter, and Hon. Edward G. Ryan, late chief-justice of the supreme 
court of that state. Mr. Cunning was attorney in many important cases, one especially deserving 
of mention being reported in the sixteenth volume, " Wisconsin Reports." It was a case growing 
out of a resistance to the draft during the war, the Germans who were drafted charging fraud 
upon the officials. Being infuriated at what they regarded unfair treatment, it became necessary 
to call in the aid of the United States troops, and one hundred and thirtj' of them were placed 
under arrest. Assisted by E. G. Ryan, Mr. Cunning applied for writs of habeas corpus, which 
were granted by the supreme court of the state, and when the matter was presented before that 
tribunal, the parties were released. From the exciting causes leading to the trouble, and the 
large number of persons interested in the issue, the case probably created more attention than 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 73 1 

any other case that ever came before the courts of that state, and out of it grew a number of very 
important cases, in which Mr. Cunning was employed as attorney. During his residence at Port 
Washington, he became known not only as an able lawyer and advocate, but also as an enterpris- 
ing and public-spirited citizen. In 1859 he was honored with the appointment of collector of 
customs, but declined the office. In the following year, i860, he was elected to the state senate, 
and during the term of his office, two years, represented his district with distinguished ability. 
Among his services may be mentioned the securing of a grant of land for a colony in San Salva- 
dor, Central America, with free transportation by the government of San Salvador. The favorite 
scheme was, however, rendered impracticable, by reason of the opening of the war of the rebel- 
lion, and abandoned. 

After leaving Wisconsin, in 1869, Mr, Cunning settled in Chicago and resumed the practice of 
his profession, and until his health became impaired, in 1879, was constantly and actively em- 
ployed. As a lawyer, he is careful and conscientious, thoroughly investigating the law of his 
cases, while as an advocate, though singularly unostentatious, his arguments are strong and 
effective. 

His religious training was under Roman Catholic influences. In political sentiment he is a 
democrat, but since settling in Chicago he has given little attention to politics more than to per- 
form his duties as a citizen. 

Mr. Cunning was married, in 1857, to Catharine Kenna, a niece of N. Kenna, a merchant of 
Fort Washington, Wisconsin. 

Mr. Cunning's disease, epilepsy, being pronounced incurable by his physicians, the pathology 
of that ailment remaining unknown to the profession, he went to work with a will to studv the dis- 
ease, in which, after several years, he has been entirely successful, and is now preparing a work 
on the pathological anatomy of the complaint, which he hopes will not only render the prevention 
and cure of this and kindred maladies possible, but sure and simple. After the completion of this 
work, he will again resume the practice of his profession. 



MAJOR VESPASIAN WARNER. 

CLINTON. 

VESPASIAN WARNER, a rising lawyer of rare natural abilities and fine attainments, is a 
native of Illinois, and was born April 23, 1842, in De Witt county. He is the son of Doctor 
John Warner, of Clinton, a native of Virginia, a prominent banker and business man, accom- 
plished and highly respected for his intelligence and purity of character. He has a brilliant 
record as lieutenant-colonel of the 41st Illinois infantry. The mother of Vespasian, before mar- 
riage, was Miss Cynthia A. Gardiner. 

Vespasian commenced his education in the public schools, and completed it in Lombard Uni- 
versity, Galesburgh, Illinois. In the winter of i860 he entered the law office of Moore and 
Greene, of Clinton, where he pursued the study of the law with great diligence until the spring 
of 1861, when the war of the rebellion broke out, and he entered the army, and after a service of 
five years, was brevetted major. 

He afterward pursued a course of study in the law department of Harvard University, at 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated from that institution. He was admitted to the bar in 
1867, and in 1868 formed a partnership with C. H. Moore, and has continued in that connection 
in the practice of the law ever since that time, doing a very extensive business. Major Warner 
is well read in all the different branches of his profession, and has a retentive memory. His mind 
is well stored with useful information, from which he draws at will. He has a copious flow of 
language, and some of his forensic efforts have been pronounced very elocjuent. He is a read}' 
speaker, and is considered the ablest advocate in the part of the state where he resides. He pre- 
pares his cases for trial with great diligence, and always goes into court with a thorough knowl- 



732 UNITED STATES BfOGRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY. 

edge of his case, and can readily produce the authorities that sustain his propositions. He sees 
his subject clearly, and is enabled to express his conclusions with great force and clearness. He 
is a logician of high order, and often enlivens his discourses with illustrations and comparisons. 
He has attained a very high rank at the bar, and seems destined to rise still higher, and ulti- 
mately reach the highest anticipations of his many admiring friends. He is a man of unspotted 
integrity, and has the universal confidence and respect of the community in which he moves. 
Personally, he is very attractive. He is tall and slender, with a graceful figure; has a well shaped 
head, keen black eyes, dark hair, and classic features, and is polished and refined and urbane in 
his manners. 

He was married to Miss Winifred Moore, March 26, 1868, an estimable, accomplished, and 
highly educated lady, the daughter of C. H. Moore, of Clinton. 



MARVIN A. LAWRENCE. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE subject of this sketch was born June 12, 1820, on the Susquehanna River, in Otsego 
township, Otsego county, New York. His parents, Charles and Hannah Lawrence, came 
from Hartford, Connecticut, and lived for thirty-three years on the farm where he was born. His 
ancestors were of Scotch origin, and immigrated to this country at an early day, settling in the 
New England states. Marvin received his early education at home institutions, much of it being 
acquired by the light of a tallow candle. He left a clerkship in a store at Norwich, New York, in 
the fall of 1837, being determined to strike out for himself, and immigrated to Girard, Erie county, 
Pennsylvania, which was then considered in the Far West. There he engaged in the manufacture 
of carriages, sleighs, etc. 

February 3, 1843, he married Miss C. M. Hall, daughter of John Hall, one of the oldest set- 
tlers of that section. In 1845 he removed to Newark, Ohio, where he followed merchandising. 
Three years later he moved to Evansville, Indiana, then a city of 12,000 inhabitants, where pros- 
perity attended him in various kinds of business. During the first twelve years he carried on 
extensive marble works. At the beginning of the war he was interested in a boot and shoe and 
hat and cap house, also crockery and glassware, and had a large country store at Princeton, 
Indiana, twenty-five miles distant. The last three establishments he bought of rebel sympathiz- 
ers, who wanted to leave Evansville and enlist in the southern cause. 

In 1850 he became a stockholder in the Canal Bank, just organizing, and was a director of the 
same until 1866. With an authorized capital of $500,000 and a large surplus, it was the first bank 
in Evansville to change to a national bank. He afterward helped to organize the Merchants' 
National Bank in that city. For a number of years he had charge of the southern end of the 
Wabash and Erie canal, from Terre Haute to Evansville, a distance of one hundred and ten miles, 
the whole line extending from Toledo to Evansville. In 1863 he was a large contributor to and 
spent much time in superintending the building and completing of the Walnut Street Presby- 
terian Church, of which he was a trustee and afterward a member. His numerous business interests 
prevented him from going into active service during the civil war, but he was instrumental in the 
enlistment of two others, for whose families he helped to provide during the term of their service. 
In the spring of 1866 he removed with his family, consisting of two sons and one daughter, to 
Chicago, where he invested in real estate, and entered into commission business, controlling one 
of the leading houses of the city. The first three years, his business was largely remunerative, 
but afterward severe losses were sustained through the fraud and deception of others. He then 
began the buying and selling of real estate, but the great fire of 1871 and panic of 1873 caused 
further losses, and finally, struggling against fate, he decided to leave his family in Chicago and 
pull out for Leadville, Colorado, which was then becoming the great mining center of the state 
of Colorado. 




HCCpsi Jr 4 C = 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 735 

He arrived at Leadville May 25, 1879, loaded with dust accumulated during a ride of thirteen 
hours in the stage. He there secured the services of a miner, whose experience of eighteen years 
in the mountains enabled him to read formations as one would a book. They loaded a little 
burro or Jack with a miner's outfit, and started for the mountain ranges and gulches on a pros- 
pecting tour. Exposure to winds, snow storms and rain had no terror for them. They would 
sometimes find in the morning an additional blanket of snow, but as they were after the almighty 
dollar, failure was not thought of. This and other trips of like nature resulted in the securing of 
some valuable prospects in fissure veins, many of them located in the now famous Mosquito 
Gulches, about ten miles east of Leadville, in Park county, Colorado. Among the number is the 
Bonanza King, from which valuable ore was taken last fall and winter, creating a great sensation 
in the camp. The same season he commenced running a tunnel in the Cornucopia mine, located 
in South Mosquito Gulch. Storms and hard rock caused the failure of four different contracts, 
but by indomitable will and remaining with the miners, eating and sleeping with them in an old 
log cabin, with dirt floor, often covered with snow in the morning, with work progressing at the 
rate of three to four inches per day in the tunnel, he finally broke through the solid granite walls, 
at a distance of forty-six and a half feet from the mouth of the tunnel, on to a fissure vein, that 
proved to be over ten feet wide, composed of decomposed quartz. Being thus fully rewarded for 
his energy and perseverance, he filled a sack with seventy pounds of the ore, and walked on snow 
shoes, the snow being from three to six feet in depth, with the ore on his back, a distance of three 
quarters of a mile, where he obtained a horse that carried him to Alma. There the ore was 
tested, and found to contain from one to three and a half ounces of gold to the ton, besides some 
silver. He sent the following dispatch to his family at Chicago: "Found fissure vein in Cornu- 
copia better than expected; home soon." It was good news for them, for during three years he 
had been deprived of the society of his family, and home comforts about three-fourths of the 
time. He now has eight lodes, consisting of large fissure veins in Mosquito Gulches, besides 
seven in other places. He ran fourteen tunnels last summer, and will return in the spring of 1883 
to continue the work begun. 



DENIS J. SWENIE. 

CI/ICA GO. 

DENIS J. SWENIE has been connected with the fire department of this city for over a third 
of a century. He was chiefly instrumental in introducing steam instead of hand engines, 
and he organized the department in its present paid form, displacing thereby the old volunteer 
system. He has been a fireman from his boyhood, and has not only thoroughly mastered the 
practical work of his profession, but has entered into the difficult scientific problems always pre- 
sented in a conflagration. He is possessed of a strong analytical mind, and readily seizes upon 
any new fact, labels it, and arranges it in his collection for future use. He is also practical to an 
unusual degree, and progressive as well, and is quick to discern the best method of meeting an 
emergency, and as ready to adopt an improvement suggested by another as one invented by him- 
self. His mind is always on the alert for better methods and new appliances to meet the enemy, 
and hence the Chicago P'ire Department has become noted the world over, not only for its mar- 
velous efficiency, but for being always fully abreast of the times. In order to be fully posted in 
everything pertaining to his department, Mr. Swenie has, at different times, made the tour of all 
the principal cities of America, and is always on hand at conventions and tournaments. Every 
year something is added to the appliances under his control, and the efficiency of the department 
visibly increased. In the management of the force nothing is left to chance; every company, 
every engine, and every man is at all times as much under the direction and control of the chief 
as the organs of the body are under the direction of the head. Through the wonderful fire- 
alarm telegraph system, which went into operation in 1865, the exact location and condition of 



736 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

every portion of the force — horses, engines and men — is always known to the chief, and their 
duties in any extraordinary emergency directed by him. A clear and comprehensive system of 
laws regulates the force under all ordinary conditions, so that the whole department is a vast and 
complicated machine, yet working for the purposes designed with wonderful regularity and effi- 
ciency. 

Among the excellent improvements which have been introduced by Mr. Swenie, may be men- 
tioned a very important invention by a member of the department — Mr. John Ash worth. It is 
called the portable stand pipe and water tower, and consists of a series of pipes telescoping into 
each other, and running up at will from thirty to sixty-five feet, and which may be inclined at any 
angle or turned in any direction by machinery at the base. Four engines can be worked on this 
one pipe, and a two-inch stream thrown from the top and forced the extraordinary distance of 
two hundred feet horizontally if necessary. By this means the firemen can largely avoid the 
dangerous and slow methods of ladder duty, and yet have the whole burning front of a building 
under control, and when necessary, send a powerful stream through its entire length. Mr. Swenie 
himself first suggested the idea, and the ingenious mind of Mr. Ashworth went to work at once 
to solve the problem. Fortunately enough funds had been saved from the annual appropriations 
for repairs to carry on the experiments and to complete a perfect machine, so that the department 
had not to wait the slow and tedious action of the city fathers, but went energetically to work, 
and in November, 1882, after several most satisfactory trials, it was adopted and put at once into 
the service. The patentees are Mr. Ashworth, the foreman, and C. S. Petrie, the superintendent 
of the repair shop, and the city gets the right to make and use an indefinite number for all time 
to come, for the time spent by its employes and the money used to bring it to perfection. We 
mention this incident to show how ready Mr. Swenie is to keep fully abreast of the times, and 
support or adopt any improvement in the working of his department. 

Mr. Swenie is of Irish parentage, and first saw the light of day in the city of Glasgow, July 
20, 1834. He is, therefore, not yet fifty years old, and is as robust, vigorous and active as most 
men who are many years his junior. He remained in "Bonnie Scotia" till fifteen years old, and 
received such schooling as the public schools of Glasgow could furnish. In 1848 he came directly 
to Chicago, and served an apprenticeship with C. E. Peck, at that time chief of the Chicago fire 
department, at harness making; leather hose, fire hats, and other fireman's supplies were also 
manufactured in the shop. That very year he joined hose company number 3, connected with 
engine company number 3, as hose boy, and whicii was subsequently changed to Niagara engine 
company number 3. His enthusiasm and efficiency increasing with his experience, he was elected 
assistant foreman of Red Jacket engine company number 4, in 1852. This was for a time the 
" crack " company of the city, and among its most efficient members enrolled the names of the 
five Quirk brothers, who were afterward members of Colonel Mulligan's 23d Illinois infantry. 
This company disbanded in 1854, reorganized in 1855 as the " Humane," was changed to its origi- 
nal name, and finally disbanded in 1858, after the organization of the paid department. 

In 1856 Mr. Swenie was elected first assistant engineer of the department, and in 1858 suc- 
ceeded Silas McBride as chief. October 17, 1857, occurred the great fire on Water and Lake 
streets, when twenty-three lives were lost, seven being firemen. Mr. Swenie had charge of the 
diggers, and recovered eighteen of the twenty-three bodies supposed to be lost. This fire awoke 
the authorities to a consciousness of the inferiority of hand to steam fire engines, and the import- 
ance of greater efficiency in their fire department to meet the growing needs of the Garden City. 
The press began the agitation, and in the following November the council ordered a new steam 
engine capable of throwing four streams one hundred and fifty feet. This was delivered in the 
next Februar)', and named "Long John," after his Honor, John Wentworth, then mayor. It was 
put into service about May i, 1858, and located at the old armory building, corner of Adams and 
Franklin streets. The first fire it worked at was at the corner of Wells and Van Buren streets, 
where nine persons perished in the flames. 

In March of that year, Mr. Swenie began the work of reorganizing the fire department, sub- 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPIIICAI. DICTIONARY. 737 

stitiiting the volunteer with the paid system. He met with very bitter opposition at the 
start. Firemen who had been accustonied to pursue the dangerous but exciting occupation as a 
pastime for the glory there was in it. felt indignant not only that steam should hereafter super- 
sede the display of muscle, but that any American citizen should be so disgraced as to be 
offered pay for the performance of so necessary a duty devolving upon the whole community 
as fighting the common enemy, fire. At first the only paid men were the engineer, Joel A. Prescott, 
and his assistant, William Homer; the remainder of the company were volunteers. The first 
company commissioned under full pay was the Atlantic engine company number 3, organized 
October 23, 1S58. 

The bitterness and feuds engendered by the attempt to substitute one system for the other, 
would have discouraged most men, but Mr. Swenie manifested an admirable steadiness of purpose 
and a wise and judicious spirit that finally mastered all difficulties, and placed the volunteer sys- 
tem on a gradual decline, and it disappeared as fast as the city fathers could be induced to pur- 
chase the steam engines to take their place. From the close of 1857 to the opening of i860, four 
new engines were purchased and as many companies organized upon the new system, while 
several volunteer companies gave up the struggle and disbanded. The volunteers were, however, 
yet in the majority, and at the election in March, 1859, revenged themselves on the man who had 
doomed them to extinction, by electing U. P. Harris chief, and sending Mr. Swenie back to his 
company. 

April 27, 1861, Liberty engine company number 7, was put into commission, and Mr. Swenie 
elected foreman. In 1867 he took command of the Fred Gund company number 14, organized 
April 7. He was captain of this company at the time of the great fire in October, 187 1, and with 
his men was forced to abandon their engine at the corner of Canal and Van Buren streets, and 
flee for their lives. This was one of three engines destroyed in the great conflagration. Not- 
withstanding the loss of their engine, and the dreadful perils through which they had passed, 
Mr. Swenie took charge with his company of affairs on the North Side, and was instrumental in 
saving five entire blocks near Kinzie street bridge. No company did more heroic service or 
showed greater intrepidity and devotion than the Fred Gund company number 14. 

On the retirement of Mr. Harris as chief engineer of the department in 1868, R. A. Williams 
was appointed by the fire commissioners to fill the vacancy, and upon assuming the duties of 
chief, he tendered Mr. Swenie the position of first assistant. This he declined for good reasons, 
preferring to retain his old position as foreman instead. This he did until October i, 1873, when 
he accepted the positiijn of first assistant fire marshal under Chief Benner. In August, 1875, the 
citj' adopted an ordinance abolishing the board of police and fire commissioners, and establishing 
the present management of the department under a fire marshal, who should be also styled 
"Chief of Brigade." This change has proved a most important one for the efticiency of the de- 
partment, as it consolidates the whole force into one individuality, and gives it but one directing 
head. Mr. Swenie continued to perform the duties of first assistant marshal until July 3, 1879, 
when he was appointed acting chief by Mayor Harrison, and upon the retirement of Mr. Benner, 
on the tenth of the following November, he was appointed by the mayor, and confirmed by the 
council, fire marshal and chief of brigade. Thus, after twenty years of faithful labor in perhaps 
the most important branch of the city service, Mr. Swenie finds himself once more at the head of 
the department he was most instrumental in organizing. His present position is a fine testimonial 
to his efficiency as an officer and his worth as a man, and in him and his experience and proved 
ability the department and the general public repose the utmost confidence. As an illustration 
of the esteem in which he is held, it may be mentioned that on the tenth anniversary of his first 
appointment as foreman, his many friends in the department gave a grand banquet in honor of 
the occasion, at number 14 engine house, which was a most enjoyable affair. At the conclusion 
of the banquet, C. N. Holden, in a neat speech, presented Mr. Swenie with a gold watch and 
chain, with fire hat and trumpet as charms, costing $450. 

Mr, Swenie was married October 16, 1853, at the age of nineteen, to Miss Martha Toner, by 



738 UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

whom he has had seven children, six still living. Two daughters are married and settled in life. 
His eldest son, Frank, is fire-alarm telegraph operator in the central office. 

Although a democrat in sympathy, Mr. Swenie has the good sense to perceive that the fire de- 
partment, of all others, should be free from political influences, and has done all he could to keep 
it so. Its discipline has therefore never been impaired by political issues or controversies, and it 
is justly the pride and boast of the city. 



JUDGE WILLIAM E. NELSON. 

DEC A TUR. 

HON. WILLIAM E. NELSON is a highly respected member of the bar in central Illinois; 
a thorough lawyer, of sound judgment, and eflncient in the trial of causes. He is lucid and 
logical, and has a refinement in his methods of thought that gives him rank with other able men 
in the profession. He possesses the power of analysis and condensation to an eminent degree. 
Mr. Nelson is a native of Tennessee, and was born at Sparta, White county, June 4, 1824, and is 
the eldest son of Richard Nelson, a prominent Tennessee lawyer, who was a member of the con- 
stitutional convention that formed the constitution of that state, in 1834, and grandson of John 
Nelson, a soldier in the war of the revolution. His mother, before marriage, was Miss Eliza 
McCampbell, daughter of Andrew McCampbell, who was also a revolutionary soldier. The sub- 
ject of this sketch was admitted to the bar in 1844, and immediately entered upon a successful 
career as a lawyer in his native town, gaining a reputation as a trial lawyer at an early age. 

In February, 1857, he settled at Decatur, Illinois, where he has pursued his profession ever 
since, doing a general law business, being equally successful in both criminal and civil cases. In 
1870 he was appointed, by Governor Palmer, on a commission to revise the statutes of Illinois, 
and operated with the commission until his duties commenced in the twenty-seventh general 
assembly, which met in January, 1871. As a legislator he was efficient, and at once took a prom- 
.inent position. No important legislation was enacted without his cooperation. He paid strict 
attention to the interests of his constituents and the state. He served on important committees, 
including, among others, the judiciary committee, and committee on education, and was appointed 
on a special committee to investigate the condition of the penitentiary at Joliet. In August, 1877, 
he was elected one of the judges of the fourth judicial circuit, and filled that term with ability. 
He then returned to the practice of his profession in Decatur, where he has remained ever since. 

In addition to Judge Nelson's abilities as a lawyer, no man stands higher as a citizen. He is 
an affable gentleman, of easy and graceful deportment, warm in his friendships, and faithful in 
his social relations. 

He was married in Sparta, Tennessee, to Mary, the eldest daughter of Colonel James Snod- 
grass, of that place. They have had five children, only one of whom has attained to the age of 
majority. Theodore Nelson is an active business man of Decatur. The other children died in 
infancy. 

GEORGE D. THOMAS. 

THOMASVII.LE, M. T. 
EORGE DEMENT THOMAS was born on a farm in Saint Clair county, Illinois, July 26 ,1834. 



G 



He is the third son and sixth child of John and Isbellin Thomas, whose family consisted of 
ten children, five boys and five girls. His father. Colonel John Thomas, of Belleville, Illinois, is 
at this writing (1882) a state senator, and in his eighty-third year; his biography and portrait are 
on page 724 of first edition of "Eminent and Self-made Men of Illinois." His mother was born 
in Illinois, and was a daughter of William and Mary Kinne)', who emigrated from Kentucky and 
settled in Illinois while it was a territory, four miles east of Belleville, the present county seat of 




--^^Zc^cry- ^ £/ ''<-', 




UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL IVCTIOXARY. 



74' 



Saint Clair. His grandfather Kinney lived on and cultivated a large farm for man)' years; was 
an influential man in southern Illinois at an early day, and was once lieutenant-governor of the 
state. His politics were democratic. 

George D. remained on the farm till the age of twenty-one ; after twelve years of age he took 
an active part in the farm work, and performed his share of the labor cheerfully. He plowed 
and assisted in planting the crops, which in those days were principally corn. As a corn dropper 
he was skillful and an expert, the main corn dropper on his father's large farm, where there was 
planted from too to 300 acres of corn in a season. In 1848 he and a hired man of his father's 
cultivated a crop of corn of nearly ninety acres, plowing it three times, and laying it by in 
August, with little or no assistance after planting. 

His father was a large land owner, and each year the acreage rapidly increased, till in 1S50 the 
crop reached 320 acres ; 1852 this acreage was all in wheat, making over 300 acres, largest wheat 
crop cultivated there at that time. The harvest lasted four weeks. George was one among the 
best binders of the sixteen men employed to take care of this crop. He had assisted to fence 
and break about 1500 acres of his father's land up to 1852. 

Having labored constantly on the farm, his mind had been much neglected up to this time, 
and, feeling the need of a better education, he entered ShurtlefT College, at Upper Alton, at the 
autumn term of 1852, and entered upon a regular classical course. Most of the time while at 
college he kept at the head of his class; mathematics, grammar, Latin and Greek were his favorite 
studies. When he entered college his intention was to take a full classical course and study a 
profession, but being strongly attached to the agricultural pursuits, he changed his mind and left 
college in 1855, in his sophomore year. Soon afterward, November 29, 1855, he was married to 
Miss Lucy Alice Alexander; she was educated at Monticello .Seminary, near Alton, and left school 
before completing her course. They had attended district school together at Shiloh in their 
younger days. She was a daughter of William and Sarah Alexander, who resided near Shiloh in 
Saint Clair county. Her father emigrated from Pennsylvania to Illinois with his father's family at 
an early day, and settled near Shiloh, in what was known as the Alexander settlement. He was a 
prominent and prosperous farmer in his day, and died in 1847. Her mother, Sarah Scott, was a 
daughter of James and Sarah Scott, who settled in Saint Clair county, near Shiloh, with their 
numerous relatives, who emigrated from Virginia. They were all land holders and good thrifty 
citizens. Her mother was a cousin of Judge J. M. Scott, of Bloomington. 

In 1856 Mr. Thomas settled upon a farm near Shiloh. At the breaking out of the rebellion he 
organized the first home guard company of Shiloh, of which he was captain. He afterward 
entered service in company A, as a private in the Fremont body guard, with which he served in 
the Fremont campaign in Missouri until the removal of General Fremont in November, 1861. In 
1862 he received an appointment with rank of lieutenant, in a branch of the United States ser- 
vice, organized for the protection of the overland emigrants from Omaha to Walla Walla, Wash- 
ington Territory. Captain Madorem Crawford, of Oregon, had command of this expedition, to 
whom he reported in May at Omaha for duty. There he remained in charge till the necessary 
supplies and equipments were put in readiness for the expedition. During the time he organized 
a company of about sixty men, whom he drilled as far as practicable in the cavalry tactics, so as 
to be serviceable on the road in case of Indian attacks. He had charge of this company of 
mounted men on the entire route, and rendered efficient services to the command and expedition 
till it reached its destination, making about fifteen hundred miles. The expedition was successful 
in making the trip without the loss of a man, or the transaction of any incident which is not 
common to an expedition crossing the plains. 

Lieutenant Thomas received a discharge from this service from his captain, which highl)' and 
strongly commended his services and deportment upon the expedition. He had occasion soon 
after to show his discharge to General Ringgold, who was then United States quarter-master at 
San Francisco, California, who remarked that it was a valuable paper, and advised him to take 
good care of it. He took advantage of this opportunity to visit Oregon and California, with a 
72 



742 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

view of future settlement. About December i, 1862, he started home by the wajf of Panama. 
In the early part of January, 1863, he reached his home in Illinois, having traveled over ten thou- 
sand miles in less than a year, and brought home with him si.K hundred dollars of his earnings 
over the expenses of the journey. 

In 1863, he remained on the farm and cultivated a crop ; at the same time he was making pre- 
parations to go west with his family — at that time intended removing to California; but the 
mines being discovered at Virginia, Idaho, at that time, and greenbacks being at heavy discount 
in California, he concluded to go to the former place and invest his surplus money in groceries, 
which he could sell for gold dust, and if dissatisfied with the country, could gn to California with 
gold instead of greenbacks. 

In the spring of 1864 he outfitted six o.x teams, of four yoke to each wagon, and loaded them 
principally with groceries and provisions; with this outfit he left Omaha about the first of June, 
with his family, consisting then of wife and two small boys. More than fifteen hundred miles 
had been traversed, five hundred of which were through a liostile Indian country, and more 
than, five months of travel had been consumed on the road, when he readied his destination 
without serious accident to himself or family — all in good health and spirits. 

October 10, 1864, he settled on a farm near the present site of Hamilton, on tlie west side of 
the West Gallatin River, in Gallatin county, Montana. Here a house was soon built of cotton- 
wood logs, eighteen by twenty feet, with puncheons for floor. Here he resided and farmed until 
1871; during the time the old house had given way to one of much better structure. Here he 
used the first gang plow ever introduced into Montana (1866). 

He removed to Gallatin City, in Gallatin county, to take charge of the Madison flouring mill, 
of which he had now become the sole owner. Here he had a wide field for his progressive spirit, 
studying the art of milling, and planning improvements which he deemed necessary to establish 
a successful business in his trade. In 1872 he made changes and improvements in the mill, and 
started his " Extra,'' a fancy grade of flour, which he put in the markets with such uniform quality 
and excellence as soon gave it the lead at one dollar per hundred pounds more than any other flour 
manufactured in Montana. This grade stood at the head of flour markets in Montana till 1879 — 
although several millers had made an attempt for three years to compete with it, but failed ; he 
became his own competitor, and placed "Thomas's White Rose" into the markets, which has 
taken the lead. In 1874 he introduced the first middling purifier ever brought to Montana ; and 
in 1875 introduced the only emery wheel burr dresser ever used in Montana. 

Early in the spring of 1877, he secured one of the finest water powers in tlie county, and 
equally as fine a location, and in July of this j'ear, visited Minneapolis, Minnesota, which was 
famous for the great improvements that her progressive mill men had made in the new process 
system of milling. He also visited Milwaukee, and went all through three of her largest and 
most complete mills. 

Having fully decided to build with the latest new process machinery, and the modern style of 
arrangement, he contracted with Edward P. Allis and Company for a complete three-run mill, 
with latest improved machinery. This mill he completed in December, 1878, and called it Empire 
Mill; it has the largest capacity of any flouring mill in the territory; is located on Ross Creek, 
eleven miles north of Bozeman, Montana. The grades of flour manufactured at the Empire Mills 
have taken high rank in the leading markets of the territory. 

He is active and thorough in business, carrying on a large flour trade, personally superintends 
his mill, keeps the books, and attends to his large business correspondence; is liberal in his dealing, 
and generous to the needy, asking few favors, but granting many. His integrity in business 
matters has been of great advantage to him, and that coupled with a thorough knowledge of his 
trade, is the secret of his success in the manufacture of flour. In business transactions his word 
is his bond, and is so regarded by those with whom he deals. He has been a leading and promi- 
nent citizen of Gallatin county since 1865, and w^as the first assessor of the county ; was clerk of 
the first grand jury impaneled, and has taken an active part in all public enterprises in the 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



743 



county. He is a member of the Masonic order; has twice been master of Washington Lodge, 
Montana Territory. He belongs to the Millers' National Association. In 1865, when Gallatin 
county was organized, he was the first assessor of the county, by appointment of Governor Edger- 
ton. Since that time he has been a leading and prominent citizen of the county, and favorably 
known throughout the territory in business circles. Though not connected with any church, he 
believes in the Christian religion, and contributes liberally to its support. He has been a repub- 
lican since the organization of the party, and is one of the leaders in the republican party of his 
county. In the autumn of 1882, he was elected councilman to the territorial legislature, a great 
triumph, for Gallatin has long been a strong democratic county. 

He resides at Empire Mills, where he owns several hundred acres of fine land, and with its 
improvements makes it one of the most desirable country places in the county. He also owns 
other real estate, 160 acres near Hamilton, where the survey line of the Northern Pacific Railroad 



runs. 



His family consists of a wife and six children; they had seven, but Annie Julia died in 1863. 
Samuel Homer and George Edgar were born in Illinois ; Lillian Eugenia, James Finley, Rosa 
Alberta, and Sarah Isabella were born in Montana. Homer is now doing for himself, and owns 
160 acres of land, and is farming with a fair prospect for a young man. George is also doing for 
himself ; he has a small band of horses, and is making some money. The other four are at home. 

Mr. Thomas attributes his success to early habits of industry, and a taste or ambition to do 
evervthing better than anyone else. 

CHARLES C. BONNEY. 

CHIC A GO. 

CHARLES CARROLL BONNEY has been prominently before the public in various honor- 
able positions for many years. He is- a native of Hamilton, New York, which is widely 
known as the seat of Madison University, and as the most beautiful village in the Chenango 
Valley. His father, Jethro May Bonney, was a farmer. The farm was on Bonney Hill, in the 
vicinity, and embraced a charming variety of woodland, field and meadow. Here the son was 
horn, September 4, 1831. His mother was Jane C. Lawton, daughter of George Lawton, whose 
"old mansion among the poplars," on another hill to the eastward, was long one of the stateliest 
landmarks of pioneer life in that part of central New York. The subject of this sketch had two 
iirothers and one sister. The most eminent scholars, divines and politicians of the locality, were 
visitors at his father's house, and the conversations he heard there powerfully stimulated his 
efforts and ambition. The father afterward removed to Hamilton village. 

During his boyhood and youth the son worked upon the farm, and attended the district school, 
Hamilton Academy, and lectures at Madison University; but, though offered the full universit\^ 
course, and enjo3nng friendly relations with many of the faculty and students, he declined it, 
feeling that he could not afford the time required for the classical course, and that teaching and 
private study must suffice. He then taught common and academic schools in New York and 
Illinois until he was tvvent\'-one. He also began the study of law while teaching, and was ready 
for admission to the bar before attaining his majorit}-. 

Though a non-graduate, he freely acknowledges that he is under very great obligations to the 
university, and regards its influence and associations as potent in determining his course in life. 

He came to Illinois, September 28, 1850 ; located at Peoria, October 15, of that year; was ad- 
mitted to the bar of Illinois, September 23, 1852, and to that of the United States supreme court, 
January 5, 1866. September 12, i860, he removed to Chicago, where he has ever since resided. 

From 1850 to 1854 he took an active part in establishing the present educational system of 
Illinois, delivering a large number of addresses, and participating in the proceedings of more 
than twenty educational conventions and societies. During a part of this time he was employed 
by the authorities of Peoria county as public lecturer on education, and in this connection advo- 



744 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

cated free schools, school district libraries, teachers' institutes, normal schools, state and county- 
superintendents, and an enlarged course of study for the common schools. The first state educa- 
tional convention was called through his instrumentality. He was also one of the officers of a 
State Teacher's Institute, and for some years a frequent writer on educational topics. But a con- 
stantly increasing love of the legal profession drew him irresistibly to its service, and determined 
his future career. 

Already known throughout the state, from educational correspondence and addresses, he en- 
tered on his admission to the bar into a successful and lucrative practice, which has continued 
and extended to the present time. His reputation and practice are not confined to his own state, 
but extend to other parts of the Union. His practice has embraced an active and varied experi- 
ence in almost everv department of law, and includes many cases of great importance, particu- 
larly in equity and in the law of corporations, patents, wills, commercial transactions and the 
administration of estates. 

Among the more interesting cases in which he has been engaged may be mentioned : The 
People vs. Fash, habeas corpus, involving the liberty of the press; Johnson vs. Stark countv, 
municipal subscription to build railroad; the Sherman House cases, negotiable instruments and a 
wide range of technical defenses; Miller vs. Wells, inter-state laws of administration; The People 
vs. Church, right of the general government to tax process of state courts; Gage ct al. vs. Derby, 
the law of government contracts and the doctrine of seals; the Huston Administrations, liens on 
estates of deceased persons; the Schenck Sewing Machine cases, infringement and trial by jury; 
the Bishop Hill Colony case, corporations and trusts; the Fuller and Barnum Tuck-creaser Patent 
cases; the Yerby's Subdivision Land cases; the Allaire Will case; the West Chicago Park case, 
executive power; the case of the State Savings Institution, equity administration of corporate 
assets; Ely vs. Douglas county, state power relating to equitable remedies in the national courts; 
Ligare vs. Semple, securities conditioned on removing objections to title: Fuller vs. Hunt, custom 
and usage in commercial transactions; and the Auditor vs. Chicago Life Insurance Company 
state supervision and control of corporations. 

This brief list includes cases in the courts of Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, and 
New Jersey, and in the supreme court of the United States. 

Mr. Bonney was elected president of the Illinois State Bar Association, in January, 1882. This 
high honor was conferred while he was absent from the association and engaged in the trial of an 
important cause. 

In the August following. Mr. Bonney was elected vice-president of the American Bar Associa- 
tion for Illinois, succeeding David Davis in that honorable position. A few days later he pre- 
sented to the American Bankers' Association, in session at Saratoga, a proposal for an act of 
congress to secure uniformity of commercial paper throughout the United States. This proposal 
was received with decided favor, and means were taken to favor its adoption. 

Mr. Bonney's character and reputation as a lawyer may be gathered from comments made 
during his professional career by the public press on numerous occasions. The newspapers of his 
own, and of other states speak of him as having "acquired a brilliant reputation as a lawyer"; as 
'"one who could take any given subject and present all salient points in a condensed, methodical 
and lucid manner"; as "well and favorably known throughout the entire Northwest as a lawyer of 
large experience, sy^stematic, thorough and reliable "; as "one who holds an enviable position among 
the leading lawyers of the West, a gentleman of high culture, polished manners, and deeply de- 
voted to the duties of his profession "; as " favorably known, and highly esteemed for promptitude, 
dispatch and integrity in attention to legal business, winning confidence and patronage by his 
talents, assiduity and uprightness"; as "one of our most eminent lawyers"; as "one of the most 
distinguished members of the Chicago bar, and a writer on political and legal subjects of wide rep- 
utation"; as "a profound and accomplished lawyer, and one of the most eloquent and effective 
speakers in the state"; ^nd "as a lawyer who stands at the head of his honorable calling, not 
only as respects all professional attainments, but as a citizen, a scholar and a gentleman, whose 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. 



745 



influential voice and pen are devoted to every good word and work in his city." Another elabo- 
rate notice says: 

"It was he who first raised and argued the constitutionality of the excise tax on judicial pro- 
cess and other state proceedings. He was also the first who stated the powers of the courts under 
the suspension of the habeas corpus, and which was reproduced two years later by Mr. Binney, 
the eminent Philadelphia lawyer; and he anticipated by more than a year Mr. David Dudley 
Field's exposition of the modem humbug of emotional insanity." 

The foregoing expressions of public esteem are selected from a large number of similar 
notices, in the leading newspapers of the western states. 

From his early years Mr. Bonney has found in authorship a charm which has made it the un- 
failing recreation of a severe professional life. Besides a great number of other contributions of 
a legal, political, financial or literary nature, he is also the author of a treatise on "The Law of 
Railway Carriers," and of another on "The Law of Insurance;" also of essays on "The Powers 
of Non-resident Guardians and Executors," "The Rights of Married Women to Hold Personal 
Property," "The Doctrine of Insanity in the Criminal Law," "The Powers of Courts and Legis- 
latures over the Railway Question," "The Administration of Justice," "The Characteristics of a 
Great Lawyer," "Government Reform," "Judicial Proceedings without Personal Service," "The 
True Province of the Government," "National Regulation of Inter-state Commerce," "An Equity 
Bankruptcy Law," "Practical Law Reform," and of discourses on "The Future of the Legal 
Profession," "The True Doctrine of the Tariff," "Judicial Supremacy," and other subjects of 
public interest. He also edited, in a very finished and scholarly manner, the poetical works of 
the late Judge Arrington. His books on railway and insurance law, though small and unpreten- 
tious, and designed for business men rather than the legal profession, were highly commended 
by eminent authorities as also of great value to the bench and the bar. Those books are now out 
of print, the plates having been destroyed in the Chicago fire. His eldest son, Charles L. Bonney, 
has supplied the place of the treatise on railway carriers by an admirable summary of the law 
relating to the subject, entitled "Railway Law for Railway Men." Mr. Bonney 's efforts in the 
field of authorship, says one reviewer, have been received by the public with decided approba- 
tion, as the product of an able and scholarly writer, whose material is full of sound sense and 
practical value, and arranged in a manner intelligible, accurate and comprehensive. 

Though Mr. Bonney has never held or been a candidate for any political office, he has taken an 
active part in public affairs from 1852 to the present time; was a party democrat until i860, a war 
democrat during the rebellion, and has been independent in politics since that time. He was 
a leader of the movement that defeated the effort of a private corporation to obtain control 
of the Illinois River; was a special commissioner from Peoria to Saint Louis in that connection, 
and as such delivered an elaborate argument to the city government of the latter, which was 
highly commended. He was one of the original advocates of the constitutional prohibition of 
special legislation; also of a national currency under a national law, with a prohibition of state 
issues; also of national regulation of interstate commerce and corporations; also of largely ex- 
tending the jurisdiction and practice in equity; also of state commissioners to represent the people 
in their relations with railway and other corporations; and of more careful and thorough legisla- 
tion, suggesting that the houses of representatives be popular bodies to express the public will, 
and the senates legislating jurists to frame and perfect the laws, holding terms of office somewhat 
similar to those of the judges. He has also publicly advocated many other reforms in the vari- 
ous departments of government in a series of papers under the title of " Government Reform." 

As early as 1858 Mr. Bonney procured the adoption, bj- a congressional district convention, of 
resolutions favoring a national currency, and a suppression of state bank bills. The prohibition 
of special legislation, advocated by him, was established in the Illinois constitution of 1870; and 
in other respects Mr. Bonney 's efforts as a reformer have met with success. He has given much 
attention to the executive and judicial powers of the government, and believes that they should 
have a larger development and application. 



746 UNITED STATES BIOGRA PHICAT. DICTIONARY. 

That Mr. Bonney is a political orator of no mean rank is abundantly demonstrated in the 
newspaper notices of the day, which characterize him as a profound and accomplished speaker, 
combining sound argumentative powers and a quiet earnestness of manner with a precision of 
rhetoric and an oratorical ability rarely exceeded by any public speaker. One such notice says: 
" His style of address is peculiar, and highly gentlemanly in tone. We have heard the best 
speakers of the old world and the new, but this is the first instance wherein we have observed the 
entire triumph of a speaker securing the close attention of his audience in a subdued tone of 
voice " Another, that " His speech in reply to Senator Trumbull [at Peoria in 1858], as a whole 
and in all its parts, compares favorably with anything we have heretofore heard as a calm, con- 
servative and eloquent argument. In addition to this he demonstrated himself to be the almoner 
of an imperial oratory, which held the large audience in attendance for nearly four hours, willing 
and eager listeners." Another, that " It may be said of Mr. Bonney that, although he is far from 
being devoid of humor, he depends more for effect upon other than the feelings. His discourses 
are of a kind — rarely attained — that read as well months after as they sounded at the time of 
their delivery. They are in no sense ephemeral in their character, and although they may be 
given before the limited audience of a countrj' town they are as carefully prepared, are as full of 
information and instruction, and as deserving of preservation, as if they were state papers to be 
read by both hemispheres. His effort at Waukegan [in 1880] might have been without any dis- 
credit delivered before the British parliament, or any other body of statesmen and politicians in 
the world." And another, that " In style Mr. Bonney is precise, incisive and clear, and withal a 
ready if not a redundant speaker, writer and conversationalist His political speeches demon- 
strated the possession of an impassioned oratory, based upon a clear and comprehensive knowl- 
edge of the issues involved and their germane facts. In the character of a politician no speaker 
with whom he came in contact was more popular or more influential, and had he devoted himself 
to this department of effort he might have attained almost anything within the gift of the 
people." 

Though never entering the lecture field except at occasional intervals between professional 
engagements, his list of lectures embraces many subjects of general importance, such as "Why 
Ninety-seven Merchants in a Hundred Fail," "Government Reform," "The Government of Cities," 
and "The Relation of Religion to the Government." 

Mr. Bonney was at one time president of the Chicago Library Association, and was the author 
of the agitation that finally resulted in the Chicago Free Public Library. He was for several 
years one of the managers of the Chicago Athenteum, and was one of the founders of the Chicago 
Literary Club. He has also delivered courses of lectures on medical jurisprudence to medical 
college students. 

Mr. Bonney has also been for some years an active member and officer of the Citizens' League 
to enforce the laws forbidding the sale of liquor to minors, and has also taken an active part in 
other departments of temperance work, though not a member of any prohibitory or total absti- 
nence association. He was president of the firsniational convention of Law and Order Leagues, 
held in Tremont Temple, Boston, Massachusetts, February 22, 1883, and reviewed the rise and 
progress of the law and order movement in an elaborate address, that has been widely circulated 
and commended. 

In religious faith Mr. Bonney is a New Churchman, or Swedenborgian, in which church he 
has been active as a Bible-class teacher and as president of the State Sunday School Association. 
His ancestors on the father's side were Baptists, and upon the mother's side they were Friends. 
In his youth he read extensively upon the various sj'stems of religion, and although a firm ad- 
herent of his own church has always cultivated the most friendly relations with all other religious 
denominations, being a vigorous opponent of sectarianism and bigotry. 

He was married August 16, 1855, at Troy, New York, to Miss Lydia Pratt, by whom he has 
had two sons and three daughters, all of whom, except the youngest daughter, w'ho died in in- 
fancy, still survive. The family home is a handsome residence on Fulton street, near Union Park, 
and is a well known social and literarv center. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 747 

Mr. Bonney is domestic in his haljits, and likes to gather about liis fireside a congenial com- 
pany for the elaboration of literary ideas and the more graceful of the social qualities. Enjoying 
an enviable position as lawyer and author and Uttc'raUiir, he has before him a future which prom- 
ises still more flattering and enviable results. 

The facts of the foregoing sketch have been gathered from the books mentioned and an 
inspection of more than twenty volumes of law cases, pamphlets, magazines and newspaper pub- 
lications, and in part from biographical notices in " Wilkie's Chicago Bar," " The Biographical 
Encyclopredia of Illinois," and "The Bench and Bar of Chicago." 



WILLIAM S. FORREST. 

CHICA GO. 

THE subject of this biography is a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and was born July 9, i<S52. 
As a boy he was energetic and industrious, fond of study, and among his companions a 
leader in their boyish sports. His native tastes inclined him toward the legal profession, and 
early in life he determined to prepare himself for its duties. After a careful and thorough prep- 
aration, William entered the freshman class of Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, where he 
pursued the regular classical course of study, and graduated with the class of 1875. In college 
he was popular among his fellow students, ranked high as a scholar and was honored with an 
election to the Psi Upsilon Fraternity. 

Soon after leaving college he began reading law in the office of Gaston, Field and Jewell, of 
Boston, Massachusetts, whence, in 187S, he removed to Chicago, where, in October of the same 
year, he was admitted to the bar of Illinois. Although his professional career may be said to 
have only begun, Mr. Forrest has already attained a wide and worthy reputation at the Chicago 
bar. He has a clear, logical and judicial mind, and is a forcible and eloquent speaker. Although 
well versed in the various branches of American jurisprudence, and thoroughly qualified and 
eminently successful in the general practice of his profession, he has devoted his special attention 
to the study and practice of criminal law, and achieved, as the result of his efforts, a most satis- 
factory success. 

In this practice he has been called to defend men charged with almost every crime known to 
the law, and has carried to the supreme court of the state many cases that have been remanded 
for a new trial. Among the more important cases with which he has been identified as attorney, 
may be mentioned that of The People vs. Charles Schank. This man v^'as indicted for the killing 
of Fredrick Kandzia. The defense, which was interposed, and upon which the defendant was 
fully acquitted, was that the deceased came to his death not by the dagger of Schank, but by the 
malpractice of the surgeon after the stabbing. Another case exciting public attention was that 
of The People vs. Wing Lee, a Chinaman. Upon the trial of this case a plea of self defense was 
interposed, and the jury, standing eight for acquittal and four for conviction, were discharged in 
theabsence of the defendant. Wing Lee being at the time of their discharge a prisoner in the 
custody of the sheriff. When the case was again called for trial, a plea of former jeopardy was 
interposed and sustained by the court, on the ground that the jury was illegally discharged, and 
the trial unlawfully ended. Wing Lee was discharged. 

Mr. Forrest was also one of the attorneys for Mrs. Ada Roberts, on her application for dis- 
charge, under a writ of habeas lorpiis. from the insane asylum, where she had been confined two 
years, having been adjudged insane and sent thither by the jury upon her trial for the killing of 
Theodore Webber. But a case which attracted perhaps as much public attention as any on the 
criminal calendar of Illinois was that of The People vs. John Lamb, who was indicted for burg- 
lary and for the murder of Albert Race, a member of the Chicago police force. Mr. Forrest was 
Lamb's attorney from the time of his arrest until his final acquittal, a period of three years. 
Lamb was first tried for murder, and convicted and sentenced to lie hanged, but upon appeal to 



748 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. 

the supreme court the case was remanded for a new trial. Lamb was subsequently tried for 
burglary and acquitted. He was then tried a second time for murder, and acquitted. The pros- 
ecution in these cases was most vigorous and relentless. Public opinion was wrought up, a gen- 
eral belief prevailing that Lamb was the real murderer. A cloud of witnesses appeared for the 
state, two testifying that Lamb was the man who actually fired the fatal shot, one of them being 
an accomplice. Lamb himself had been known to the detectives of the Northwest as a notorious 
character for twenty years. 

The case has a special interest to lawyers, from the fact that in their decision the supreme 
court passed fully and fairly on the extent of the liability of a conspirator for the acts of a 
co-conspirator. 

Mr. Forrest is now in the full vigor and strength of manhood, and, with iiis present achieve- 
ments, may hopefully look to the future. Untiring in his efforts, and zealous in all his under- 
takings, he cannot but attain a first rank in his chosen profession. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, and in politics adheres to the principles of the democratic party. He was 
married at Chicago, April 17, 1879, to Miss Elizabeth Whitney, of Boston, Massachusetts, and 
daughter of the late Melvin Whitney, for many years a prominent merchant in New York city. 

Mr. Forrest is a man of fine social and personal qualities, and is known among his friends as 
a genial companion. He is domestic in his tastes, and with his native fondness for study and 
literary culture, finds in his own home the most pleasant and agreeable respite from his profes- 
sional cares. 

HON. LE.STER L. BOND. 

CHICA CO. 

OF tile many able lawyers in the Northwest who make a specialty of patent law and patent 
causes, Hon. Lester L. Bond has no superior. Endowed by nature with a comprehensive 
mind and great mechanical ingenuity, he has attained great proficiency in the arts and sciences 
especially applicable to that branch of his profession to which he has given particular attention. 
He is learned not only in mechanics, but also in chemistry and natural philosophy; he has, also, 
a thorough knowledge of law and the general practice, being a good special pleader, conversant 
with all of the rules of practice in both the state and United States courts. He is thoroughly 
posted in all of the decisions of the courts in Europe and America bearing upon patent litigation. 
He is a very able trial lawyer, a logical reasoner, and an excellent advocate. 

The practice of his firm e.xtends from Portland, Maine, to San Francisco, California. Mr. 
Bond is often called into the courts in the eastern cities, where he has measured lances with many 
of the ablest lawyers in America, and on such occasions has received high encomiums from both 
bench and bar for his skill, profound knowledge of the law and depth of reason in his arguments. 

In the United States supreme court at Washington, where he tries a large number of cases 
every year, he stands very high, having, in addition to great legal lore and ability in his profes- 
sion, a keen sense of justice, the principles of which he is ever ready to uphold with a zeal that 
reflects credit upon himself, and sustains the dignity and honor of his profession. Mr. Bond is a 
gentleman of fine presence, weighing over two hundred pounds; is over six feet high and is easy 
and graceful in his movements. He is affable in his manner, and secures the friendship of all who 
are favored with his acquaintance. 

Lester Legrand Bond is a native of Ohio, and a son t>f Jonas Bond, of Ravenna, where our 
subject was born, October 27, 1829. His father removed from Connecticut, and settled in Ohio 
in 1824. His mother, before marriage, was Miss Elizabeth Story, a relative of the celebrated 
jurist and legal author, the late Judge Story, of the United States supreme court. 

Lester L. attended select school in his native town four years, and afterward entered Ellsworth 
Academy. Leaving there at the age of eighteen, he assisted his father in farming and manufac- 
turing in the summer, and attended school during the winter months. During this period he 



ryrn-.D siates juock.i r///CA/. jnci-ioNAKV. 751 

acc|nired a taste for mechanics, wliicli in later years asserted itself in iiis profession as a lawyer. 
In 1850 he commenced the study of the law with Francis W. Tappen, in Ravenna, and afterward 
continued his studies with Bierce and Jefferies, the senior partner of which firm, General Bierce, 
was considered one of the ablest criminal lawyers in northeastern Ohio. After completing his 
studies, he was admitted to the bar at Akron, in October, 1853. In October, 1854, he settled in 
Chicago, and commenced the practice of the law. His means were limited, and he had but two 
acquaintances in the city. His business, therefore, was for some time necessarily small, and in 
the hope of bettering his circumstances he joined his name with that of a young man in the 
commission business. His jiartner absconded, leaving him to settle the debts of the firm. This 
occurrence was very embarrassing, but he struggled through it, and discharged all of his 
obligations. 

About the year 1859 some parties, knowing tin- natural taste of Mr. Bond for mechanical 
studies, employed him to take charge of their patent interests, as well as to procure other patents 
for their inventions. This soon led to considerable liusiness, which continued to increase until 
1869, when he concluded to withdraw from the general practice of the profession, and devote 
himself e.xclusivelv to patent business, since which time the marvelous growth of manufactures, 
and the steadily increasing reputation of Mr. Bond as a patent lawyer, had a tendency to fill his 
office with business, and in 1S64 he liecame associated with the law firm of W^est, Bond and Dris- 
coU, he himself taking charge of the business pertaining to patents. The following year Mr. 
Driscoll was elected city attorney, which made it necessary for him to withdraw from the firm, 
and the business was continued under the name of West and Bond. 

On account of the large experience acquired by Mr. Bond in patent cases, and also his 
familiarity with mechanics, he has been intrusted with very important cases, and at an early period 
in his practice was frequently called upon as an expert in important trials, in matters relating to 
patents. Among the cases in which he has been engaged as counselor may be mentioned those 
of the Babcock Fire Extinguisher, the Evarts Shingle Mill, the Tubular Lantern, the Marsh Har- 
vester, the Keystone Corn Planter, the Kenyon Cultivator, and numerous other cultivator cases. 
He defended the Moline Plow Company in its numerous contested cases, also the Furst and Brad- 
ley Manufacturing Company, was connected with the Barb Wire Fence cases, and was on one 
side or the other, usuall)' on the defense, in nearly all of the agricultural implement cases that 
have been tried in the seventh United States circuit. 

His skill, which was so evidently manifested in these and other cases, has placed him at the 
head of his profession in this department. 

In politics he has been a republican since he has had a vote, his father having joined the free- 
soil party in 1844. His first experience of political position was in 1852, when he was sent as a 
town delegate to the Pittsburgh convention, which nominated John P. Hale for president. 

In 1863 he was elected alderman from the eleventh ward of the city of Chicago, and was in 
1864 reelected for two 3'ears, and at the expiration of his term was again tendered the office from 
both parties, but on account of the pressure of the business was compelled to decline. 

In 1867 he was elected to the state legislature, and reelected in i86g. During this session he 
was chairman of the judiciary committee, the most important in the house. In his first term he 
was a member of the committee on internal improvements, and aided largely in procuring the 
passage of the act for the improvement of the Illinois River. 

Contrary to his wishes, in 1871, just after the great fire, he was placed on the ticket for alder- 
man of the tenth ward, and was elected. 

In 1873 Hon. Joseph Medill obtained leave of absence for the remainder of his term as mayor, 
on account of ill health, and Mr. Bond was elected by the council to fill the place for the remainder 
of the term. The following November he was nominated for mayor for two years, and although 
he received the large number of eighteen thousand five hundred v6tes, was defeated by Mr. Col- 
vin. During Mr. Bond's short term of the office of mayor the panic occurred, and he, with 
others, taking a decided stand against the issue of scrip, the credit of the city was maintained. 
73 



75- 



UNITED STATUS HIOCRA I'll ICA L DICTIONARY. 



He tilsi) reorpjanized the fire department so satisfactdrily tliat tlie organization was not afterward 
disturbed, and settled the long-standing claims of the gas companies on a basis that lias since 
been folhjwed, 

Mr. Bond was for four years a member of the board of education, and in 1872 was presidential 
elector for the second congressional district of Illinois. In all these various positions he has dis- 
tinguished himself for his energy, prudence and faithfulness. 

He was married, October 12, 1856, to Miss Amie Scott Aspinwall, daughter of Rev. Nathaniel 
W. Aspinwall, of Peacham, Vermont, a lady of excellent womanly qualities, Rnd an affectionate 
wife. They have one daughter. They are both members of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal 
Church of Chicago. 



G 



GEORGE DRIGGS. 

CHICAGO. 

EORGE DRIGGS, a member of the legal fraternity of Chicago, is a native of Livingston 
county, New York, and was born at Mount Morris, May 18, 1846. His parents were Elias 
Beach Driggs, a native of Connecticut, and Sarah (Rowell) Driggs, a native of Vermont. Aftei" 
the death of his parents, when only a lad. Mr. Driggs went to live with relatives at Fairlee, Ver- 
mont, near the New Hampshire line. In early years he attended the academy at Orford, New 
Hampshire, afterward continuing his studies under private instruction up to the time of his ap- 
pointment to a position in the United States treasury department under Secretary McCullough. 
While in Washington he found opportunity to continue his law studies already begun, and was 
graduated from the Columbia Law School, in the class of 1868, immediately entering upon the 
practice of law in Washington, where he remained for about two years, when he went to New 
York city. In 1871 Mr. Driggs accepted a position in the office of Hon. J. R. Swan, at Columbus, 
Ohio, at that time general solicitor of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railway Company. 
He continued as the assistant of Judge Swan, and of his successor, Hugh J. Jewett, until the 
latter assumed the presidency of the Erie Railway Company early in 1875, when Mr. Driggs was 
appointed assistant counsel of the Pennsylvania company, and Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Saint 
Louis Railway Company, with headquarters at Pittsburgh, in which position he remained until 
he came to Chicago, February i, 1881, and formed a partnership with George Willard, of whom 
a sketch is given on another page. Willard and Driggs, in addition to a general legal business, 
are the solicitors for several railway and other corporations. 

Mr. Driggs is a firm republican in politics, entertains liberal religious view^s, and is a Knight 
Templar in the masonic order. 

In 1872 he married Miss Helen Griffing, a native of Ohio; they have two children, a son and 
a daughter. 

JAMES' ENNIS. 

CHICAGO. 

JAMES ENNIS was born at Enniscorthy, County of Wexford, Ireland, March 27, 1837. His 
father, Lawrence Ennis, died on his son's fifteenth birthday, and James, together with his 
mother and five sisters, immigrated to America. His father had been what is known as a gentle- 
man farmer, and James had received a good education in the ordinary branches. On reaching 
America his mother purchased a farm in Lake county, Illinois, but James, with his delicate health, 
was not born to be a farmer. With little difficulty he secured the position of teacher in a neigh- 
boring school, and taught for some time, when he fell sick with a dangerous fever, and his life 
was for weeks despaired of. In 1854, on a bitter cold 3ay in winter, accompanying a neighbor 
farmer, who with an ox team was hauling a load of produce to Chicago, James walked to the city, 
which destiny chose for the place in which he was to achieve success, and pass the remainder of 



LWI'fKD STAfES BIOCKA PIIICA I. DICTIONARY. 



753 



his days. Willi a five-dollar bill in his pocket, and great expectations, he reached the city of his 
hopes, without a single acquaintance in the great metropolis. He soon secured a situation in a 
clothing store, but as the proprietor did not see fit to pay him as agreed upon, he left the store 
one day and went out on the street without any definite purpose, when a sign "justice court," 
attracted his attention. As he was seeking justice he entered the ofiice, and met Calvin DeWolf, 
a citizen well known to the people of Chicago, and who has been a justice of the peace for many 
years. After a long conversation with Mr. DeWolf, the residt was that James was hired by him 
as clerk, and commenced the study of law, and also the study of German, as he foresaw that 
the knowledge of that language would be of great aid to him in Chicago, with its large German 
population. January ii, 1856, although not yet of age, he was admitted to practice law, and 
November 3, 1858, he married Mar)' A. Sexton, a native of Chicago, and a daughter of one of the 
original Chicago settlers. Stephen Sexton. 

In 1861, the civil war breaking out, Mr. Ennis, who was a stanch Douglas democrat, was 
eager to enlist, but on account of the delicate state of his health his friends, after a hard struggle, 
kept him at home, as his phj'sician said that the exposure incidental to the campaign would kill 
him, as he was then suffering from lung troubles. He had built his home on North La Salle street, 
north of Division street, where most of his children were born, and had his office for several years 
at 109 Madison street. In May, 1871, however, he furnished two elegant offices at the new Open 
Board Building. 145 Madison street, in a most complete and magnificent manner, and they were 
said to be b)' the bar, and commented upon by the press as, two of the finest law offices in Chicago. 
His law library alone was valued at seven thousand dollars. A few months later, in October of 
tlie same year, the ever-memorable fire swept away his offices, his home, and his houses on the 
North Side, and he lost in twenty-four hours twenty-five thousand dollars of property which he 
had worked for long and industriously. His real estate, his wife and seven children, together 
with a house on West Randolph street, remained. All his personal property, save an album of 
family pictures and a horse and buggy, had been swept away. His property had been insured in 
a home company, which paid but three mills on the dollar, but with his characteristic energy he 
furnished his W^est Side house, opened his law office in the parlor, and proceeded after only a 
week's delay with his law business. 

In 1872 he moved his office to room 22, Metropolitan Block, where it remained up to the time 
of his death, and is now occupied by his son and successor in business, Lawrence M. Ennis. The 
panic whicli swept the country in 1873 cost him forty thousand dollars. He had purchased a 
large tract of Chicago real estate, and owing to the depression in business, was unable to meet 
his payments, and lost the whole tract. August 11, 1876, his loving wife died, leaving nine chil- 
dren, the eldest of which was sixteen years of age, and the youngest a mere babe. This was the 
heaviest loss of all, and he never seemed to recover from it. A couple of years later he married 
again, and had one child by his second wife. November 9, 1880, after a two days' illness, he died 
of heart disease at his residence, aged forty-two years, seven months and twelve days, and two 
days later, in the presence of sorrowing friends, relatives, clients and neighbors, he was buried in 
Calvary Cemetery, and his short but busy life was over. A few days after, a large meeting of 
the Chicago bar was held, attended by the judges and lawyers, and long resolutions were drawn 
up and adopted to his memor)'. 

Mr. Ennis was tall, slim in figure, with a strikingly intellectual countenance, with coal black 
hair and eyes; his face, saving a black mustache, was kept clean-shaven, and he looked to be no 
more than thirty-three or thirty-four years of age. Owing to the fact that he neglected to have 
his photograph taken since his early youth, we are unable to preserve an engraving of him in this 
work. His eldest son was often taken for his brother by those who did not know that he was 
hrotherless. He was a deep student. Science, history and the study of German and Latin were 
his recreations. He was a hospitable host, but despised parties and society generally. He was a 
man of firm convictions, and with sufficient energy to carry his j^rojects into effect. In religion 
he was a Roman Catholic, and his wife and children are of the same failli. In politics he was a 



754 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICIIONARY. 

life-long, active democrat. Although often tendered nomination for different offices by his party, 
he always answered, "Wait till Lawrence (his eldest son) is old enough to take care of my prac- 
tice, but not now." His son, Lawrence; inherited his father's politics, and was of age November 
2, 1881, the day of the presidential election. Father and son cast the same ticket for Winfield 
Scott Hancock, and one week later the father died, leaving Lawrence just old enough to carry on 
his business. He spoke German so fluently that his nationality was often discussed and doubted, 
and there is many a good old German in Chicago to-day, who, if you tell him that James Ennis 
was not a German, will shake his head dubiously, but, if you dare go further and say that Ennis 
was an Irishman, you will receive a very emphatic denial to your statement. 

As an advocate Mr. Ennis was at his best. He was a clear, logical, convincing speaker, and 
with his ready Irish wit, remarkable memory, teeming with droll and wittv stories, was a success 
before a jur\'. The history of the Chicago bar can never be completely written without a page 
devoted to him. He was honest, able, capable and the soul of honor, and in his twenty-four 
years' practice never forgot his duties as a gentleman and a lawyer. He was very successful 
before the supreme court of the state, as the reports will show. He was remarkable for his clear 
perception of principles of law pertaining to any litigation with which he was connected. He 
appreciated by intuition the character and motives of litigants, jurors and witnesses; was persua- 
sive and convincing in argument, and achieved success, not only by his eloquence, but by clear and 
terse presentation of truths as applied to the common interests of society. 

His practice was large and lucrative, and at his death he left about twenty-five thousand dol- 
lars' worth of real estate to his children. His love of Latin can be seen in some of their names, 
which are as follows: Lawrence M., James I., Callistus S., LuUus J., SuL,ie M., Felicia A., Stephen 
F., Agnes M., Laura G. and Juventius T. James I. Ennis has an important position in the Mer- 
chants' Loan and Trust Bank. Callistus is with J. V. Farwell and Company. Lullus is with a 
prominent board of trade firm, the four eldest being graduates of the Chicago high school. The 
remainder of the children are attending school. They all bear many of their father's characteris- 
tics, and possess a marked famil}' individuality, and although their father was the last of his name, 
it will undoubtedly be some years before the family name dies out in Chicago. 



HON. LYMAN LACEY. 

HAVANA. 

LYMAN LACEY, for years a prominent lawyer in Mason county, and now judge of the circuit 
V and appellate courts, dates his birth May 9, 1832, at Dryden Four Corners, Tompkins 
county, New York, at the celebrated mineral springs, then owned by his father, John Lacey, who 
was a native of New Jersey. His mother, Chloe (Hurd) Lacey, was a native of the Empire State. 
In 1836 the family came as far west as Macomb county, Michigan, near Rochester, and the next 
year settled in Fulton county, this state, where John Lacey engaged in farming, and where he is 
still living. His wife died in 1879. 

The son had a fine opportunity to develop his muscle and harden his constitution by hard 
work on the farm, till twenty years of age, and he no doubt owes his excellent health to his early 
physical training. He is a graduate of Illinois College, class of "55; studied law with Hon. Lewis 
W. Ross, of Lewiston, since a member of congress, and was admitted to the bar in 1856. In the 
autumn of that year he settled in Havana, and was in practice here until he went on the l)ench. 
In 1862 he was elected by his democratic constituents a member of the lower house of the legisla- 
ture, and served one term. In June, 1873 he was elected judge of the seventeenth district, comprising 
the counties of Mason, Menard, Logan and De Witt. Four \'ears afterward the seventeenth and 
eighteenth districts were 'consolidated, and designated the seventh judicial circuit, and Judge 
Lacey was appointed by the supreme court one of the three appellate judges of the third or 
Springfield district. He was reelected one of the circuit judges in June, 1879, of the seventh 




HCZoooiir Jr a, C. 




UA'JJtH SJAfES BlOGKAl'lllCAI. l)lCllOi\AK V. -57 

judicial circuit, comprising tiie ten counties of Mason, Logan, l)c Witt, Menard, Cass, Morgan, 
Scott, Calhoun, Greene and Jersey, and he was appointed one of the appellate judges by the 
supreme court for the second district, held at Ottawa. Judge Lacey is a clear-headed man, with 
a fine judicial mind, and stands high among the jurists of the state. 

Judge Lacey was first married May 9, i860, to Miss Caroline A. Potter, of Beardstown, Cass 
county, she dying September 12, 1863; and the second time May 19, 1865, to Mattie A. Warner, of 
Havana. He has one child living by the first wife, Lyman Lacey, Jr., and five b\' his present 
wife: Charles, Frank, Mattie, Edward and Alice G. One child by the first wife and two by the 
second have died. 



HON. CONSIDER H. WILLETT. 

CIIICA GO. 

CONSIDER HEATH WILLETT was born in the town of Onondaga, near Syracuse, New 
York, December 12, 1840. His education was obtained in a select school near his home, and 
in Onondaga and Cortlandville academies. He took a course of private instruction in higher 
mathematics under Professor H. N. Robinson, at Elbridge, New York, and was graduated at the 
New York State Normal School at Albany, in the spring of 1862. He then volunteered as a pri- 
vate soldier at thirteen dollars a month and rations, and was afterward promoted to a captaincy, 
and served in the army of the rebellion till the close of the war. After his army life he attended 
a short course of medical lectures at Bellevue Medical Hospital College, in New York city. 

In the army our soldier, after studying every work on military tactics, and on international 
and military law, read Kent and Blackstone under the instructions of another captain, who had 
practiced law in Boston for many years. He attended the war class of the Albany Law- School, 
it being the first lectures after the war, and most of its members being veterans. The lecturers 
were Professor Amos Dean, Senator. Ira Harris and Judge Amasa J. Parker. May 10, 1866, he 
was admitted to the bar upon an examination in open court, in the supreme court at Albany, New- 
York. He studied law in Syracuse, in the office of the well known firms of Sedgwick, Andrews 
and Kennedy, and Ruger and Jenney, Charles H. Andrews being the late chief-justice of the 
court of appeals of New York, and Henry C. Riiger occupying that position at present. 

He then entered the law department of Michigan University, and was graduated in 1867, the 
professors being Judges J. V. Campbell, Thomas M. Cooley and C. I. Walker and Ashley Pond. 
After spending a few weeks in Syracuse, New York, in closing up a law and pension claim busi- 
ness established there, he located in Chicago, and became a member of the Illinois bar, July 29, 
1867. He was married at Ann Arbcjr, Michigan, November 5, 1867, to Miss L. Addie Wilder, who 
is an educated and accomplished lady. They have a pleasant home, and a flock of little ones. 
He has been conscientious and fearless in the discharge of public duties, giving satisfaction to 
those who sought the public good, and being feared anti traduced by those who only sought 
their own good at the expense of the public. The parents of the subject of this sketch were pio- 
neer farmers in the most fertile and beautiful parts of the Empire State. When a lad, he was 
taught all sorts of work which constitute farming, besides obtaining a practical knowledge of 
many kinds of manual labor. He was a clerk in a store, and deputy postmaster, and for two 
winters taught school. In the army he spent his time first w'ith the Army of the Potomac, and 
then in Florida, in the department of the Gulf. 

His life in Chicago has been that of a laborious lawyer. He has never been a candidate for a 
popular oflice, though he has been an active, influential and earnest politician ; but has been 
appointed village attorney of the village of Hyde Park three times, and county attorney of Cook 
county four times, the duties of such appointments being strictly within the line of his law busi- 
ness. His legal attainments, and attention to business early made his success assured. He has 
had his share of the varied law business which centers at Chicago. His employment has been 
sought in the most intricate and difficult cases, which are finallv to be determined by the courts 



758 UNITED STATES BIOi:kA PlflCA L DICTIONARY. 

of last resort. The legal accuracy and attention to close questions by Mr. Willett is well illus- 
trated by the case of Fisher vs. Deering, 60 111., 114. To win his case he had to overrule Chap- 
man vs. McGrew, 20 111,, loi, and Dixon vs. Buell, 21 111., 203, which held that leases were not 
assignable because not embraced in the statutes concerning negotiable instruments. Mr. Willett 
demonstrated that leases were assignable at the common law by virtue of the 32, Hen. VIII, 
Chap. 34, Sec. I, which had been adopted by our statutes concerning the common law. The 
principles of the ancient common law are living forces to-day in the titles and complications of 
real estate. 

He has an industry in the preparation of cases which will not permit any details to escape 
their place of usefulness, and understanding the principle which should govern the case, all 
things else are subordinated to the main design, and help to bring success. In the discharge of 
his duty to his clients, are found integrity and industry, honesty and zeal, and none ever feel that 
aught has been left undone that could contribute aid to the case. He has the ability, and takes 
rank among those who excel in whatever work is undertaken, and these are some of the many 
qualifications which indicate the sort of character he has built. 

Mr. Willett is not a man to waste time and force in keeping up mere appearances. He is in 
no sense a conventional man, and is too thoroughly in earnest to ever be contented with the 
petty aim of mere success. He has to the thoughtful observer always an earnestness akin to 
tragedy, yet his manner is undemonstrative, and his speech reserved. His earnestness shows an 
utter indifference to the trivialities, and in being absorbed in the principal things which are 
essential to accomplish results. Opportunity, which comes to most men veiled, so that they do 
not recognize her until she has passed, is to this man an open secret, consequently he pushes by, 
and wins the race, while other men wonder at his audacitv and success. 



AREA N. WATERMAN. 

CHICA GO. 

ARBA NELSON WATERMAN is a native of Orleans county, Vermont, and was born at 
. Greensboro, February 5, 1836. His father, Loring F. Waterman, a merchant, was born at 
Johnson, Vermont, and his mother, whose maiden name was Mary Stevens, was born in Greens- 
boro, her father being a mill owner and prominent business man in that town. The paternal 
great-grandfather of Arba was a captain in the revolutionary army, and had a number of sons 
who were substantial men, and among the leading citizens of Lamoille county, Vermont. One 
of them, Arunah Waterman, grandfather of our subject, was a woolen manufacturer at Mont- 
pelier, and served in the state senate for several years. Mr. Waterman received a first class aca- 
demic education at Johnson, Montpelier, Georgia, and Norwich military schools, all in his native 
state; taught one year in the Georgia Academy; studied law at Montpelier and the Albany (New 
York) Law School: was admitted to practice in 1861; opened a law office in Joliet, Illinois, and in 
1862 enlisted as a private in the looth regiment Illinois infantry, made up in Will county, and 
connected with the department of the Cumberland; was in numerous engagements, including 
Chicamaugua, Resaca, Dalton, and Altoona Mountains, etc. At the first-named battle he had his 
horse killed under him, and was afterward shot through the right arm and in the right side, but 
did not leave the service until August, 1864, being mustered out as a lieutenant-colonel of the 
regiment. On leaving the army Colonel Waterman opened a law office in Chicago, with residence 
at Waukegan, until 1868, when he removed to this city. He is doing a general civil business, and 
has a good class of clients, who impose in him the most implicit confidence. He is a thorough 
lawyer, and maintains the esteem and respect of both bench and bar. 

Mr. Waterman represented the eleventh ward in the city council for two years, 1873-1874, that 
being the only civil office that he has ever held. He is a decided and somewhat active republi- 
can and a Master Mason. 



ONITED STAIES lilOC.RA PHICAL DICTIONARY -cjg 

He married in December, 1862, Ella Louisa, daughter of Samuel Hall, formerly a merclianl in 
Brooklyn, New York. 

Mr. Waterman has been a student all his life, and has a keen relish for scientific studies. He 
was one of the founders of the Chicago Philosophical Society, before which he has lectured on 
one or more occasions. He is president of the Irving Literarjr Society, which is composed of pro- 
fessional men and others residing in the west division of Chicago. 



HON. LYMAN TRUMBULL. 

CHICAGO. 

NATURE is sometimes generous, but never prodigal of her resources. Notwithstanding its 
general intelligence, its intense mental activities, its scientific, artistic and literary develop- 
ment, our country has produced few men worthy to be called statesmen, and still fewer profound 
constitutional lawyers. Of these, however, Illinois is conceded to have given the nation one, Hon. 
Lyman Trumbull. 

He was born in Colchester, Connecticut, October 12, 1813, and received his early education at 
Bacon Academy, in his native town. At the age of sixteen years he commenced teaching school, 
and at twenty assumed charge of an academy at Greenville, Georgia. In addition to the onerous 
duties of teacher, Mr. Trumbull now devoted his leisure hours to the study of law, and in 1837 
was admitted to the bar of Georgia. Sagaciously perceiving the Mississippi Valley was destined 
to become the seat of mighty states, he immediately removed to Illinois, and settled at Belleville, 
in Saint Clair county, and commenced the practice of law. This, however, was soon interrupted, 
for in 1S40 he was a representative to the legislature of Illinois, and before the expiration of his 
term was appointed secretary of state, which position he filled for two years. Returning to the 
practice of his profession, he devoted himself so zealously' and assiduously thereto that in a few 
years he became the peer of the most eminent and experienced lawyers in the state. In recogni- 
tion of his peculiar fitness for the position, he was, in 1848, elected one of the justices of the 
supreme court of Illinois, and in 1852 was reelected for nine years. In 1853 he resigned from the 
supreme bench, and in the following year was chosen to represent his district in congress. Before 
he had taken his seat, the legislature elected him senator for six years, from March, 1855. In 
1 86 1 he was reelected senator, and again in 1867. After eighteen consecutive years' service as 
senator from Illinois, he returned to the state he had served so long and faithfidly, and resumed 
the practice in Chicago, where he still resides. 

His ability and eminence as a statesman and constitutional lawyer have received fitting and 
graceful recognition from McKendree and Yale Colleges, both of which have conferred upon him 
the honorary degree of doctor of laws. Unlike too many of our public men. Judge Trumbull's 
private life has been pure, unsullied and upright, as his public career has been brilliant, honorable 
and successful. 

JOHN OLNEY. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE subject of this biography was born Januar\' 10, 1822, at ShawneetowTi, Illinois, where 
his family had settled, having come thither from the East. John passed his boyhood and 
youth in his native place, receiving a good common-school education. He was studious and 
industrious in his habits, and early in life evinced a strong liking for the legal profession, and a 
determination to prepare himself for its duties. With this purpose in view, he entered an ofiSce 
at his native place, and in 1844, after a thorough and careful course of study, passed an examina- 
tion, and received his license to practice. He at once entered upon the duties of his profession 
in his native town, and gradually rose to an honorable position at thi' bar. being known as an 
able advocate and a safe and conscientious adviseiv 



760 iiNr/7-:n stjtf.s nmcR \ rimwr D/ry/o.v.iKV. 

At tlic opening of the war of the rebellion, in 1861, Mr. Olney enlisted in the service, and 
being chosen lieutenant-colonel of the 6th regiment Illinois cavalry, at once proceeded to Padu- 
cah, Kentucky, at which post he was placed in command.- Colonel Olney was actively engaged 
in the service until 1S63, when he was honorably discharged, having been wounded and disabled, 
and returned to his home, and resumed the practice of his profession. Two years later, in 1865, 
he removed to Cairo, Illinois, where, in 1867, he was elected judge of the circuit court of Alexan- 
der, Pulaski, Massac and Pope counties. Although elected for a term of six years, he resigned 
his office in 1S69. and accepting the office of supervisor of internal revenue, to which he was 
appointed by President Grant, removed to Chicago, where he still resides. Judge Olney satisfac- 
torily performed the duties of his appointment until 1871, when, being removed from office, he 
again resumed his profession, giving his attention especially to matters growing out of the law 
respecting internal revenue, a line of work to which he wa.'s, peculiarly adapted, and in vi'hich he 
secured an extensive practice. Like many others. Judge Olney suffered the loss of his valuable 
law library and many valuable papers in the great fire of October 9, 1871, but with unabated 
vigor, and courage undaunted, he immediateh' opened another oflice and began to repair his 
losses. 

In 1876 Judge Olney was the recipient of a very high compliment, being appointed revenue 
agent at Chicago, the duties of which office were very like those which devolved upon him as 
supervisor of internal revenue, that office having been abolished. To form any just estimate of 
the responsibilities of this office during the time of Judge Olney's appointment, and to appreciate 
the position in which he was placed, one needs to review the history of that period, — the high- 
handed and open defiance of the law, the bargain and sale among politicians, the offers of bribery, 
to which so many fell willing victims, the criminal prosecutions, in which were involved so many 
high in office and in public esteem, and the final disgrace that came to those who had participated 
in the revenue frauds. Through this trying time Judge Olney passed, faithful to his trust, show- 
ing at the close of his official career a clean record, and a character above the slightest reproach. 
Judge Olney is now engaged in the general practice of his profession, and wherever known is 
recognized as an able lawyer and upright man. 



HON. ELIJAH B. SHERMAN. 

CHICAGO. 

OF Mr. Sherm.an it may be truthfully said that he belongs to that class of self-made men to 
whom Chicago owes so much of its prosperity. He is of Anglo-Welsh ancestry, his father 
being Elias H. Sherman, and his mother Clarissa (Wilmarth) Sherman, who were residents of 
Fairfield, Vermont, where he was born June 13, 1S32. He remained upon the ancestral farm en- 
gaged in farm avocations during the summer months, and in attending school and teaching 
during the winter until about twenty-two years of age. In 1S54 he removed to Brandon, Ver- 
mont, where he was for a time employed as a clerk in a drug store. During the following year 
he entered the academy at Manchester, where he began a course of study preparatory to entering 
college. Upon leaving the academy he entered Middlebury College at Middlebury, Vermont, 
where he completed the full college course, graduating in i860. From the first he took high rank 
ia college, and was selected as poet for the junior exhibition as well as for the graduating exer- 
cises of his class. Since graduation he has been twice invited to address the associated alumni 
of his college. 

After graduation Mr. Sherman spent a year in teaching at South Woodstock, Vermont, at the 
expiration of which time he took charge of the Brandon Seminary, where he continued until May, 
1862. He then enlisted as a private in the 9th Vermont infantry, and was soon after elected lieu- 
tenant of company C. He served with his regiment until January, 1863, when he resigned, his 
regiment then lieing on duty at Cainp Douglas, Chicago. He immediately entered upon the 



nNITED STATES lUOCK i PN/CA /. D/C'/TO.VA RY. 763 

Study of kuv, and altended the full course of lectures at the law department of the University of 
Chicago, graduating in 1864. He was admitted to the bar upon graduation, and at once engaged 
in the practice of his profession in Chicago, and has been in continuous and successful practice 
from that time. He has for several years been the solicitor for the state auditor, and in that 
capacity has had charge of many important litigations. As such solicitor he instituted the pro 
ceedings for closing the affairs of the Republic Life Insurance Company, the Chicago Life Insur- 
ance Company, and the Protection Life Insurance Company, in all of which cases constitutional 
questions of the first importance were involved. Mr. Sherman's interpretation of the general 
insurance laws under which these companies are being wound up have been sustained by the 
highest courts, and have thus become precedents for guidance in future cases. One of these cases 
is now pending in the supreme court of the United States, involving the entire question of legis- 
lative control over corporations, and the extent to which such control may be exercised without 
impairing the obligation of the charter contract. The decision of this question will make this 
litigation the most important as regards the law of corporations since the historic Dartmouth 
College case. He has also prosecuted other important cases involving kindred questions, among 
the more notable of which is the case of Eames vs. The State Savings Institution, in which the 
largest savings bank in the West was taken from a voluntary assignee and placed under the man- 
agement of a receiver, upon a bill filed by Mr. Sherman, assisted by other eminent lawyers, in 
behalf of all the depositors and creditors of the bank. ' 

In 1876 he accepted the republican nomination for the Illinois house of representatives for the 
then fourth senatorial district. He was elected by a flattering majority, and was reelected in 
1878. His thorough training and ripe scholarship, coupled with his experience at the bar and his 
profound knowledge of the law, at once gave him high rank as a legislator, and his name is iden- 
tified with all the more important legislation of those years. He served as'chairman of the com- 
mittee on judicial department, and was chiefly instrumental in formulating the law establishing 
the system of appellate courts which are now a part of the judicial system of Illinois. He was 
also chairman of the committee on corporations and a member of the judiciary committee, as 
well as of the military committee which prepared the military code now in force. As a legislator 
he was uniformly arrayed against all jobbing schemes, and proved himself an earnest and elo- 
quent champion of the rights of the people. His long experience in the trial of causes at the 
bar gave him a quickness and readiness in debate which placed him in the front rank as a de- 
bater, and his services as a legislator constitute one of the most satisfactory features of his suc- 
cessful career. 

In 1879 Mr. Sherman was appointed one of the masters in chancery of the United States cir- 
cuit court for the northern district of Illinois by Judges Harlan, Drummond and Blodgett. The 
apppintment was made at the request of the leading members of the bar of the city and state, 
and, as the result has shown, was in every respect a most fitting one. His long and successful 
practice in chancery causes, his thorough familiarity both with the principles and procedure of 
c<5urts of chancery, coupled with unusual habits of industry, application and accuracy, have ena- 
bled him to discharge the duties of this important office to the complete satisfaction of the bench 
and bar, while he has at the same time continued in the successful practice of his profession. 
His name has frequently been mentioned for higher office upon the bench and elsewhere, for 
which his experience and abilities have well qualified him, but he has thus far preferred to retain 
the very satisfactory position which he now occupies in his profession. 

Mr. Sherman has served as grand master of the grand lodge of the order of Odd-Fellows, 
and was its representative for two years to the sovereign grand lodge. He is an active member 
of the Chicago Philosophical Society, of the Chicago Bar Association, and of the Chicag(.) Law 
Institute. He is a member of the State Bar Association, of which he has been president, and he 
delivered the annual address before that body at its association in January, 1882. This addr(;ss 
was published by the association and was largely circulated, attracting much attention, not only 
for its merit as a lirilliant literary production, but because of its keen, incisive and well aimed 
74 



764 UNITED STATES RfOCRAPHICAL DICTIONARV. 

blows at the existing faults in our jurisprudence, coupled with some admirable suggestions for 
their reform. He is also a member of the American Bar Association, and a member of the 
General Council, and has been prominently identified with various other societies and organiza- 
tions of a public and philanthropic character. 

In private and in social life he is one of the most agreeable of gentlemen. Well read in the 
literature of the times, a close and accurate thinker, a brilliant conversationalist, courteous, chari- 
table and considerate to all, he combines in an eminent degree the qualities essential to a culti- 
vated gentleman, in the best sense of that much abused term. 

In 1866 he was married to Hattie G. Lovering, daughter of S. M. Lovering, of Iowa Falls, 
Iowa, a lady of most estimable character, and possessing in a marked degree the solid accom- 
plishments and womanh' devotion which render home and home life restful and happy. 



c 



LUTHER M. SHREVE. 

CHICAGO. 
UTHER MARTIN SHREVE was born September 11, 1819, near Nicholasville, in the county- 



of Jessamine, state of Kentucky, and was the youngest child of William and Ann Shreve, 
each of whom had families of sons and daughters at the time of their marriage by former mar- 
riage. William Shreve, for many years judge of.the county court of Jessamine, was born in Mary- 
land, and while but a boy at a country school in his native state, joined a passing company of 
volunteer infantry, and served the full term for which he enlisted in the revolutionary war, and was 
awarded a pension in after life. He emigrated to Kentucky in early manhood, where he acquired 
an ample fortune, and lived and died respected and beloved by all who knew him. A lofty shaft 
of Italian marble reared over his remains can be seen by ever)' passenger upon the Kentucky Cen- 
tral, and though the beautiful farm has passed into other hands, the family burying ground with its 
broad approach is preserved in perpetuity, where repose his widow and many of the family. His 
eldest scjns, L. L. Shreve and I. T. Shreve, of Louisville, engaged in tiie iron manufacture, and 
through his direction and financial indorsement in every crisis which attended the business, and 
closed every manufactory which could not withstand the fluctuations that changes in the tariff 
system produced, they were enabled to amass large fortunes, and L. L. Shreve is remembered by 
the people of Louisville to-day, as one of the largest-minded, public-spirited men of that city. 
But three of the sons and daughters of William Shreve survive: Ann, the widow of L. V. Martin, 
and mother of a numerous famil)' of enterprising men and several married daughters; John M. 
Shreve, a resident of Louisville, and known as a man of large intelligence and great purity of life, 
and Luther M., the subject of this memoir, and the only member of the numercjus family who-em- 
barked in the profession of the law. 

Having graduated in the Saint Mary's Collegiate Institute of Kentucky, the youngest gradu- 
ate of the school, at seventeen years of age, he entered Cambridge, and was received by the pres- 
ident of the institute, Hon. Josiah Ouincy, as a university student, being considered then too 
young to enter the law department. After remaining one year in this department, during which 
time he had the benefit of the lectures of all the distinguished men who were then connected with 
that institution, under the direction of Hon. Joseph Story and Simon Greenleaf, he here pursued 
the study of the law. and in two years after received his diploma from that law school. The 
death of his father during this period left him, on his return to Kentucky, without the guidance 
and protection enjoyed by the older members of the family, but with ample means to commence 
the struggle of life. 

The successful efl'ort of the denizens of that portion of Mexico now known as the state of 
Texas, to form an independent government, was now in progress, and fired with the movement, 
after a few days passed with his aged mother, he determined to jf)in the army of Texans, and 
hastened to the scene, but being delayed by want of conveyance for several weeks, reached the 



UNITED STATES lUOiiRAPIIIiAl D/CT/O.V.! R V. -65 

shores of the "lone star" too late to be a participant in that revolution in whicii his brother John 
was engaged from its commencement to its memorable close at San Jacinto. 

He sojourned about two years in Texas, during which time sickness induced his return to 
Kentucky, where he soon afterward met the daughter of King Strong, of New York, who was vis- 
iting his brother, Doctor Henry L, Strong, and married her, and immediately settled in Saint 
Louis, and commenced the practice of his profession. He was soon after elected city attorney, 
and after serving a second term formed a law partnership with Hon. Uriel Wright, perhaps the most 
accomplished lawyer and eloquent advocate at the bar. This partnership continued until the war 
of the rebellion, when Mr. Wright joined the army of the South, and urged Mr. Shreve to go with 
him, but he refused. And though in full sympathy with the South and the justice of the cause, 
he declined to participate in the rebellion, and in a speech made from the court-house steps to an 
immense audience proclaimed the position he occupied in that eventful hour. On this occasion 
he declared his conviction that his people had just cause for complaint, just even to resistance, 
but whatever the grievance, it should be righted in the I'nion, and that he would never join any 
military organization that did not wave the national emblem, the stars and stripes; that the 
rebellion must be fought in the Union, not out of it; that secession was death to the cause for 
which they contended, and firm in these convictions he took no active part in that unfdrtunate 
struggle. As a result of the war, proscriptive laws were passed in Missouri, and among these the 
notorious iron-clad oath which debarred every lawyer from practice who did not take and sub- 
scribe to it. This Mr. Shreve refused to take, and for some years was denied the privilege of pur- 
suing his profession. 

The death of his wife during the last year of the rebellion was a terrible blow, and for several 
years he devoted more attention to an unsuccessful culture of cotton, than to the practice of the 
law, and in 1867 made a trip to Europe, where he renewed acquaintaince with, and married his 
present wife, Julia P. Aldershaw, the accomplished daughter of Hon. Aldershaw, master in chan- 
cery, of London, by whom he has two children living: Luther and Violet. 

While Mr. Shreve positively refused to enlist beneath the folds of the bonnie blue flag, he with 
equal firmness declined to join the army of the Union, impressed with the conviction that he could 
not conscientiously take up arms against those among whom he was born and reared, nor fight 
their battles under a foreign flag, floating upon the iconoclastic principles of secession. Despite 
this resolution firmly adhered to through the rebellion, he was court-martialed, tried and convicted 
for treason, the specific charges being outspoken expression, and aiding the enemy in the pur- 
chase of quinine, sent to the South for the benefit of southern soldiers shaking with the ague. 
The only proof submitted before the august drumhead, composed of the son of General Curtis as 
judge advocate, and two soldiers of German origin, one of them known to him as the carriage 
driver of Hon. Luther M. Kennett, mayor of the city of Saint Louis, and the other convicted of 
having robbed a stranger in his saloon, was that a small amount of money had been sent to Mr. 
Shreve to pay an order for some quinine, made upon the druggist who furnished it unknown to 
him. The conviction was promptly set aside by General Rosecrans as soon as the facts were 
made known to him. Confiscation of private property was the order of the day, and even the fur- 
niture in the dwellings of those who refused to participate in the war, or became obnoxious to 
the ruling provost, was dragged from their houses and sold. Such an order was resisted by him, 
and when late in the evening attempted to be enforced by an orderly and a few subalterns, he 
stood upon the threshold of his own house armed for the occasion, and defied them with sugges- 
tive expression if they attempted to enter the house, which was at once reported to headquarters. 
The order was suspended until next day and never carried out; being afterward placed under 
bonds of $40,000, and enjoined not to leave the state, which he had no purpose of doing. 

Amusing incidents sometimes occurred showing the fury of the times. On one occasion, hav- 
ing been paroled from imprisonment in the military prison upon honor to his own house, where 
his wife was lying on the bed of sickness and death, a lady friend visited Mrs. Shreve, and at nine 
o'clock was compelled to return home. As it was raining, Mr. Shreve, with an umbrella, escorted 



766 UNITED STATES lilOCRArHlCAL DICTIONARY. 

her ti) the cars two squares distant. During the walk he was observed by one of the spies offici- 
ating, tlie fact made known to the provost, and it was thirty days before he saw his wife again. 
Soon after the battle of Pea Ridge, knowing the commotion it would create in Saint Louis, Mr. 
Shreve suggested to some friends that it would be a good time to go fishing. John J. Anderson, 
a well known banker of the city, and John Y. Page, a brother lawyer, neither of whom had taken 
any part in the drama enacting, and Hon. Asa Jones, then United States district attorney for that 
district, a noble son of Vermont, and as ardent a lover of the Union as any one, were his com- 
panions. Having procured two buggies, they proceeded to Mud River, intending to remain all 
night at the house at which they stopped on the bank of the river, and socially enjoying the even- 
ing retired to bed, but before twelve o'clock were aroused by the clatter of horses' feet and sol- 
diers' gear, followed by the bursting of the door of the large room, and made prisoners by sixty 
stalwarts in the uniform of the United States. The captain was much inclined to release Mr. 
Shreve, as he had done him some service on an occasion in the criminal court, but Jones they 
knew to be an arrant rebel, his loft}' mien and jet-black full beard and piercing black eyes fully 
establishing his rebel proclivities. As a consequence, they were all marched across the hills of 
the Merrimac, fourteen miles distant, to the fortress in the darkness of night, riding double upon 
the bare-back buggy horses. The incident was subject of amusement to the newspapers, but 
never much enjoyed by the district attorney. 

Soon after his return from Europe Mr. Shreve removed to Chicago, where he is now engaged 
in the practice of his profession. Since his residence here he has taken no part in politics. He 
is a democrat in feeling, believing the principles of the democratic party insure the largest liberty 
to the citizen, and are the surest safeguard to the perpetuity of the republican institutions. 

Although not a professor of religion, he declares that advancing years but more firmly con- 
vince him of the great moral truths of the Bible, perhaps better illustrated in the teachings of 
the Christian denomination than any other, but dependent upon no profession to determine the 
hereafter. 

HON. EVERT VAN BUREN. 

CHICAGO. 

ONE of the oldest men still piacticing at the bar of Cook county, and one wfio has made a 
brilliant record as a lawyer, both in New York and this state, is he whose name we place at 
the head of this sketch, and who was born at Kinderhook, Columbia county, New York, Novem- 
ber 3, 1803. 

Evert received an academic education ; read law with J. and A. Vanderpoel, at Kinderhook; 
was admitted to the bar in 1827, and settled at first in Penn Yan, Yates county. New York. The 
bar of that county at that time was represented by such distinguished members as John C. 
Spencer, Mark H. Sibley and Dudley Marvin, who were located at Ca'nandaigua, Ontario county. 
His practice increased rapidly, and soon extended into the neighboring counties, and he showed 
himself the peer of the best of the legal fraternity in that part of the state. 

In 1836, Mr. Van Buren went to Buffalo, New York, it being "flush times," when everybody 
was rich or becoming so rapidly. He had or made influential friends there, and soon had a 
highly remunerative practice. He distinguished himself in the famous trial of Benjamin Rath- 
bun, for forgery, being one of the lawyers employed on the defense. 

At the earnest solicitation of his Yates county friends, Mr. Van Buren returned to Penn Yan 
in 1840, resuming his practice, and having many important criminal trials, in connection with 
which he greatly increased his reputation as a criminal lawyer. His triumphs were many and 
lirilliant. But his practice was by no means confined to criminal business. His civil practice, 
both in the courts of law and chancery, extended over the adjoining counties, and first suggested 
to him the idea of removing to a larger field, which he did by coming to Chicago. 

Mr. Van Buren, then a very young man, represented his congressional district in the national 



UNITED STATES BIOGRA PlflCA I. DICTIONARY. 767 

anti-masonic convention which nominated William Wirt for president in 1833. He was the 
youngest man in tlie convention, and was a member of tlie committee on resolutions. He sup- 
ported Martin Van Buren for president in 1836 and 1840, and has usually voted the democratic 
ticket. 

In 1856 he moved to Chicago, where he immediately built up a large and lucrative practice, 
and in 1862 was elected judge of the recorder's court, faithfully and honorably discharging the 
duties of that office, and at the end of the term he returned to the practice of his profession, in 
which he is still engaged. He stands in the front rank of his profession, having few superiors in 
the state. 

HON. JOHN SCHOLFIELD. 

MARSHALL. 

JOHN SCHOLFIELD was born in Clark county. Illinois, August i, 1834. His father was 
Thomas Scholfield, and the maiden name of his mother was Ruth Beauchamp. He received 
a common-school education, and in 1853 began reading law, subsequently attending the law de- 
partment of the Louisville Li^niversity, where he graduated in 1856. He then commenced to 
practice his profession at Marshall, the county seat of his native county, where he still resides. 
During his first year at the bar he was elected state's attorney for the fourth judicial circuit, an 
office which he filled very satisfactorily for four years, gaining considerable reputation as an 
attiirney. In i860 he was elected as a Douglas democrat to represent Clark county in the lower 
house of the legislature, where he served one term. In 1869 he was chosen as delegate from 
Clark and Cumberland counties to the constitutional convention; and in June, 1873, was elected 
for the unexpired term of si.K years, of Judge Thornton, of the second judicial district, who 
had resigned. This district comprises the counties of Clark, Crawford, Lawrence, Richland, 
Clay, Jasper, Cumberland, Effingham, Marion, Shelby, Christian, Fayette, Bond, Madison, Jersey, 
Calhoun, Greene, Montgomery and Macoupin. He served this term with the greatest satisfaction, 
and was reelected in 1879. 

Judge Scholfield is the youngest man on the supreme bench, and is considered by all who 
know him to be a very able and well read member of the profession. 



HIRAM NANCE, M.D. 

KEWANEE. 

Wfi! place at the head of this sketch the name of one of the oldest and most successful medical 
practitioners in Henry county, a native of Flo3'd county, Indiana, born September 23, 
1822. His parents were William and Nancy (Smith) Nance. He was partly educated in an 
academy at New Albany; left Indiana in 1836, and came with his family to Adams county, this 
state, settling at Columbus, where he finished his education, and was for some time in a drug 
store and clerk in the postoffice. At eighteen j-ears of age he commenced the study of medicine 
with Doctor J. W. Hollowbush, remaining with him for three years. He attended lectures at the 
University of Missoiu'i, Saint Louis; practiced one year at Lafayette, Mount Stark count)*, this 
state; returned to the university, took another course of lectures, and graduated in 1847. Re- 
turning to Lafayette, he remained there a few years longer, and then settled (i860) in Kewanee. 
He has made a splendid record, both as a physician and surgeon; is a member of the American 
Medical Association and the State Medical Society, and was one of the originators of the Military 
Tract Medical Society, and its second president. He has engaged extensively in real estate and 
financial operations, in which enterprises he has met with great success. 

He was married, April 20, 1847, to Sarah R. Smith, of Knox county. The issue has been 
twelve children, viz., Albinus, governor of Nebraska; Adella, a graduate of Normal University, 



768 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

married to C. A. Shilton, merchant, Kewanee; La Clede, died in 1858; Hiram Irving, educated at 
Knox College, Galesburgh, and Rush Medical College, Chicago, practicing at Creston, Iowa; 
Sarah Belle, educated at Normal University, married to George Castle, state senator and merchant 
at Blue Springs, Nebraska; Roswell S., engaged in farming and stock raising on an 800 acre farm 
in Jefferson count}', Nebraska; Claud B., died in 1867; Roy, studied at Knox College, at present 
studying dentistry; Frederick B., farming in Knox county, near Galva; Grace Lillian, died in 
1867; Charles H. and Willis Orville, students in high school, Kewanee. 

Doctor Nance has a brother, Doctor William H. Nance, a prominent physician, retired, and 
living at Vermont, this state; another brother, John S. Nance, a pioneer gold seeker in California, 
going out by ox and mule team in 1849, now living at Salina City, in that state. Another bn.ither, 
Clement Nance, many years a merchant, died at Ouincy, Illinois, in 1879. The grandfather of 
these brothers was a minister of the gospel, a noted mathematician, and a writer of sacred poems. 



HON. T. LYLE DICKEY. 

CHICAGO. 

TLYLE DICKEY is a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was born October 2, 181 1. 
. He entered the Ohio University in the fall of 1826, and continued there four years, and 
then entered the senior class of Miami University, and was graduated from that institution in 
1831. December 6, of that year, he was married to Miss Juliet Evans. He taught school in Ohio 
and Kentucky with marked success. He removed to McDonough county, Illinois, in the winter 
of 1S34, when he met Hon. Cyrus H. Walker, who persuaded him to study law. He commenced 
the practice of the law at Macomb, before he was admitted to the bar, with good success, and was 
admitted to the Illinois bar in 1835, at the age of twenty-three years. He removed to Rushville, 
Illinois, in 1836, and while practicing law, edited a whig paper at that place. He engaged in 
real-estate speculations, and the crash of 1837 rendered it impossible for him to meet his obliga- 
tions for a period of twenty-one years, the most of his notes bearing interest at twelve per cent. 
In 1S39 he removed to Ottawa, and continued his practice. In 1846 the Mexican war broke out, 
and he raised a fine company of men, of which he was appointed captain, and joined the ist reg- 
iment of Illinois infantry. After considerable service, he resigned on account of ill health, and 
returned home and resumed his practice. 

In 1848 he was elected judge of the circuit, comprising twelve counties, which position he 
filled four years, and then resigned and resumed practice. In 1854 he opened an office in Chi- 
cago, still residing in Ottawa. His wife died December 31, 1855. He practiceii law four years, 
and was then enabled to pay all his indebtedness, principal and interest, and in 1858 returned to 
Ottawa, prepared to live easier. In that year, though a whig so long as that party lasted. Judge 
Dickey espoused the cause of Douglas, in his famous contest with Lincoln, and gave him effective 
support in public addresses in many parts of the state. 

He formed a partnership with W. H. L. Wallace and his son, Cyrus E. Dickey, and practiced 
law until the war broke out, in 1861, when he raised a regiment (the 4th Illinois cavalry), and was 
appointed its colonel. He was with General Grant at the capture of Fort Henry; led the advance 
at Fort Donelson; participated in the battle of Shiloh, with both his sons and his son-in-law. 
General Wallace, who was killed. In the j'ear 1862 he was appointed chief of cavalry on General 
Grant's staff, and sent to Memphis in command of that post. He was in the battle of luka. He 
was placed in command of all of the cavalry in General Grant's army, comprising four brigades. 
He fought General Pemberton far in advance of his supports, four days, on his retreat from Tal- 
lahassee. He took 600 selected men, and made the first extensive raid into the enemy's country 
through a region filled with rebels, and returned without the loss of any men. It was he who 
suggested and organized the celebrated raid of Grierson, destroying the railroads about Jackson, 
Mississippi, in 1863. 



IKMITED STATUS lUOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 769 

He resigned in 1863, returned home, and formed a partnership vvijth John B. Rice. In 1866 he 
was democratic candidate for congress for the state at large. In 1868 lie was appointed assistant 
attorney general of the United States, and had charge of all government suits in the court of 
claims, and in that branch of litigation in the United States supreme court, which duties he per- 
formed with fidelity and great ability. He received high encomiums from the judges of that 
high court for the prompt and thorough manner in which he performed his duties. One of the 
most important cases ever tried in that court was that of the Floyd acceptance case, where Judge 
Dickey contended successfully against Judges Curtis and Jeremiah Black, the opposing counsel, 
and was sustained by the court. This position he held about two years, and then resigned and 
spent the winter in Florida. 

In the summer of 1870, he married Mrs. Hirst, of Prince Ann, Maryland. He then returned 
to Ottawa, and practiced law. He removed to Chicago in December, 1873. He was elected 
judge of the supreme court in December, 1875, to fill a vacancy, and was reelected in 1879 as an 
independent candidate, over Thomas Dent, a very worthy gentleman, the regular nominee, but 
Judge Dickey's personal popularity secured his election, although Mr. Dent's party was in the 
ascendancy. He has since remained upon the bench of the supreme court of Illinois, which posi- 
tion he fills to the utmost satisfaction of all. 



JOHN S. THOMPSON. 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN S. THOMPSON was born July 31, 1824, at Wilmington, Ohio. He was the son of Abel 
W. Thompson and Elizabeth (Scarff) Thompson. John was indeed a self-educated and origi- 
nal character, securing his educational training at a private school at Xenia in Ohio, but being of 
an inquiring mind and of studious habits, he early cultivated literary tastes, and had an especial 
zest for historical research. At seventeen years of age, in 1841, he emigrated from Ohio to Illi- 
nois, and commenced the preparation for his life calling, the profession of the law. He entered 
the law ofifice of his brother, an eminent and thoroughly read lawyer of Mercer county, Illinois, 
James S. Thompson, at Millersburgh, then the county seat of Mercer county. In 1843, at nineteen 
years of age, he was admitted by license of the supreme court of Illinois to assume the responsi- 
bilities of a member of the bar of Illinois, to practice in all courts of record of the state. He 
immediately commenced practice, and followed the routine of an extensive practice from 1843 to 
1845 in Mercer county and the surrounding counties and circuits. 

In the year of 1855, he was chosen judge of the tenth judicial circuit of the state of Illinois, 
which judicial district was composed of Mercer, Henderson, Warren and Knox. The district 
formerly included Fulton county, but by an act of the legislature of the state, passed through 
the advocacy of our subject, Fulton county was dropped from the tenth circuit. 

Elected for a constitutional term of six years, he held the responsible position for about five 
years and two months, resigning his position and laying aside the ermine. In 1S61 he again 
resumed practice in Mercer courjty, and followed the routine of legal business until 1864, when 
Judge Charles B. Lawrence was elected supreme judge of the state of Illinois, leaving the judge- 
ship of the tenth circuit vacant, when Judge Thompson was reelected circuit judge to fill the 
vacancy in the same circuit where he had presided with credit to himself, and to the satisfaction 
and approval of the bar in his district. In 186S the heavy duties of the office proving too labori- 
ous for his health, he again resigned. In the year 1866 Judge Thompson enlisted in the enter- 
prise of building a railroad from Galva, in Henry county, to the Mississippi River, the terminus 
being at New Boston. He raised a subscription among the agriculturists and capitalists of Mercer 
county, of about $175,000, and succeeded in building the road. 

In 1866, against his protest, he was nominated as a candidate for congress, and ran against 
General Abner C. Harding, one of the most popular men of his district, upon an independent 
ticket, but by ousting some counties of the fourth congressional district, he was defeated. 



7/0 UNITED STATES B/OGRAP/UCAL DICTIONARY. 

In the year 1870 our sut)ject removed to California, remaining at Oakland about two years, 
during which time he was engaged in traveling up and down the coast of southern California to 
Oregon. In 1872 he took up his abode at Los Angeles, there resuming the practice of his pro- 
fession, and at the same time engaging in politics. Against his protest he was made a candidate 
of the independent party of the state, there being three tickets in the field, the democratic, re- 
publican and the independents, the latter being opposed to railroad monopoly. He was a candi- 
date for congress at the same time John Bidwell, one of the best and most deservedly popular 
men of California, was a candidate for governor, but the railroad interest and money effected his 
defeat, though while canvassing the state, in concert with Governor Bidwell, they had a perfect 
ovation, and their meetings were large and enthusiastic. After the campaign closed he went to 
Los Angeles and resumed practice. Judge Thompson is at present engaged in railroading at 
Chicago. 

He is phenomenally unostentatious, but of a clear mind and quick comprehension, an able 
advocate, a safe counselor, conscientious in his opinions, cautious and shrewd as a manager in 
any enterprise he enters into. 

Judge Thompson is social and companionable to all whom he meets in his business concerns. 
He is a republican in his political views and adherence, independent in his views, but not obtru- 
sive in his sentiments, having a large charity for all sects and conditions, a true friend, and 
sincere and self-reliant in his intercourse and business and social relations with all. 



DAVID BRAINERD LYMAN. 

CHIC A GO. 

DAVID B. LYMAN was born March 27, 1S40, in Hilo, in the Island of Hawaii, Sandwich 
Islands. He is a son of Rev. David B. Lyman, who was formerly of New Hartford, Con- 
necticut, and who, having graduated at Williams College, studied theology at the Andover Theo- 
logical Seminary. After completing his theological studies, Mr. Lyman, Sr., married, and sailed, 
in November, 1831, for the Sandwich Islands, as a missionary of the American Board of Commis- 
sioners for Foreign Missions, where he and his wife still reside, laboring for the cause of 
Christianity and civilization. The subject of this sketch acquired his education by his own 
efforts, having maintained himself since early boyhood, and applied his leisure hours to study. At 
a very early age he held several important positions under the government of the Sandwich 
Islands, thereby obtaining means to prepare himself for, and go through with, a university edu- 
cation. 

In 1859 he left Honolulu, sailed around Cape Horn, and arrived in New Bedford, Con- 
necticut, in May, i860. He entered Yale College in September of that year, and graduated in 
arts in 1864. After leaving Yale, Mr. Lyman went to Harvard Law School, and entered upon 
the study of law, and graduated in 1866. After leaving Yale, and during the time that he was 
enrolled as a student at Harvard Law Sch'ool, in the years 1864 and 1865, he was connected with 
the sanitary commission as hospital visitor. He was then in charge of the 5th corps hospital, of 
the Army of the Potomac, and also the Point of Rocks hospital, in Virginia, and for the last few 
weeks of his service was in charge of the sanitary commission of the forces concentrated around 
Washington. 

In 1866, after finishing his course at the law School, Mr. Lyman having been admitted to the 
bar in Boston, removed to Chicago, and entered the office of Waite and Clark as a clerk, and 
remained in that capacity two years. July i, 1S69, he formed a partnership with Huntington W. 
Jackson, under the firm name and style of Lyman and Jackson, which is to-day one of the oldest 
partnerships in Chicago. 

Mr. Lyman has fine literary attainments, and is a good classical scholar. He has been highly 
successful in the practice of his chosen profession. While he has, perhaps, devoted more time to 




H r_ Oncp ur Jr X Uu 



^TL^.^ 



~7u^ 




^^/^6/~Z.^ .^^ J^^.-J^-t^^^^^^^^ , 



A 



UNITED STATES BIOGRArillCAf. niCIIONAKV. 77:5 

real estate and commercial law than to any other branch, so general has been his reading, and 
such has been his industry, that he is a general practitioner, being at home everywhere, and 
always ready for attack or defense. The subject of this sketch has much natural ability, yet by 
the thoroughness with which he prepares his cases, he illustrates the truth of the well known 
maxim, "there is no excellence without labor." 

While Mr. Lyman has probably a higher reputation as an able and learned counselor than as 
an advocate before a court or jury, yet such is his standing, and so thoroughly does he investigate 
and prepare his cases, that his arguments usually carry more weight than those of other members 
of the bar who may possess more of the gift of eloquence. 

He has the confidence of his clients, because they know he will not advise them to commence 
a suit unless their course is right, and then only when there is no remedy for them save in litiga- 
tion. Mr. Lyman is noted for his indefatigable, industry, for his painstaking preparation and 
management of his cases, for his unvarying courtesy toward everyone with whom he comes in 
contact, and for his most thorough and conscientious discharge of his duty to his clients. These 
qualities, added to his well known ability and learning, have given him a high standing with his 
brethren of the bar, as well as with the courts. 

Mr. Lyman takes no active part in politics, but is a stanch republican. He was married, Octo- 
ber 5, 1870, to Miss Mary E. Cossitt, daughter of F. D. Cossitt, of Chicago, and has three children 
living. He resides in La Grange, one of the suburbs of Chicago. 



HON. DAVID HARRISON PATTON. 

PAXTON. 

AMONG the early pioneer settlers of Illinois is enrolled the name of David H. Patton, who 
L was born near Lexington, Clark county, Kentucky, November 15, 1806. His parents were 
Matthew and Rebecca (May) Patton, his father being a native of England, while his mother was 
from Ireland. The early education of our subject was such as the log school houses of a sparsely 
settled and imperfectly organized new country afforded. When about seventeen years of age, by 
great industry, he had gathered sufficient knowledge to teach school, and leaving home he 
obtained a school in Preble county, Ohio, where he taught for five years, at the same time improv- 
ing his opportunities by hard study. When he was twenty-one years of age he had accumulated 
a small amount of money, and made his first purchase of real estate, buying eighty acres of land 
for $100, which he held for about one ^'ear and sold it for $500. He began the study of law under 
the instruction of the late Hon. Oliver H. Smith of Congressville, Indiana. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1830 and began the practice of his profession at Lafayette, Indiana, and practiced with 
great success for ten years, accumulating considerable wealth. He then engaged in farming for 
a few years, dealing in stock very extensively, buying hogs, cattle and horses, and at the same 
time carrying on a dry-goods business, where he made considerable money. He only continued 
the dry-goods business for two years, when he closed out the store and gave his full attention 
again to farming, which he carried on in Indiana very successfull)' and extensively until 1853, 
when he came to what is now.Paxton, but what was then nothing but a wild waste of prairie 
land. He settled on a farm of over goo acres, about two miles from the town, where he carried on 
a very large business, farming, stock raising and speculating, and in 1865, being worn out by active 
life, he rented the farm and moved to Paxton, which was then a small town. Here he speculated 
and made a great deal of money, which he used liberally in all the public interests. Many pros- 
perous men owe their success to his kindness. He has been elected Judge of Ford county for four 
successive terms of four years, making him in all sixteen years on the bench, where he was highly 
respected. He is a man of great purity of character, is well read in law, has good judgment, 
dignity, decision of character, and other qualities which made him an excellent and truly a great 
and impartial judge. While Judge Patton prospered in all his undertakings from his first 
75 



774- UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

land purchase at $ioo to his later speculations involving thousands, his free good will and kind- 
ness toward others proved disastrous to him in the panic of 1873. 

In religion the judge is an Episcopalian, but is liberal in his views and is a worshiper of God 
and not denomination, and has been a very liberal supporter of all denominations. In politics 
he is republican, but has never taken any special or active part, except in the town elections. 

Mr. Patton married July 14, 1829, Miss Synthe Bush, of Lafayette, and they had four children, 
three daughters and one son. His wife who was an estimable lady of fine native endowments, a 
great help to him during his dark hours of late years, a devoted wife, and fond mother, died 
January 5, 1878. He afterward married Mrs. Elizabeth Plummer, of Paxton, and they are now 
living a quiet life, the judge being perfectly contented with his lot and enjoying life as much as 
he did in his prosperity. His character for integrity and uprightness is unimpeachable, and he 
occupies in the community in which he lives a position that commands the respect, confidence 
and love of all his fellow citizens. 



HON. EDWARD R. ALLEN. 

AURORA. 

EDWARD RICHARDS ALLEN, for more than forty years a resident of Aurora, Kane 
county, is a son of Edward and Anna (Richards) Allen, and was born in Cortland, Cortland 
county. New York, November 7, 1819. When fifteen years old he went to Lockport, New York, 
and was indentured to George W. Merchant, a druggist, with whom he remained four years. 
In 1839 he came to Chicago, where he was in the drug business for two years, and then (1841) 
settled in Aurora. Here, at first, for a period of ten or twelve years, Mr. Allen was engaged in 
general merchandise, and in 1853, in company with L. D. Brady, built a warehouse, and has since 
been in the grain and produce business, and real estate, at times also adding manufactures, run- 
ning a sash, door and blind factory, which he now rents. He is a' stockholder of the Silver Plate 
Company, and a director of the First National Bank, of Aurora. 

Mr. Allen was postmaster of Aurora during the democratic administrations of Polk and Pierce; 
became a republican when his old party threw itself into the arms of the slave power, and was 
sent to the lower house of the Illinois legislature in 1858, and to the upper house in i860, 
serving six consecutive years in the legislature. He was one of the commissioners who located 
the asylum for the feeble-minded. 



HON. HORACE S. CLARK. 

MA TTOON. 

HORACE S. CLARK first saw light, August 12, 1840, in (reauga county, Ohio. His father 
was Captain J. M. P. Clark, a native of New England, and the maiden name of his mother 
was Charlotte Brainard, a native of Ohio. Mr. Clark received such education as was obtainable 
from the ordinary country school, until the age of fourteen, when he started for the West. He 
had sufficient means to enable him to reach Chicago, where he arrived without money, friends or 
influence. 

Mr. Clark started as a common laborer in Chicago, and afterward worked on a farm during 
the busy season, attending school during the winter, and in this way gained considerable knowl- 
edge and saved some money. He then entered the Iowa State University, and worked his way 
through that institution by teaching school, and studying law during his vacations, and subse- 
quently taught school while studying law under Hon. W. E. Miller, and was thus engaged at the 
breaking out of the rebellion, when he raised and organized a company, but afterward became 
dissatisfied with the conduct of the administration and disbanded his troops, resolving to take no 



UNITED STATES BfOGRA PHICAL DICTIOXARY. 775 

part in the war. But. owing to subsequent change of affairs, and his patriotism still existing, he 
enlisted as private in company E, 73d regiment Ohio infantry. He was soon promoted to 
orderly sergeant, and afterward he was commissioned first lieutenant, and in this capacity he 
served in the battle of Gettysburgh, where he was severely wounded, which disabled him for the 
service, and he was honorably discharged. He was afterward offered the position of lieutenant- 
colonel of a new regiment, by Governor Todd, but was forced to decline, not being able to serve. 

Immediately after the war he settled in Mattoon, and continued his study of the law, and in 
1868 was admitted to the bar. Previous to his admission, he was elected police magistrate of 
Mattoon, and afterward judge of the court of common pleas of Mattoon, and has since his admis- 
sion practiced law with great success. He has won an enviable reputation in central Illinois as 
a criminal lawyer, and is a strong advocate before a jury, possessing powerful elocutionary pow- 
ers, and never tiring in the interest of his client. 

In 1880 he was elected state senator by the republican party. In politics he is a republican, 
and has always been an active worker and is a leading man in the party in Coles county, and is 
considered one of the best orators of central Illinois. 



HON. SAMUEL H. TREAT. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

JUDGE TREAT, who has spent nearly half of his life on the bench, is a son of Sarpuel and 
Elsie (Tracy) Treat, and was born in Otsego county. New York, June 21, 1812. He received 
an academic and legal education in his native state ; came to the West and settled in Springfield 
in 1834, and five years afterward (1S39) was appointed circuit judge, successor to Hon. Stephen 
T. Logan, filling that office until 1841. He then became a judge of the supreme court of Illi- 
nois, being assigned to circuit duties, and holding that position until 1855, when he was appointed 
by President Pierce to the bench of the United States district court. That office he has held for 
twenty-seven years, and has made for himself a highly creditable record as a jurist. He has been 
on the bench so long, and is so far advanced in age, that many of his friends think he is a little 
slow in his court business, and it is not unlikely that by the time this work is out of the press, he 
mav be on the retired list. 

The judge is a man of great purity of character, and his opinions are regarded as fine speci- 
mens of judicial writing, being clear, direct and terse. He has a wife, but no children. 



HON. JAMES C. ALLEN. 

OLNE V. 

JAMES C. ALLEN was born January 22, 1822, in Shelby county, Kentucky. His father was 
Benjamin Allen, of Irish ancestrj', and a native of Virginia. The maiden name of his mother 
was Margaret Youel, who was of Scotch ancestry, her people settling in Virginia as early as 1800. 
His parents, soon after his birth, removed to Indiana, settling on a farm in Park count)', where 
James remained until 1830. His time was spent as that of most farmer boys. He had a poor 
chance of obtaining an education, but obtained what he could by his own exertions after his day's 
work, taking the advantage of an occasional few months' schooling, and finishing his education at 
Rockville high school, supporting himself while there, paying his own tuition. He then studied 
law with Filhnan A. Howard, and subsequently with Hon. Jas. A. Wright, and was admitted to the 
Indiana bar in 1843, and in the fall of the same year settled in Sullivan, where he began his practice 
and continued in a very successful clientage for four years, in the meantime being elected prose- 
cuting attorney in that circuit. In 1847 he removed to Palestine, Crawford county, where he con- 
tinued his practice, and in 1850 was sent to the legislature, where he took an active part. The 



7/6 UiVITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

principal question arising in that session was between the liberal policy and the state policy. 
The latter gained the point, and railroad charters were then granted for any corporations who 
could bond them. 

In 1852 he was elected to congress, where he also took an active part. The principal feature 
of that session was passing the Kansas and Nebraska bill. He was reelected in 1854, and during 
that session there were many important questions discussed. In 1858 Mr. Allen was elected as 
representative from this district to United States congress, and was clerk of the house; and dur- 
ing this time there was a severe struggle which resulted in Pennington being elected as clerk of 
the house, which position Mr. Allen had occupied about nine weeks. 

In i860 he was nominated for governor, but was defeated, and the next fall he was elected 
judge of this circuit, which position he resigned to be a candidate for congress, and was elected 
to that office from the state at large in 1862. In 1870 he was elected to the constitutional conven- 
tion which revised the constitution of the state, and in 1873 was again elected circuit judge of 
this circuit, and while in that position removed to Olney, and at the expiration of the term of 
office withdrew from public life and began to practice law and soon enjoyed a good clientage. 
He has always been a stanch member of the democratic party, and a hard worker. There are 
few who have held more positions of honor than Judge Allen, while in the political field, and who 
have been more worthv of honors. 



HON. CHARLES B. LAWRENCE. 

CHICAGO. 

CHARLES B. LAWRENCE was born, December 17, 1820, at Vergennes, Vermont. He was 
a true type of the New England gentleman, and in his blameless life furnished a worthy 
e.xample of what may be accomplished by a lifetime of honest, conscientious and faithful work. 
His rise to eminence as a lawyer and jurist was a gradual growth, the result of honest work and 
true merit, and few have attained such honors with as few blemishes. As to his public career, 
every successive step was wisely and happily taken, and as a whole was no less honorable to the 
individual than useful to those who came in contact with him. Throughout his life, his talents, 
his patriotism, his learning as a lawyer, and his clearness as a judge, shone, not dazzlingly, but 
with a steady and tranquil ray, that survives the flash of cotemporary lights that blazed for a 
time to be quickly extinguished. 

He was educated in Vermont ; attended Middlebury College there, and subsequently gradu- 
ated at Union College in eastern New York, in 1841. His father was a merchant, a member of 
the Vermont state senate, held other important positions, and was much in public life. After 
Charles B. graduated, he engaged in teaching in Alabama for two years ; thence to Saint Louis 
and read law in the office of Senator Geyer, one of the ablest members of the bar of that city, and 
was soon after admitted to the bar. From there he moved to Ouincy, Illinois, and commenced 
practice in the spring of 1845, soon attaining to a high position at the bar as an attorney, and 
gaining the esteem of the profession and the public. 

In 1856, on account of impaired health, he gave up practice and went to Europe, remaining 
two years, and returned much improved in health ; bought and settled on a farm in Warren 
county, Illinois, and actively engaged in farming. Three years later the circuit judgeship of that 
district became vacant, and he was solicited to accept the nomination, which he did, and was 
elected to the place without opposition, which was a decisive expression of the confidence and 
regard of his neighbors, and their appreciation of his qualifications and fitness for the place. He 
remained on that bench until 1864, when he was elected to the bench of the supreme court of 
Illinois, and subsequently elected chief-justice of that court. On the bench his capacity was as 
conspicuous as his industry was untiring. The majesty of the civil law had in him a courageous 
defender, and an able and clear exponent. As a judge he was the peer of any of the same grade 
m the Northwest. He had natural judicial ability, great legal learning, purity of purpose and 




KCCcrjper Jr g. C3 




'/ 




l/h. 



Eoj by E.OWMli.n. 5 4 Bro.NV 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DIVTIONAKY. 



779 



strict integrity, and maintained the purit}' of his ermine. His term expired in 1873, when he 
removed to Chicago and engaged in practice, being the senior member of the able and widely 
known firm, Lawrence, Campbell and Lawrence, principally engaged in important railroad and 
corporation cases. He was regarded as one of the ablest counsels and advocates in this connec- 
tion in the Northwest. 

Judge Lawrence was closely identified with, and ably illustrated the annals of the legal juris- 
prudence of this state at the bar and on the bench. His decisions and opinions will live as long 
as the jurisprudence of Illinois lives. He was clear and accurate in his investigations of import- 
ant and intricate cases, and forcible in presenting them. He possessed a comprehensive knowl- 
edge of law, a logical ability and great industry, and signalized himself by many notable successes 
in complicated and important litigation. 

As a rule, in his social relations, he was rather reticent, never curt, and had that surest mark 
of one who is at once well bred and kindly, his manners were the same to everyone ; a model of 
benevolence, generosity and magnanimity, a worthy citizen, respected and honored by all ; dig- 
nified but genial and agreeable, a gentleman of the older type. His life work is written plainly 
in the chronicles of his time. 



HON. CHARLES B. FARWELL. 

CHICAGO. 

CHARLES B. FARWELL was born at Painted Post, New York, July i, 1823, the son of 
Henry and Nancy Farwell. He studied at Elmira Academy, and after leaving school spent 
six years in farming, and in surveying public lands. He settled in Chicago in 1844, being then 
twenty-one years of age, and for a number of years was engaged in real estate and banking 
business. He served two terms as county clerk of Cook county, being first elected in 1853, and 
afterward became associated with the noted wholesale house of J. V. Farwell and Company, of 
Chicago. He served on the state board of equalization in 1867, and the following year was chair- 
man of the board of supervisors of Cook count)'. He was elected on the republican ticket to the 
forty-second congress, reelected to the forty-third, and again elected to the forty-seventh. Dur- 
ing his terms of office, he served on important committees, and rendered valuable service. Mr. 
Farwell has been successful in whatever he has attempted, and is recognized as one of Chicago's 
stanch citizens and thorough business men. 



R 



HON. ROBERT T. LINCOLN. 

CHICAGO. 

OBERT TODD LINCOLN, the only surviving son of the patriot, statesman and martyred 
president, Abraham Lincoln, shares the affections of the people of this country to a greater 
extent than any other citizen of this republic. The tragic death of the father at the close of the 
rebellion, made a deep impression on the sensitive hearts of the American people, the memory of 
which, together with the history of the eventful, honorable and useful life of the father, intensifies 
their interest in the son. The mother of Robert before marriage was Miss Fanny Todd, a native 
of Kentucky, of a family that numbers among its different branches numerous eminent men, as 
jurists, lawyers and patrons of literature, poetry and art. Fanny Todd, in her youth, was highly 
accomplished, refined and intelligent, and possessed rare personal beauty, and while Robert 
resembles her personally, he has inherited also the sagacity, cool, deliberate judgment and wis- 
dom of liis father, while he has but one of his features. He has the same sincere, mild expression 
of the eyes that all who knew his father will recall. 

He was born at Springfield, Illinois, August i, 1843. When but seven years of age he was 
sent to the academy of Mr. Estabrook, and remained there three years, and then entered the Uli- 



/So UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

nois State University at Springfield, In i860 he entered Phillips Academy, at Exeter, New 
Hampshire. After passing a creditable examination he entered Harvard I'niversity, and gradu- 
ated therefrom in 1864. He entered Harvard Law School, but left in 1865 to accept a commis- 
sion in the United States army as captain, and assistant adjutant-general on General Grant's 
staff. He shortly afterward resigned his commission, and commenced the study of the law in 
Chicago, where he was admitted to the bar in 1867. 

He commenced practice as a member of the firm of Scammon and Lincoln, but dissolving this 
partnership he visited Europe in 1872, and on his return, after a six months' trip, formed a part- 
nership with Edward S. Isham, under the name of Isham and Lincoln, to which firm he still 
belongs. In 1876 he was elected supervisor of the town of South Chicago, and in 1880 repre- 
sented Cook county in the Illinois state convention at Springfield, which nominated delegates to 
the national convention held at Chicago in 1880. He was one of the electors on the republican 
ticket for the state of Illinois, and early in 1880 was appointed by the governor one of the trustees 
of the Illinois Central railroad. He was appointed secretary of war under President Garfield, 
and has performed the duties of that office to th^ entire satisfaction of the whole country. 



COLONEL JOHN DEMENT. 

DIXON. 

JOHN DEMENT, the son of David and Dorcas (Willis) Dement, was born April 26, 1804, at 
Gallatin, the county seat of Sumner county, Tennessee. In 181 7 his family removed to Illinois, 
he being at that time a lad of thirteen, and during the succeeding years, until he attained his 
majority, he was employed upon his father's farm. At the age of tvi'enty-two, such was the confi- 
dence and esteem in which he was held, that he was elected to the office of sheriff, an office to 
which were added the duties of county collector and treasurer. In 1828 he was elected to repre- 
sent Franklin county in the Illinois legislature, and at the expiration of his term was reelected to 
the same office. By three successive elections by the general assembly he was chosen state treas- 
urer, and for six years most acceptably performed the duties of that office, and while holding that 
position closed up the affairs of the old state bank. Having made Vandalia, then the state capi- 
tal, his home, he was chosen to represent that county in the legislature during the term of 1836-37, 
and resigned the state treasurership for this purpose, turning over his books and accounts to the 
finance committee of the general assembly, who audited them and found them correct. In 1837 
he was appointed by President Jackson receiver of the land office, which was then located at 
Galena, but which was, in 1840, removed to Dixon, Illinois. This position he held through Jack- 
son's and Van Buren's administrations. Being removed by President Harrison, he was reinstated 
by President Polk, but again removed by President Taylor, and again reinstated by President 
Pierce; holding the position until, on account of the decline in business, the records were removed 
to Springfield during Buchanan's term of office. During this term of public service, Mr. Dement 
became known as an able financier and an incorruptible man. In 1844 he was elected presiden- 
tial elector for James K. Polk, against the late Hon. Martin Sweet for Henry Clay. While acting 
as state treasurer he made three campaigns in the Black Hawk war, once as captain of a com- 
pany, once as major, and again as special aid to Governor Reynolds, with the rank of colonel. 
He was a member of three state constitutional conventions, first in 1847-48, again in 1862, and 
lastl)' in that of 1868, being thus singularly honored with a voice in all the conventions called for 
the purpose of revising the state constitution since the organization of the state government in 
1818. In the convention of 1847-48 he was chairman of the committee on legislation, a position 
which he again held in the convention of 1862; while in the last convention he was chairman of 
the committee on the right of suffrage. He pioneered that piece of statesmanship which provided 
that if the "fifteenth amendment" to the federal constitution should be ratified and adopted in 
accordance with the prescriptive rule of that constitution, the new constitution of Illinois should 



ihVir/-:/) STAVES biographical DICTIOMARY. 78 1 

be made to conform with it, by striking out tlie descriptive and inviduous word "wliite," as the 
legal prefix to the phrase "male citizens." This was the new departure advocated by him as one 
of the leading democrats in the Illinois constitutional convention of 1868. He was four times 
elected mayor of Dixon, his nomination and election occurring twice when he was absent from 
home. During his life he filled many positions of public confidence within the gift of the people 
of the state, and the administration of the state and federal governments, and built up a reputa- 
tion for unimpeachable integrity and rare intelligence and ability which very few men can flatter 
themselves in possessing. 

Colonel Dement was married in 1835 to Maria Louisa Dodge, daughter of Governor Dodge, 
of Wisconsin. 

Colonel Dement died January 17, 1883, at Dixon, Illinois, and thereupon the following resolu- 
tions were introduced and passed in the state legislature: 

Resolutions of respect and sympathy introduced by Hon. James Herringlon, in the house of representatives of the 
thirty-third general assembly of the state of Illinois, and adopted by the house January, 1S83; 

WHERE.A.S, This house has heard, with feelings of deep regret, of the death of Colonel John Dement, of Dixon, 
Illinois, on the 17th instant, after a long and useful life, who was one of the early pioneers of this state, a member of 
the house of representatives of this state, of the sixth, seventh and tenth general assemblies, state treasurer from 1831 
to 1836, and a member of the constitutional conventions of 1847, 1862 and 1870, besides holding other positions of 
trust and honor; therefore. 

Resolved, That we hereby testify our esteem and regard for the personal character of the deceased, and a high 
appreciatioj of his faithful public services on behalf of the state. 

Resolved, That we tender our sincere sympathy to his son, the secretary of state, and to the other members of the 
family, in the loss they have sustained. 

Resoh'ed, That this preamble and resolutions be spread at large upon the journals of this house, and a copy thereof 
forwarded to the family of the deceased. 



THOMAS BATES. 

■' CHICAGO. 

AMONG the younger class of lawyers in Chicago of the best standing, is the gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch, and who received the latter part of his legal training in this city, 
under Hon. Leonard Swett, one of the most eminent members of the profession in Chicago. Mr. 
Bates has been in practice but a few years, but he laid a good foundation at the start, and is build- 
ing steadily, and as he loves his profession, and is studious and ambitious, a brilliant future seems 
to lie before him. 

Thomas Bates is a native of Illinois, his birth being dated at Griggsville, Pike count)', March 
4, 1845. His parents, Thomas Bates and Elvira (Cleveland) Bates, were born in Rutland, Vermont, 
This branch of the Bates family we are unable to trace back farther than to our subject's great- 
grandfather, Elias Bates, who was a resident of the Province of Massachusetts, at the time when 
the revolution broke out, and who participated in the struggle for independence, holding the 
rank of lieutenant. 

Mr. Bates was educated in the common schools of Illinois, supplementing his mental training 
there with some outside private study; was in the government service as a wagon master, under 
General Sully, in his expedition against the Indians in 1865-6; aided his father more or less in his 
Itimber office at Lincoln; was principal of the Gilman public school four years, reading law dur- 
ing the last two of them; in April, 1876, came to Chicago, and finished his legal studies in the 
office of Mr. Swett, and was admitted to practice in September following. 

For a little more than two years Mr. Bates was of the firm of Swett and Bates; then, for'one 
year, of Higgins, Swett and Bates, and is now practicing alone, and doing a large business in the 
several courts of the commonwealth. 

Mr. Bates confines himself to civil law exclusively; has wonderful success in securing busi- 
ness and the confidence of people; is quite successful before a jury; and is eminently trustworthy 
in all the relations of life. 



/ 



82 UNITED STATES BIOGRA PlIJCAL DICTIOXARY. 



Mr. Bates votes the democratic ticket, but goes no farther in politics, being evidently ambi- 
tious to excel in his profession, or to at least make a notable success of it, and knowing that in 
order to do so his whole time must be given to legal studies and practice. 

Mr. Bates married, December 24, 1870, Sarah H. Ricker, daughter of Albion Ricker, of Tur- 
ner, Maine, and they have two children. 



WILLIAM P. BLACK. 

CHICA GO. 

WILLIAM P. BLACK was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, November 11, 1842. The 
family dates back in this country to ante-revolutionary times, when the Scotch ancestry 
found homes in the colonies, first in South Carolina, and afterward in Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania. In the revolutionary struggle they were on the patriot side, contributing their 
share alike of blood and their scant treasure to the cause of liberty. 

From childhood William was a close student, his zeal having to be held in check on account 
of delicate health and a frail body. He entered Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, in the 
fall of i860. He at once took a leading place in his class as a diligent and conscientious student, 
and in the societies as a clear, powerful and brilliant speaker, and was affectionately esteemed by 
all. At this time, having joined the Presbyterian church at fifteen years of age, he was studying 
with reference to entering the ministry. 

But the outbreak of the war interrupted the collegiate course, never to be resumed. April 15, 
1861, Mr. Black enlisted, with about forty other students of the college, including his imly 
brother, as a jirivate soldier in company I, nth Indiana zouaves, commanded by Colonel (after- 
ward Major-General) Lew. Wallace. Sharing with this regiment in its three months' campaign, 
chiefly in western Virginia, he was mustered out as corporal, and at once engaged in assisting in 
the work of recruiting a company in Vermillion county, Illinois, for the three years' service, of 
which company he was elected captain, and which was mustered into the service as company K, 
37th Illinois infantry, at Chicago, September 18, 1861, the regiment then being known as Fre- 
mont Rifles, and his commission as captain, dated September i, 1861, being received by him 
before he had reached his nineteenth birthday. This position he filled faithfully for over three 
years, sharing with his regiment in its marches, skirmishes and battles, chief among which maj- 
be mentioned Pea Ridge, Arkansas, Prairie Grove, Arkansas (where one-third of the federal 
forces were killed and wounded), the siege of Vicksburg, in the latter part of which Captain 
Black held the responsible and most dangerous position of brigade picket officer, having charge 
of the rifle pits of his brigade ; the occupation of Te.xas, and the observation of the empire of 
Maximilian. Gf his militar}^ career it is enough to say that, undertaken not from choice, but 
under an exalted sense of the duty he owed an imperiled and loved country, every service 
required was performed quietly, unostentatiously and thoroughly. He could always be depended 
upon implicitly, possessing that quality of courage which is the result of entire devotion to duty, 
even at the cost of complete self sacrifice. 

Commencing the study of law in October, 1865, in the office of Arrington and Dent, Chicago, 
he was in about sixteen months admitted to practice, and returned to Danville to enter upon his 
professional career. There he remained only a year, however, returning to Chicago in March, 
1868, to form the association with Mr. Thomas Dent, which has since continued, Mr. Dent's for- 
mer partner. Judge Alfred W. Arrington, having died, December 31, 1867. Mr. Black's career as 
a lawyer has been unusually successful. 

Mr. Black is in no sense a politician, though taking a keen interest in the affairs of the 
country, to whose service in the tented field he gave three and a half years of his life. In his 
views he is thoroughly independent, casting his vote and his influence always with what he 
believes the better side of every cause. In the summer of 1872 he devoted a'little time to the 




HCCDaf.r Jr SCo 




■^nAyU^^ 




UNI II-: D SIATKS BIOGK.irillCAr. D/C/'/ON,lh-y. jSs 

advocacy ul Uic Greeley movement, as opposed to the increasing corruption in pui)iic allairs. 
His speeches in this campaign elicited much praise, and added to his already high reputation as 
an earnest, logical and eloquent speaker, fearless in exposing and rebuking wrong. Prior to 1872 
he had been a stanch republican, but since that time has not been actively identified with either' 
of tlie great parties, though usually working with the democratic. He took no part in politics, 
however, after the campaign of 1872, until in 1880, when he made one speech near the close of 
the canvass, in advocacy of the election of General Hancock, which was published in full in the 
Chicago "Times," and which was very highly esteemed on account of its thoughtfulness and 
force. 

In the fall of 1882 Mr. Black became a candidate for congress upon the unsolicited nomina- 
tions, first of the anti-monopolists in their convention, then of the democracy, and afterward of 
the independent republicans. The campaign was short and vigorous, and although Mr. Black 
was defeated, yet it was only by treachery in the democratic camp, and then by a majority of less 
than 2,400, in a district that, two years before, had given his successful opponent a majority of 
over 6,000. 

In 1874 Wabash College conferred on Mr. Black the degree of master of arts, a graceful rec- 
ognition of his professional success, and his services as a man of letters. 

Mr. Black was married. May 28, i86g, to Miss Hortensia M. MacGreal, of Galveston, Texas, a 
Christian lady of clear and strong intellect, ripe culture and deep enthusiasm of religious experi- 
ence. She is the eldest daughter of the late Peter MacGreal, who was one of the leading lawyers 
of the Empire State of the Southwest. 

Mr. Black is over six feet in height and has dark hair, now freely intersprinkled with gray ; of 
spare but graceful figure, and a face strong and expressive ; and a dark, bright eye, that kindles 
under emotion or excitement, but is always kindly. His voice is clear and strong, and these, 
added to an unusual flow of language, make him a speaker of great power and magnetism. 



REV. JOHN CLARKE. 

HUSI/VILLE. 

JOHN CLARKE was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, September 24, 1806. His parents, John 
and Eleanor (Greer) Clarke, were natives of Tyrone, Ireland, and espoused the cause of the 
great reformation under John Wesley, with many other godly families in that county and some 
of the adjoining counties in the North of Ireland, these families being mostly of Scotch-Irish lin- 
eage. 

John Clarke, Sr., came to this country in 1802, and in 1814 moved to the vicinity of Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania, where our subject was educated, mainly bv his father, who was a teacher for some 
years, and later a farmer. 

In his youth Mr. Clarke was engaged in farming, and learning the hatter's trade ; married 
Ann Ohern, of Pittsburgh, November 16, 1826, and the next year he became a traveling preacher 
of the Protestant Methodist church. From the "Schuyler County Atlas" we learn that he filled 
some important stations, being president of the conference several years. 

Mr. Clarke came to Illinois in May, 1843, and while preaching at Rushville in that year, he 
united with the Methodist Episcopal church, and was on the circuit a little less than twenty years 
longer, being stationed at Warsaw, Pulaski circuit, Virginia station and Rushville circuit, etc. 

In 1862 the war drew some of his sons into the army, and he thought it best to settle and take 
care of his family, though he continued to preach, and to do a great deal of Christian labor gratu- 
itously until quite recently. 

Mr. Clarke was anti-slavery from his early manhood, and aided J. G. Birney, Doctor Bailey, of 
the "National Era." and others, in forming the Indiana State Anti-Slavery Society, and he was 
for some time its corresponding secretary. He was one of the eleven original free-soil voters 
7& 



786 UNIIED ST.ITKS HIOCKA PllICA I. DJC/70jV.1A'\ . 

in Schuyler county; was a presidential elector, in 1S48, on the Van Buren and Adams ticket, and 
was a delegate to and vice president of the convention which met at Bloomington, and organized 
the great party of freedom, which placed Abraham Lincoln in the presidential chair, March 4, 
1861; and when the emancipation proclamation of that great and noble man struck the fetters 
from ever}r slave in the land, it is safe to say that no man in Illinois rejoiced more heartily than 
Mr. Clarke. 

Mr, and Mrs. Clarke raised nine sons and two daughters, and have outlived six of them. John 
S. was killed by a falling tree in 1853 ; Thomas was brought home dead from the army in 1864; 
Francis W. died in 1871, and Charles Avery and George G. in 1876, and Mrs. Mary L, Young in 
1848. James F. is in Portland, Ohio ; Henry A. is a farmer three miles from Rushville ; Albert 
is at Kearney City, Nebraska ; Nicholas S. is at Lawrence, Kansas ; Sarah E. is the wife of G. W. 
Scripps, of Detroit, Michigan. 

At the time of writing (January, J883), Mr. Clarke is quite feeble, and seems to be patiently 
waiting for "the rest that remaineth for the people of God." He and his wife have lived together 
for fifty-seven years, and are having a ver\- quiet evening of life. 



HON. BENJAMIN S. EDWARDS. 

SPR/NGFIELD. 

THE subject ol this sketch is the youngest son of Hon. Ninian Edwards, the first territorial 
governor of Illinois, subsequently a United States senator and governor of this state, and 
was born at Edwardsville, Madison county, June 3, 1818. He is a graduate of Yale College, class 
of '38; studied law in the law department of the same college, and with the late Hon. Stephen T. 
Logan, of Springfield, and commenced practice in 1840. In 1843 Mr. Edwards formed a partner- 
ship with Hon. John T. Stuart, and that partnership has continued nearly forty years. In i860 
Christopher C. Brown joined these parties, and the firm of Stuart, Edwards and Brown repre- 
sents a great deal of legal talent, and is well known in this state, and not unknown in other states. 
Mr. Edwards represented Sangamon county in the constitutional convention in 1862, and was 
defeated for congress on the democratic ticket in 1868, being nominated without his consent. 
The next year he was elected judge of the circuit court, and served faithfully until the circuit was 
enlarged in 1870, and then retired from the bench. He was never an office seeker, and seems to 
content himself with a first-rate standing at the Sangamon county bar, of which he has been a 
member for forty-three years. 

HON. AARON SHAW. 

OLNE Y. 

A\RON SHAW was born in Orange county. New York, in 181 1, and there spent his early life 
. until about twenty years of age. In the meanwhile he studied law with Hon. Charles Mo- 
nell, and obtained a good classic education. In 1831 he emigrated to the West, settling in Vin- 
cennes, Indiana, and continued his studies in the office of Judge John Law, and in 1833 was 
admitted to the bar. During the same year he removed to Lawrenceville, Illinois, carried on his 
profession, and was afterward elected by the legislature state's attorne}^ for the southern district, 
and rode the circuit, which then embraced fourteen counties, Hon. William Wilson being chief 
justice of the supreme court. 

In 1848 he was elected to the legislature, serving in the session of 1849-50, and while there 
worked hard to break up the state-policy party, which opposed the chartering of any railroad 
which did not terminate in this state. Judge Shaw was one of the incorporators of the Ohio and 
Mississippi railroad, which was then chartered. He paid his own expenses during his work with 
the companv, and remained with them, serving five years, when he resigned. 



CNITED STATES BIOGRAi'I/lCAL DICTIONARY. 787 

Judge Shaw was elected to the thirty-fifth United States congress, where he served, taking 
quite an active part, and was subsequentl}^ elected circuit judge of the fourth judicial circuit of 
Illinois. Judge Shaw removed to Olney in 1869. He named the county seat of Richland county 
Olney, in honor of Nathan Olney, a personal friend, who had recently died in Lawrenceville. 
The judge has teen practicing law with very great success, having a reputation second to none 
in southern Illinois, and he is one of the most powerful advocates of the southern district. In the 
fall of 1882 he was elected to the forty-eighth congress from the southern district. 

In 1840 Judge Shaw married Miss Mary J. Gray, whose parents are natives of Ireland, she 
being born in Elizabethtown, Virginia. They have three children now living: Rachel, wife of 
Joseph Lyman, of Olney; Mary, wife of John Corrie, a farmer, and Ellie, wife of Robert Byers, 
cashier of the First National Bank. 

Judge Shaw has led an eminently busy life, and filled several of the most important positions 
which have given him favor throughout the county, and he has likewise been successful in his 
financial enterprises, being one of the largest land owners in Richland county. 



HON. JOHN V. EUSTACE. 

DIXON. 

THE judge of the circuit court of the thirteenth judicial district is a son of Thomas and 
Fanny (Olmstead) Eustace, and was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, .September 9, 
1 82 1, and was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, being graduated in 1839, in which year 
he moved to Saint Louis, and read law in that city, and was admitted to practice before he had 
reached his majority. In 1843 he settled in Dixon, which has been his home for nearly forty 
yeaVs, and where he has made a highly honorable record, both as a lawyer and jurist. 

In 1857 he was elected judge of the circuit court, but resigned before his term was out. Dur- 
ing the civil war, 1861-1865, he was provost marshal of the district, at the end of which period he 
became a member of the firm of Eustace, Barge and Dixoui 

In 1877 he was again elected judge of the circuit court, to fill a vacancy, and two years later 
was reelected for the full term of six years. He is a democrat, residing in a republican district, 
and it is his eminent fitness for the position that keeps him on the bench. The judge has served 
as a presidential elector, as democratic candidate for state's attorney, and one or two terms in the 
state legislature. He was married in Saint Louis, in 1843, to Miss Anna M. Smith, and they have 
four children. 

HON. ORLANDO B. TICKLAND. 

CIIARLESl-ON. 

ORLANDO B. TICKLAND was born in Kentucky, December 16, 1808. His father's name 
was William Tickland, and the maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Kenner Williams. 
The early life of our subject was spent at various institutions of learning in Kentucky and Mis- 
souri, until the age of twenty, when he began the study of law with Henry Shorlds, of Potosi, 
Missouri. In March, 1830, he was admitted to the bar, and began practice at Mount Carmel, 
Wabash county, Illinois, where he continued in active practice for seven years. During this time, 
in 1834, he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature, which at that time embraced 
among its prominent members Abraham Lincoln, J. T. Stuart, Jesse R. Dubois, and others, who 
iiave since been conspicuous in the political affairs of the state and nation. In the winter of 1834- 
35 he was chosen by the legislature state's attorney for the Wabash district. 

In 1837 he removed to Charleston, Coles county, where he has since resided, and where he has 
a reputation and clientage extending throughout central Illinois. In 1838 he was again elected 
to the lower house of the legislature, and in 1842 was reelected. In 1843 he was elected to Ignited 



788 UNITED STAVES B/OGKAP/f/CA L DICTIONARY. 

States congress, for what was then the Wabash district, and among his colleagues in that body 
were Stephen A. Douglas, General John A. McClerland and John Wentworth. In 1844 he was re- 
elected as congressional representative, and again in 1846, after which he returned to his profes- 
sional duties, which he continued uninterruptedly until 1850, when he was again elected to 
congress. This term expired in March, 1853, and since then his attention has been devoted almost 
exclusively to his practice. 

He was a member of the democratic convention which nominated Buchanan for the presi- 
dency at Cincinnati, in 1856, and was also a member of the democratic convention, held in 
Charlestown, in i860, being present at the time of the secession of southern members. In each 
of these bodies he represented Illinois on the committee of resolutions. 

In politics, he belongs to the old-school democrats, where he has always been an active worker. 
In 1 86 1 he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. 

Mr. Tickland was married in 1846 to Miss Elizabeth H Colquitt, the daughter of Hon. Walter 
T. Colquitt, United States senator of Georgia. 



HON. THOMAS S. CASEY. 

MOUNT rERNON. 

THOMAS S. CASEY was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, April 6, 1832. His father was 
Governor Z. Casey, for ten years a member of congress. His mother was a native of Ken- 
tucky. Judge Casey was educated at the McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois, and subsequently 
studied law under the instruction of Hugh B. Montgomery, and after three years' study, in 1854, 
was admitted to the bar. In i860 he was elected state's attorney for the twelfth judicial district, 
having up to this time been engaged in the practice of his profession. In 1864 he was reelected 
to the same position. 

In 1862 Judge Casey entered the United States army, as colonel of the iioth regiment, Illinois 
infantry. He participated in the battle of Stone River, and took part also in many other minor 
engagements. On his return from the field, he resumed his professional labors, and until 1868 
filled the position of state's attorney. In 1870 he was elected to the lower house of the legisla- 
ture, and while a member of that body delivered a powerful free-trade speech, which is notable 
as having been the first speech of the kind ever delivered in Illinois. In 1872 he was elected to 
the state senate, and in 1876 was elected judge of the supreme court, which position he now fills. 

In politics he has always been a democrat. He was married in October, 1861, to Matilda S. 
Moran, of Springfield, Illinois. 

GENERAL WILLIAM R. ROWLEY. 

GALENA. 

WILLIAM REUBEN ROWLEY, judge of Jo Daviess county, was born at Gouverneur, 
Saint Lawrence county. New York, February 8, 1824, his parents being Aaron and Martha 
(Campbell) Rowley. 

At the age of seventeen years, Mr. Rowley came as far west as Brown county, Ohio, where he 
taught school for three years, and then pushed westward into Jo Daviess county, Illinois, resum- 
ing teaching at Scoles Mound, and pursuing that calling for several years. In 1849 he was ap- 
pointed assessor and collector of his district, faithfully discharging the duties of that office for 
four years, when he became deputy circuit clerk. He was admitted to the bar in 1857. In 
November, 1854, he was elected sheriff ; served one term in that office; was then elected circuit 
clerk, and held that office from 1856 to 1876. During three years of that time the duties of his 
office were performed by his deputy, he being absent in the service of his country. 

We learn from "The History of Jo Daviess County," published in Chicago in 187S, that in No- 



VNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DiCTIONAkY. ^89 

vember, 1861, our subject enlisted as first lieutenant company D, 45th Illinois infantry; that after the 
battle of Fort Donelson he was commissioned as captain and aide-de-camp on the staff of General 
Grant; that after the battle of Shiloh he was commissioned major and aide-de-camp on the same 
staff ; that after the capture of Vicksburg he was detailed as provost-marshal-general of the 
department of Tennessee and Cumberland, holding that position until the promotion of General 
Grant to the exalted position of lieutenant-general of the army; that Major Rowley was then 
promoted to lieutenant-colonel and military secretary to General Grant, and that he held that 
office until his health failed, and he resigned in October, 1864. He was brevetted successively to 
the ranks of colonel and brigadier-general. 

General Rowley was chosen county judge in November, 1877, and the duties of that office he is 
performing in connection with his practice of the legal profession. 



HON. JOHN H. BRYANT. 

PRINCETON. 

JOHN HOWARD. BRYANT, son of Doctor Peter Bryant, and brother of the late William 
Cullen Bryant, first saw the light among the hills of western Massachusetts, at Cummington, 
July 22, 1807. He finished his education at the Rensselaer School, Troy, New York; taught com- 
mon schools two winters, and in 183 1 came to Jacksonville, this state. In September of the ne.\t 
year he settled near Princeton, made a claim, and when the land came into the market in July, 
1835, he entered his, and has occupied it ever since. At an early day he assisted in starting a 
newspaper in Princeton, and edited it two years gratuitously. He also started the first brick yard 
in the place, and has always been active in pushing forward all local enterprises of the highest 
consideration, such as public schools, the high school of Princeton, etc. 

In June, 1833, Mr. Bryant was married to Miss Harriet E. Wiswall, of Jacksonville, a native of 
Massachusetts; in 1842 was a member of the legislature; was the free-soil candidate for congress 
in his district in 1852; was again chosen to the legislature in 1856, and in 1862 was appointed 
collector of internal revenue, holding that office four years. 

Mr. Bryant managed his farm until his only son, and only child living, Elijah W. Bryant, was 
old enough to take charge of it. At the time of writing, April, 1883, he is making preparations 
to observe his golden wedding. 

Mr. Bryant has poetic gifts only a little inferior to those of his older brother, as is shown by 
the specimens of his poetry found in Griswold's "Poets of America," and other compilations. 



JOHN V. FARWELL. 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN V. FARWELL is the son of Henry and Nancy Farwell, and was born July 29, 1825, in 
Steuben county. New York. He worked with his father, who was a farmer in moderate cir- 
cumstances, and attended the district school during his boyhood, and in 1838 removed with his 
father's family to Ogle county, Illinois. At the age of sixteen he entered the Mount Morris Semi- 
nary, boarding himself, and there mastered those studies best calculated to fit him for business. 
He settled in Chicago in the spring of 1845, having as his moneyed capital $3.25, and obtained a 
position in the city clerk's office at a salary of $12 per month, and also reported the proceedings 
of the city council, receiving $2 per report. He was next employed in the dry-goods house of 
Hamilton and White at $8 per month for one year, after which he was employed by Hamilton 
and Day at a salary of $250 per annum. He showed an aptness for business, and next secured a 
situation at $600 per annum with Wadsworth and Phelps, and eventually became a partner in the 
business; this was in 185 i. The house then did a business of $100,000 per annum, and in 1868 it 
had increased to $10,000,000 per annum. 



790 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

During the civil war his zeal and patriotism were shown in numerous schemes of practical 
benevolence. He was one of the foremost in raising the Board of Trade regiment and the $40,000 
with which it was equipped, and gave liberally to the sanitary and Christian commissions. 

When fourteen years old he became a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and has always been noted for his earnestness and generosity in Christian enterprises. One-half 
of his first year's salary, small as it was, was given to the church of which he was a member. He 
was an active co-worker with Mr. D. L. Moody in the organization of the Illinois Street Mission 
in 1856, which has grown into a church of several hundred members, and a Sunday school of 
nearly one thousand. He has been an enthusiastic temperance worker, and to his influence and 
zealous, effective work is largely due the prosperous condition of the Young Men's Christian 
Association of Chicago. 

No man in Chicago is more universally esteemed, and to none is she more largely indebted 
for her commercial and business prosperit)'. 



w 



HON. WILLIAM M. SPRINGER. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

ILLIAM M. SPRINGER was born in New Lebanon, Sullivan county, Indiana, May 30, 
1836, and immigrated with his parents to Jacksonville, Illinois, in 1848. He was the 
eighth son in succession of his father's family. 

Prior to leaving Indiana he worked upon a farm, and attended school in the winter time from 
the age of eight years until the removal of the family to Jacksonville. Here he continued a simi- 
lar mode of life until 1854; in the meantime teaching school and preparing for a collegiate 
course. He entered the district school under Professor Bateman'in i85i,and continued with 
him until May, 1854. In the September following he entered the Illinois College at Jacksonville, 
pursuing the classical course. In the latter part of the junior year, March, 1857, he had a contro- 
versy with the faculty, which resulted in his dismissal from the institution. The difficulty origi- 
nated from his political views, which vi'ere of a very positive democratic cast. The address which 
he had prepared for the junior exhibition gave an indication of his political views. The faculty 
differing from him, and, perhaps, for other reasons, deemed it inadvisable for the address to be 
delivered, and an issue between the faculty and himself was imminent. He was prohibited from 
delivering it, unless he would submit to the modifications proposed by the faculty. He did not 
speak, but published an expose of the whole matter, for which he was dismissed. He completed 
his course of study at the Indiana State University, where he graduated in June, 1858. 

After his graduation, in 185S, he settled in Lincoln, Illinois, where he assumed the editorial 
charge of the "Logan County Democrat." The exciting senatorial contest between the late 
Abraham Lincoln and Judge Douglas was then in progress. Mr. Springer characteristically 
espoused the cause of Judge Douglas through the columns of his paper and in public addresses. 

In i860 he was nominated by his party from the district composed of the counties of Logan 
and Mason for the legislature, but was defeated by his competitor. Colonel Robert B. Latham. 
In 1862 he was elected secretary of the convention called to form a new constitution for the state 
of Illinois, having very powerful competitors for the caucus nomination. 

Prior to this, in 1859, he had been admitted to the bar, and after the adjournment of the con- 
vention, in 1862, he took up his permanent residence in Springfield, Illinois, and opened a law 
office, where he has since continued. 

In 1866 he was again nominated by the democratic party of Sangamon and Logan counties 
for the legislature, his opponent being James C. Conkling, and the campaign, occurring immedi- 
ately after the close of the war, was one of unusual excitement. Mr. Springer carried his own 
county (Sangamon) by a majority exceeding his colleagues on the same ticket ; but the county of 
Logan giving a large republican majority, Mr. Springer was again defeated. 



VNITED STjITF.S lilOilKA Pll ICA I. PIC'riONAKY. 



791 



111 llic summer uf 1870 he was nominated to represent Sangamon county in the lower branch 
of the Illinois general assembly, and was elected with his two other colleagues, Charles H. Rice 
and Ninian R. Taylor, by a majority exceeding one thousand. This legislature was one of the 
most important ones that had occurred for many years, among other duties devolving upon it 
being the codification of the statutes so as to conform to the requirements of the new organic 
law. Both branches of the legislature were largely republican, and the intellect of the republican 
and democratic parties were both fairly represented. 

In all the deliberations and contests occurring in the body of which Mr. Springer was a mem- 
ber, he took a conspicuous part, and was recognized as among the leading members of the house. 
Though in the minority, and this being his first legislative experience, he was thoroughly 
instructed in the fundamental principles of parliamentary law, which knowledge enabled him to 
worry and vex the majority, and arrest their attempts to invade the rights of the minority. The 
tariff question being under discussion during this session, and a resolution on the subject pend- 
ing, Mr. Springer embodied his views in the form of an amendment to the resolution in the fol- 
lowing words: '"And that all systems of taxation for protection, and all class legislation and 
monopolies are wrong in principle, and contrary to the spirit of our free institutions." His 
amendment was voted down, but he has ever adhered to the principles embodied therein. 

In August, 1874, the democracy of the twelfth district of Illinois, composed of the counties 
of Cass, Christian, Menard, Morgan, Sangamon and Scott, nominated him as their candidate for 
congress. The campaign was a spirited one, his opponents being Andrew Simpson (republican), 
of Christian county, and Professor J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville, Morgan county. The result was, 
Mr. Springer carried every county in the district, except Christian (which gave Mr. Simpson a 
majority of one hundred and eighty-two), beating his competitors fifteen hundred and ninety-six 
votes in the district. He has been reelected at each succeeding congressional election, and has 
come to be regarded as one of the leading and influential members of the national assembly. 



HON. G. L. FORT. 

LA CON. 

C"^ REENBERRY LAFAYETTE FORT, deceased, late member of congress, was born in 
f Scioto county, Ohio, October 11, 1825, his parents being Benjamin and Margaret Fort. In 
May, 1834, the family came to this stated and settled at Round Prairie, then in Putnam, now in 
Marshall county, when the son, then in his tenth year, had solid experience in opening a farm, 
driving a breaking team of seven yoke of oxen for his father. He was a faithful worker, and for 
amusement occasionally hunted deer and other wild game, finishing his education meantime at 
the Rock River Seminary at Mount Morris, Ogle county. His father died in 1854 and his mother 
in 1855. 

Mr. Fort studied law at Lacon, and when he commenced practice his first opponent, in a cause 
(tried in Woodford county) was Abraham Lincoln, the trial being before Judge David Davis. 
Mr. Fort was elected sheriff in 1850, county clerk in 1852, and county judge in 1857. 

On the first call for troops, April 17, i86[, Mr. Fort enlisted as a private in company B, nth 
Illinois infantry, and was first lieutenant At the end of the three months for which period the 
regiment was called out, he recruited company I for three years' service. He paid $1,200 out of 
liis own pocket for transporting the men to the field, and that money was never refunded. He 
served in the field on staff duty through all the campaigns of the Army of the Tennessee, and was 
quartermaster of the fifteenth army corps during its march from Atlanta to the sea, thence 
through the Carolinas until the final surrender of Johnston's army. After participating in the 
grand review at Washington, he was ordered to Texas with General Sheridan's command, and 
was finally mustered out at Galveston, that state. 

The subject of this sketch resumed the practice of his profession at Lacon; was elected to the 



792 iW/TED ST.ITES HfOGRA PlIICA L DICTIONARY. 

State senate in 1866, to the forty-third congress in 1872, and by repeated reelections was kept in 
congress through the forty-fourth, forty-fifth and forty-sixth congresses, his place being on the 
republican side of the house. He made a highly commendable record while in that national 
body. He died in the spring of 1883. As a lawyer he was thoroughly read, was an excellent 
counselor and an able advocate, was candid and conscientious, and had the fullest confidence of 
the people in his sincerity and integrity, as well as ability. 

The widow and one son, Robert E., aged sixteen years, survive him. A daughter, Nina, aged 
two years, died in 1863, while her father was in the army — a grief to him till the day of his 
death. He left a large property, and the widow and son in independent circumstances. 



E 



HON. EDWARD RUTZ. 

SPRINGFIELD. 

DVVARD RUTZ, a prominent republican, politician and treasurer of the state, is of German 
birth, first seeing the light at Heidelberg, in 1829. When eighteen years old, he left the 
fatherland, and, coming to the United States, settled in Saint Clair county, this state. In 1858 
he went to California, where he remained until the South took up arms against the Union, which 
foul act awoke his patriotic ardor, and he immediately entered the army, before crossing the 
mountains, joining battery C, of the United States artillery, which was connected most of the 
time with the army of the Potomac. He was in more than twenty battles, including those of 
Yorktown, South Mountain, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburgh and Antietam. He served three 
years, and was discharged in October, 1864, having never been absent from duty a single day on 
account of sickness or disability from any cause. After leaving the army he spent a few months 
in the quartermaster's department, with General Myers, and in the autumn of 1865 returned to 
Saint Clair county, and was elected county surveyor. At the end of his term he was elected 
county treasurer, and served three terms. In 1873 he was elected to the state senate, and was 
twice reelected, the last time from Cook county, which had become his home. The office of state 
treasurer he assumed in January, 1881, and is a safe custodian of the public funds, being strictly 
honest as well as capable. Mr. Rutz has a wife and four children. 



EMERY A. STORRS. 

CHICAGO. 

" T T OW difficult is it," writes President Brown, in his preface to the life of Rufus Choate, " to 
X J. portray the peculiarities of his character — its lights and shades so delicate, various and 
evanescent. I cannot but feel how inadequate is any delineation to present a complete picture of 
that subtle, versatile and exuberant mind with psychological exactness." Similar considerations 
embarrass the writer as he approaches the subject of this sketch. As difficult is it to "paint the 
bow upon the bended heavens;" to perpetuate the variegated flashes of the aurora, or by the 
magic of art to reclaim the momentary sparkle of a gem, as with words to delineate an adequate 
picture of Emery A. Storrs, the advocate, the orator, the scholar, the litterateur. The mere fact 
that Mr. Storrs' fame as an orator is not only national but international, is indicative, in and of 
itself, of the difficulties inherent in the very matter in discussion. Oratory, as to form, is protean, 
while as to color it is variable as the chameleon and brilliant as the prism. Like the glories of 
dawn or the hues of sunset, oratory is but for the hour. Like the electric point, its light is intense 
yet self-consuming. The very term implies the relation of speaker and hearer, the charmer and 
the charmed, the one who enchants and those enchanted. Separate these factors and the spell is 
broken. Can the untutored mind see aught in a page ol Mozart or Beethoven but an array of 
meaningless hieroglyphics? Can the untuned harp reveal its marvelous possibilities to the inex- 




HCC,,.,. 




UNITED STATES B/OGRA Pi//(A/. DICTIO.\'ARY. 



795 



perienced ? So is it with the orator when away from the spirit of the occasion, the inspiration of 
tiie hour. All this is particularly true of American oratory, as contradistinguished from that of 
every other age and country, and its each and every feature is forcibly exemplified in the genius 
of Emery A. Storrs. For a genius Emery A. Storrs most assuredly is, if by that word is "implied 
high and peculiar gifts of nature," impelling the mind to creative imagery of the highest type, 
"and reaching its ends by a kind of intuitive power." Rufus Choate has his only living antitype 
in Emery A. Storrs. For it is with Storrs as it was with Choate, — his style is a combination of 
all that was best in the rival schools of Atticism and Asianism. It possesses at once the compact- 
ness, the perspicuit)' and grace of the first, with the gorgeous coloring and vivid phrase of the 
latter. In outline it is as harmonious as the Greek statue, while its hues remind us of an oriental 
garden. Although in his style Mr. Storrs thus displays the merits of these schools, he at the same 
time avoids their defects. In their endeavor to subordinate form to thought, the Attic orators 
were ofttimes cold and rigid in phrase. On the other hand, the Asiatics manifested a tendency 
to superabundant ornament and inordinate fancy. Not so with Mr. Storrs, who, in his avoidance 
of extremes and delicate adjustment of substance to mould, reveals a literary art akin to -that of 
Heinrich Heine. A.^i a lawyer, Mr. Storrs is scarcely less distinguished than as an orator. He 
comes of a family of lawyers, and is the son of an eminent member of that profession, his father 
being Hon. Alexander Storrs, now a resident of Cattaraugus county. New York. Emery A. 
Storrs was born in the same county, August 12, 1835. He studied law first with his father and 
Hon. M. B. Champlain. at Cuba, Allegany county. New York. M. B. Champlain was twice 
attorney general of that state. Young Storrs then went to Buffalo, where, after diligently pursu- 
ing his legal studies in the office of Austin and Scroggs, he was admitted to practice in 1855. In 
1857 he went to New York city, remaining there but two years. He came thence to Chicago in 
1859. . Devoted to his profession, he has never been an officeseeker or ofiiceholder. And yet, as a 
conspicuous citizen of the republic, he has ever taken a profound, intelligent and efficient interest 
in political affairs. Never has he been reluctant to sacrifice either personal ease or professional 
profit in behalf of the public welfare. Politically a decided republican, to that party he has con- 
stantly dedicated his great talent. In 1868, 1872 and 1S80 he was delegate-at-large from Illinois 
to the national republican convention, being on each occasion one of the foremost in shaping the 
policy, characterizing the resolutions and formulating the platforms of the party. With a 
trenchant pen and a clarion voice has he battled for the right as he understood it. Accomplished 
in literature, learned in jurisprudence, proficient in political philosophy, familiar with economic 
science, acute and alert of mind, and a master of brilliant and lucid expression, Emery A. Storrs, 
whether as lawyer or politician, advocate or orator, has been useful to his country and an orna- 
ment to his state. 

In conclusion, it may be said that, considered as a lawyer merely, Mr. Storrs has few, if any, 
equals in the West. Although versatile and facile, as we have seen, he is not superficial. Exact- 
ness and thoroughness characterize all his attainments, whether literary or professional. With a 
multiplicity of learning, he is equally proficient in every part. His intellectual possessions are at 
once unified and assimilated. They are his own — a part of the warp and woof of his mind. 
Everything is brought to bear upon his life work as a lawyer. No erudition is too precious, no 
truth too great, no beauty too choice, for his employment as an advocate. Vigilant, zealous, in- 
dustrious, could he be otherwise than successful ? A perfect command of the English language 
as an art, combined with the histrionic faculty and mimetic artifice, has placed Emery A. Storrs 
by the side of Erskine and Wedderburn. He is at his best only in great trials or on great occa- 
sions, which bring out the resources of his mind when his efforts are often those of a high order 
of genius. Then, with equal facility and force, he employs every instrument known to the "art 
of discourse." He is clear, eneigetic and figurative. In representative imagery he is peculiarly 
happy, and vision, personification, hyperbole, simile, contrast, allusion and antithesis succeed each 
other in rich and varied profusion. Wit and humor scintillate continually over and through a 
substantial background of searching analysis and comprehensive synthesis. Whether in persua- 
77 



7g6 UNITED STATES BfOGRA PtirCA f. DfCTIONARY. 

sion, dissuasion or excitation, Mr. Storrs is equally at home. The grace and propriety of his de- 
livery are equal to the copiousness and felicity of his diction. He is always self-possessed and 
prepared for any emergency. His manner and action are energetic, without verging on that ex- 
travagance which is unpleasant. He is a sort of beacon light in the midst of that prosaic misti- 
ness which too often hovers around our courts, unrelieved by style and unadorned by wit, 
eloquence and humor. In a word, Mr. Storrs must have lived in the light of those well known 
words of Schiller: "I hope ultimately to advance so far that art shall become a second nature, 
as polished manners are to well bred men, then imagination shall regain her former freedom and 
submit to none but voluntary limitation." 

In personal appearance Mr. Storrs is below the medium height, slender, with light hair, eyes 
and complexion, quick and nervous in movement, of courteous and gentlemanly bearing and 
address. 

BENJAMIN R. UPHAM. 

yAC/':so\r/iLE. 

BENJAMIN RUSH UPHAM, clerk of Morgan county since December, 1877, is a son of 
Alvah W. Upham and Mary (Rush) Upham, and dates his birth at Youngstown, Ohio, Feb- 
ruary 27, 1830. His father was a native of New York; his mother of Ohio. The family came to 
Morgan county in 1840, and settled at Arcadia, eight miles north of Jacksonville, where Benjamin 
finished his education in a log school house. In 1856 he opened a grocery store, continuing to 
trade for three years. He was then a clerk until 1873, when he was elected city clerk, and was 
reelected three times, acting also at the same time as an insurance agent. 

In the autumn of 1877 Mr. Upham was elected county clerk, and by a change in the constitu- 
tion, held that office five years, when (autumn of 1882) he was reelected, and is now serving his 
second term. 

A republican of whig antecedents, he is a man of a good deal of influence among his political 
confreres. For nearly four years, during the civil war, he was sutler of the 114th Illinois in- 
fantry. 

Mr. Upham is a member of the Congregational Church, and has been treasurer of the society 
for the last ten years. 

MILTON A. HALSTED, M.D. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

ILTON ARNOLD HALSTED, physician and surgeon, son of David and Mary (Mechem) 
Halsted, dates his birth at Battle Creek, Michigan, September 17, 1838. His father was 
born in Westchester county. New York, and his mother in Pennsylvania. His grandfather, Jona- 
than Halsted, was a Westchester county Quaker, and hence took no part in either war with the 
mother country. In the infancy of Milton, the family returned to the East, and settled on a farm 
south of Auburn, New York, where our subject aided his father in cultivating the soil, until 
seventeen or eighteen years old, receiving meantime an academic education. Returning to Bat- 
tle Creek, he studied medicine with Doctor S. B. Thayer, attended two courses of lectures at the 
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, one course in the Homoeopathic College, Cleveland, Ohio, 
and there received his medical degree February 28, 1861. 

Doctor Halsted opened an office at Geneseo, the seat of justice of Livingston county. New 
York, where he practiced two years, and then, 1863, went into the army as first assistant surgeon 
of the 15th New York cavalry, serving till the war closed, having charge of the regiment most of 
the time. In 1866 Doctor Halsted settled at Leavenworth, Kansas, where he remained between 
ten and eleven years, and where he had a very good practice both in medicine and surgery. In 
the spring of 1877 he came to the beautiful city of Jacksonville, the home of his wife, whom he had 



M 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



797 



married in May, 1870, and who was Elizabeth Hockenhull, daughter of Robert Hockenhull, one of 
the leading bankers of this city. They have two children, Matilda, aged ten years, and Robert, 
aged four. The family attend the Presbyterian Church, of which Mrs. Halsted is a member. 

Doctor Halsted has as much professional business as any one man, however ambitious, could 
reasonablj' desire. He has no time to devote to politics, except to vote, his choice being the 
republican ticket; is connected with no secret society, and gives all the time he can spare from 
his ride, to the study of his profession, he having a well selected library, and a choice variety of 
medical periodicals. It is doubtful if there is a business man in his profession in Jacksonville, or 
one who is rising more rapidly. He received a very thorough drill in medical science before com- 
mencing practice, and is now reaping his reward for the pains he took at the start, and for his 
studiousness since opening an office. 



HON. JOHN A. LOGAN. 

CHICAGO. 

JOHN A. LOGAN was born in Jackson county, Illinois, February 9, 1826. His father, Doctor 
John Logan, was a native of Ireland, whence he removed to Illinois in 1823. At this time 
southern Illinois was very sparsely settled, and the lad had few opportunities for attending school. 
But the paucity of schools was amply atoned for by the instruction received from his father, a 
man of education and intelligence. After a preparatory course he entered Louisville I'niversity, 
and was regularly graduated therefrom. 

The Mexican war roused the martial spirit of the young man, and he enlisted as a pri- 
vate in the ist regiment Illinois infantry, and was chosen a lieutenant of one of its com- 
panies. His energy and bravery attracted the attention of the officer in command, and he was 
placed on the regimental staff, and filled at different times the positions of quartermaster and of 
adjutant. On the return of peace, in 1848, he entered the office of his uncle. Governor Alexander 
M. Jenkins, and commenced the study of the law. The next year he was elected count)'^ clerk of 
Jackson county, and devoted himself to its duties, and continued at the same time his legal 
studies. 

In 1852 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the third judicial district, a position which he 
held for five years. 

He was also elected as a member of the legislature in 1S52, and was three times reelected. In 
1856 he was chosen as one of the presidential electors. In 1857 Mr. Logan formed a partnership 
with his uncle, and devoted himself to the practice of his profession. In 1858, however, he was 
elected to congress on the democratic ticket, and in i860 was reelected to the same position. At 
this time Mr. Logan was an ardent friend of Stephen A. Douglas, and in full accord with the 
liberal democracy- of which Mr. Douglas was the champion. Many of Mr. Logan's friends were 
in full sympathy with the seceding states, and very many of his political friends either openly or 
secretly favored the rebellion; but as soon as it became clearly evident that the leaders of the 
southern democracy had systematically planned the disruption of the government, that the cabi- 
net of the president had been filled by graceless thieves who had plundered the national treasury 
and robbed the nation's armories of the munitions of war, and that the election of Abraham Lin- 
coln was to be used as a plausible pretext for the consummation of treasonable schemes shrewdly 
conceived and carefully planned, Mr. Logan broke asunder party ties, boldly denounced the trea- 
sonable conspirators, and threw himself, heart and soul, into the Union ranks. His voice rang 
out in clarion tones, thrilling with joy all loyal hearts, but stirring bitter hate in those around 
whom secession's sorceries had cast their fatal spell. He openly declared that if forcible resist- 
ance were made to the inauguration of President Lincoln he would shoulder his musket and aid 
in the consummation of the people's will. Being at this time by far the most popular man in 
southern Illinois, to him is fairly due the credit of creating and fostering the loyal spirit which 



/ 



gS UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 



kept in subjection the sympathizers with an unholy crusade against a free government. During 
the summer of 1861, while in congress, Mr. Logan joined the army and fought sturdily in the 
ranks in the memorable and disastrous battle of Bull Run, and was one of the last of those who 
reluctantly retreated from the field of battle. He returned to his place in congress, and sought 
to discharge the important duties of his office; but the grim music of shot and shell and the clash 
of arms had stirred too deeply the soldier's heart, perhaps aroused a lofty ambition, and within a 
month after Bull Run, Colonel Logan was in command of the 31st regiment Illinois infantry. 

At Belmont he fought bravely, his horse being shot under him. He won laurels at Fort Henry, 
and at Fort Donelson was severely wounded while gallantly leading in the assault. Impatient 
at inactivity, long before he had recovered from his wounds he reported to General Grant for 
duty. In March, 1862, he was made a brigadier-general, in recognition of his soldierly qualities 
and conspicuous bravery. A bare statement of the simple facts of General Logan's military 
career would fill a volume. It would comprise almost a complete history of the western cam- 
paigns. In the Mississippi campaign General Logan commanded the third division of the seven- 
teenth army corps, then under the command of the gallant McPherson. In this position his mili- 
tary prowess and ability were so conspicuous that he was, in November, 1862, promoted to the 
rank of major-general of volunteers. At Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson and Champion Hill, 
his courage, valor and skill greatly increased his renown. His column was the first to enter 
Vicksburg, of which he was made military governor. In November, 1863, he succeeded General 
Sherman in the command of the fifteenth army corps. He led the advance of the army of the 
Tennessee at Resaca, repulsed Hardee at Dallas, and dislodged the enemy from his fortifica- 
tions at Kenesaw Mountain. When the lamented McPherson fell on the bloody field at Atlanta, 
General Logan took command of the army of the Tennessee. He shared in the brilliant march 
to the sea, which has covered the name of General Sherman with unfading luster. In 1866 he 
was elected to Congress, as representative of the state at large, on the republican ticket, by an 
overwhelming majority, and was reelected in 1868 and 1870. Before he had taken his seat in the 
forty-second congress the legislature of Illinois elected him to the senate of the United States for 
six years. He served as chairman of the committee on military affairs in the forty-first congress, 
and discharged the duties of that responsible position with eminent ability. He was reelected to 
the United States senate in 1881, and now holds that important position. 

Senator Logan would have achieved distinction in any sphere of life. He possesses great ver- 
satility, indomitable energy, indefatigable industry, and uncommon sagacity and intellectual vigor. 
Impetuous and enthusiastic, he is always self-contained and self-poised. Enthusiasm properly 
directed and controlled by sound judgment is one of the highest forms of mental power. It cap- 
tivates men and bears them along with the resistless energy of a mighty torrent. As a successful 
military leader, General Logan stands peerless in the glorious galaxy of heroes whom the war of 
the rebellion found private citizens, unfamiliar with the profession of arms, and returned to a 
grateful and admiring country, saved b)' their valor and devotion, thoroughly skilled in the art of 
war, and crowned with the well earned laurels of victory. To the soldiers under his command 
he was an inspiration — a prophecy of success. They believed him invincible, and not witiiout 
reason, since his brilliant career was untarnished by defeat. As a member of congress and a 
senator he has discharged the duties of his position without ostentation but with conspicuous 
ability. His unswerving fidelity to the integrity of the Union, and to the interests of its brave 
defenders, has endeared him to those who saved the government and protected its flag from 
insult. 

Senator Logan is affable but dignified in his bearing. There is no truer or more steadfast 
friend, and he never forgets a real kindness. But when roused to indignation by wrong or injus- 
tice, his anger is majestic, and few care to brave his displeasure a second time. He is an eloquent 
orator — logical and terse when it is befitting the occasion, always earnest and vigorous, and 
sometimes ornate. The whole magazine of wit, satire and invective is always at his command; 
and he wields with equal skill the polished rapier of sarcasm, the keen blade of ridicule, or the 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 799 

thunderbolt of fierce invective. When aroused by some grand emergency he carries his audience 
tte by hearty enthusiasm and powerful personal magnetism. His farewell address to the 
armv of the Tennessee, in 1865, was one of his most brilliant oratorical efforts. TKe occasion 
a?one peculiarly touching; t'he orator, the occasion and the theme were brought together 
Characterized by lofty eloquence and moving pathos, it melted into tears the bronzed and scarred 
veterLs of a hundred battle fields. Brave men who had faced death a thousand times without a 
quiver of a muscle, bowed their heads to hide the tears they could not repress. 



JOHN C. PEPPER. 

ALEDO. 
TOHN CHARLES PEPPER was born in Cambridgeshire, England, September ^i. 1829. 
J When the son was five or six years old the family immigrated to this country and settled m 
AmborO wego county. New York. Young Pepper was educated at the Vernon Academy and 
S" Wayne County InstUute, teaching school in the winters. In 1848 he came into the sta e of • 
llnoisf taught school and read law one year at Peoria; did the same the next year at Ke h - 
burg", and Tn the latter place continued to read law until admitted to the bar January, 1851. 
About that time he married Miss Mary A. Martin, of Mercer county. 

X. tpper was in practice at Keithsburgh for nearly twenty years, and ^a^^^ ^^^ - 
business In August, 1862, he went into the army as captain of company H, 84th I Imois nfan 
Tv was slightly wounded at Stone River, and served about one year. In the autumn of 1869 
S' Pepp rfemoved to Aledo, continuing the practice of his profession and always maintaining 
fn honorable position, at the Mercer county bar. In X879 he was the democratic candidate for 
circuit iudee but failed of an election, the district being republican. 

For many years Mr. Pepper has been an energetic worker in the cause of prohibition and has 
lectur d on Ih s subject in e^ht or ten states, including Kansas and Iowa just before they voted 
on ^quest on of prohibition. He was for two years president of the I linois Temperanc^e Alli- 
en nnd a the un!on of that body and the Illinois Temperance Union, in January, 1882 he was 
lect^rprSidtt which honorable' post he holds at the time this sketch is written. The great 
n —! m^v ment has no more untiring and courageous worker in Ilhnois than Mr. Pep- 
pe7 He has held conventions and spoken in more than eighty of the counties in the tat He 
was a delegate to the National Temperance Convention which met at Saratoga, i88x, and has 
spoken several times in the state of New York. 



HON. JAMES SHAW. 

MOUNT CARROLL. 

College, Jacksonville, in 1857, finished ead.ng .^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ 

3i.e county was aclmit^edto^ and long ago took a front rank at the 

in the P;-^'-;J^; "P^^j^f;;^^ ,;;,! ^i„d and a studious disposition, and hence is a rising man 
bar of Carroll county^ "^ h^^J f ^ ^ ,^^,^ ,,,,, ,„d forcible, favorably impressing 

^::^::;™iu " ^;"r Lid the o.ce' of^ssistant state geologist for three years. He 



^°° fW/r^ZJ Sr.4T£S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

among them the picked men of the house ^ composed of about seventeen members, 

chiltr^'^'' ^""'' ^'^^' '''" J^""^^ "^^^^>-' °^ ^^*^-'-^' ^^-^ Virginia, and they have three 

HON. GEORGE E. ADAMS. 

CHICAGO. 
r.,„„„era.,ve pr.cica. „<1 gave hin, a highly creditable standing at the Chicai" b 7" 

Mat!;;:r3::d,rh^rg:eV:ratirrhairL'::e:;:dtftt:~.:rtrt:^ 

d.str.ct to represent that constitaenc, in the fortv-ei-hth conrns, '"' "P""''"" »' ll«'<»"rth 
,«., to M.SS Adele Poster, danghter'o, John „. Poster" Chrj: an'd'th^r.eTrereS;': 

HON. CYRUS EPLER. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

T^R- ^""^f P f "'' '/""'^ j"^'""' '^'■■^"'^ '^ ^ "^''^-^ °f I"diana, a son of John and Sarah 
1 (B.ggs) Epler and was born in Charleston, Clark countv, Ma.: ,,, ,8,3 ^ ^is father wa 
born m Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and his mother in Charleston,' ndiana The Eplers are of Cer 
man descent. The father of Sarah Biggs was a captain of Light Horse at the b t e of Tippe 

tr-and'fhV" '"'"""h^^ ''^''J°'" Epler brought hi family to Morgan co.t.'hs 

state, and the son was reared on a farm, attending school meanwhile in a log school house 
unt, n.neteen years old. He is a graduate of Illinois College, Jacksonville, receiLg the degr e 
of bachelor of arts m 1847 and master of arfs in ,9-^ ^„a ^ u- r evening me aegree 

ing the four years he was in colkge ^ ' ''''^''"^ fo--quarters of the time dur- 

bar t' fs^cf "h" '"' ""' "°"- ^"'''■' '^^'" ^"^ "«"• ^^^■"-- Brown; was admitted to the 
reelected "■ . " w,!", P"'''"' "' Jacksonville until he went on the bench in 1873. He was 
reelected m :879. iVhde practicing his profession he held the office of state's attorney four year 
ea'aHh^tTr :; ""' '^^ '^^^^^^ ^™- '«56 to .860, being a member of the .udiciJr com'mi ! 
tee all that period. He .s a democrat m politics and a third-degree Mason. While at the bar 

o JsMienT '" ^"'■''^'°" """'^" " '^^ '"^'"^^^= P'-'^P-^^ hi. cases with great c re .as tru 
to h.s chent. and was quUe successful. As a Judge he is cautious, cool and discriminadng. He 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. . 8ol 

Zefully weighs the facts in a case, and ascertains the principles governing it and usually comes 
^^^a w se decfsion. His standing among the jurists of the state .s h:ghly creditable. 
Thlwife of Mr. Epler was Miss Cornelia A. Nettleton, daughter of Doctor Clark Ne 
RacTne W consin, their marriage being dated August 3, 1853. They have seven chddr 
E ckv anornev of Ouincy. Illinois, and most of the others are securing the.r educafo. 



HON. JOSEPH H. JONES. 

HENR y. 



T OSEPH HENDERSON JONES, a leading merchant and first-class business man, ,s a son of 
Cannah and Phebe (Durnal) Jones, and was born in Washington county, Indiana, in 1832. 
Wh^n he Lftto vears old the Lily came into this state, settling in Canton, Fulton county. 
A fe" veVr ater, his father becoming sheriff, the family removed to Lewiston, the -un y sea . 
fnxS-i Joseph came to Henrv. and after holding a clerkship two years in a store went into bus - 
ness foriTmself. He has be^^n a merchant there for thirty years, straightforward and successful 
From" 6 "o 1865 he was also engaged in banking. Mr. Jones has held various offices, such as 
Lperv o schoo director, alderman, etc., and in X871-73 was a member of the general assembles 
befng'ent' there by his republican constituents. He is an elder of the Presbyterian Church, and 
solid in character as well as in purse. 



I 



THE PAR LIN ANP^ ORENDOREF COMPANY. 

CAN TO. \. 
N ,840 William Parlin. a blacksmith from Massachusetts, came to Fulton county, ^nd in 1847 
X started a pl.-w shop in Canton, without machinery of any kind. In 185. he was joined by his 
brother-in-la V.William J. Orcndorff, and steam power was introduced, the firm beuxg U ilHam 
Parlin and Cmpanv. The name of the firm has been changed two or three times. In 1880 the 
rompanvta. in „rp„ratcd, and is known as the Parlin and Orendorff Company, a son of Mr. 
PaXand a' son of Mr. Orendorff being at the same time taken into the company. Its shops 
have been extended from time to time, until they cover nearly a square, and have a capacity for 
,00 men Tin- works consume annually 3,000 tons of iron and steel, and about 1,500,000 feet of 
fumber.' The chief articles manufactured are steel plows and cultivators, harrows, shovels, road 
scrapers, stalk cutters, etc. 



T 



\Vn:LlAM OSMAN. 

OTTA II'A. 
HE oldest iournalist in Illinois, still in active service in that profession, is the gentleman 
X whose name heads this sketch and who has spent most of his time in a printing office since 
hfwas thirteen vears of age. He is a son of Robert and Catherine (Schreiber) Osman, and was 
born in Ly eTs Vallev. Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, June 18, ,8.0^ His grandfather, Tho^.s 
olman, was from England and settled first in New Jersey. His mother, as the name would indi- 

cate was of German descent. , 

William finished his education with one year's attendance in the preparatory department of 
the college at Gettysburgh; entered a German printing office at Harnsburgh in his fourteenth 
year and there remained until ,840, when he came to Ottawa and worked two years in the 'Free 
Trader • office for Weaver and Hise. He then became a partner of Mr. Hise and that partner- 
shTp continued about five years. In X848 Mr. Osman married Mary Hise. a sister of his partner, 
and that partnership has continued to " this present." The year before this event, Moses Osman, 



802 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

a brother of William, bought out Mr. Hise, and the two brothers published the " Free Trader " \ 

in company until 1852, when Moses bought the office and our subject went to Chicago and edited \ 

"The Democrat" for eight or nine months for Hon. John Wentworth, immediately after which per- \ 

iod he spent almost the same length of time in the interior department, Washington. In 1854 Mr. 
Osman returned to Ottawa, bought out the " Free Trader," and was its sole proprietor until 1866, 
when Colonel Douglas Hapeman bought a half interest in the paper and job office, and that part- 
nership still continues. 

Mr. Osman was appointed postmaster of Ottawa in 1854, and held that office through Pierce's 
administration and the early part of Buchanan's, being finally turned out because he would not 
turn against Judge Douglas. He has always been an out-and-out democrat of the Douglas school 
and an out-and-out free trader, on which suliject he has written and published enough matter to 
make several volumes. 

HON. JAMES D. WEBBER. 

MI\0.\K. 

JAMES DWIGHT WEBBKR. formerlv a merdiani in Minonk, and a member of the Illinois 
legislature, hails from Greene county. New York, being born April 19, 1826. His parents, 
Henry and Louisa (Pitts) Webber were also burn in that county. He learned the wagon and car- 
riage maker's trade, and carried on that business at Gayhead until 1865, marrying meanwhile, in 
1856, Miss Jemima Trj'on, of Catskiil, Greene count)-. In 1865 Mr. Webber came to this state, 
halting one year at Rutland, La Salle county, and then settling in Minonk. Here he was engaged 
in hotel keeping the first four years, and then went into the mercantile business. 

He was a member of the twenty-eighth general assembly, his place being on the democratic 
side of the house. He is a -Sir Knight, and belongs to the Cneur de Leon Ccmimandery, El Paso. 

Mr. Webber retired from business in 18.S?. He has a farm near town, cultivated by proxy, 
and he is in very comfortable circumstani cs He has been an alderman of the city, and is now 
holding some municipal office. 

GEORGE W. KRETZLXGER. 

I ' CHIC A GO. 

r~^ E0R(;E Washington KRHTZINGER is a native of Scloto county, Ohlo. and was horn 

^ T August II, 1844, the son of Rev. Isaac Kretzinger, a clergyman of the United Brethren 

(Jeaomination. His paternal grandfather emigrated from Germany, and settled in the state of 
Virginia. George W. received a collegiate education, and during the years that he was pursuing 
his studies, by working on a farm and in other avocations, earned the means for defraying the 
expenses of his education, as well as of his personal maintenance. After his graduation he went 
to Iowa, when he became a teaciier in the Keokuk classical school, and also began the stud)' of 
law, under the preceptorship of Hon. George W. McCrary. an ex-member of President Hayes' 
cabinet, and now (1883) judge of the United States circuit court for the district of Iowa. Mr. 
Kretzinger finished his legal studies with Henry Strong, now of Chicago, then of Keokuk, and at 
that time a leading railway attorney in Iowa, and was admitted to the bar of Iowa in March, 
1867. Soon after his admission to practice, he removed from Keokuk, and in the September fol- 
lowing, formed a partnership with Judge R. L. Hannaman, at Knoxville, Illinois, which continued 
until 1873, when Mr. Kretzinger removed to Chicago, where he formed a partnership with John I. 
Bennett, now master in chancery, of the United States circuit court. This partnership was dis- 
solved by mutual consent, and Mr. Kretzinger has now associated with him his younger brother, 
under the name and style of (i. W. and J. T. Kretzinger. 

The subject of this sketch has made a special study of corporation law, and his business, 
which is very extensive, is largely confined to that branch of practice. Since 1877 he has been 





4/. 




.OlC^ 



UNITED STATES RIOCK.l PltlCA I. DlC IIONAKV. Sq^ 

general solicitor for the Chicago and Iowa Railway Company, and has represented various other 
railway companies in some of the most important legal controversies which have arisen since 1873. 
Mr. Kretzinger has a keen and logical mind, a tenacious memory and mental operations (jf 
remarkable quickness and accuracy. He is full of resource, and fertile in invention, and possesses 
a tireless energy, which renders him almost invincible, when once fairly aroused and thoroughly 
interested. As a lawyei»he possesses a powerful reason, comprehends the scope of a complicated 
case with great clearness, and analyzes the legal propositions involved, with accuracy. As a 
speaker, he is vigorous, logical and terse, and does not strive so much for ornate diction, or well 
rounded periods, as to set forth succinctly, forcibly and clearly, the legal propositions upon which 
he relies, and to arrange and present facts to which the legal principles involved are applied. Mr. 
Kretzinger was married August 29, 1878, to Miss Clara J. Wilson, of Rock Island, and has one son. 



HON. JOHN T. STUART. 

SPRINGEIELD. 

JOHN T. STUART, senior member of the law firm of Stuart, Edwards and Brown, hails 
from Kentucky, being born in Fayette county, near Lexington, November 10, 1807. He is of 
sturdy Scotch-Irish descent, and a son of Rev. Robert Stuart, who went from Virginia to Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky, where he taught the languages in Transylvania University, and where he married 
a daughter of General Levi Todd. John was educated at Danville College, Kentucky, being a 
graduate of the class of 1826, and studied law for two years under that eminent lawyer and jurist, 
Judge Breck. In 1828 he came to Springfield, in those days a ten days' trip on horseback; and 
here, as we learn from the " History of Sangamon County," he found five lawyers, James Adams, 
Thomas N. Neale, James Strode, Thomas Moffett and Jonathan H. Pugh, all since left for " that 
undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns." 

Subsequently such legal lights appeared here as Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Ste- 
phen T. Logan, John M. Palmer, and in the court room Mr Stuart was regarded as the peer of 
any of them. He was born two years before Mr. Lincoln, and had the training of that great 
statesman for the bar, a noble vi'ork of which he may well be proud. 

Our subject entered public life quite early, and has filled different positions, always with much 
credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his political confreres. He was elected to the legislature 
in 1832, and reelected in 1834, being in these days a whig, and an earnest advocate of internal im- 
provements, then just looming up as an important question. 

Mr. Stuart was defeated for congress by William L. May, in 1836, beat Stephen A. Douglas 
for the same office in 1838, and was reelected in 1841, that great whig triumphal year, when Tip- 
pecanoe songs had about as much influence as logic. In congress, during the session of 1841-42, 
he secured an appropriation for the harbor at Chicago, an act for which he is still kindly remem- 
bered by the people, particularly in northern Illinois. Mr. Stuart now withdrew awhile from 
public life, but in 1849 we find him in the state senate, where he represented the counties of San- 
gamon, Mason and Menard for four years. 

The whig party was broken up in 1854, and Mr. Stuart supported Millard Fillmore on the 
American ticket in 1856, and John Bell on the conservative ticket in i860, but otherwise kept out 
of politics till 1862, when he was elected to congress by the democrats and a few republicans, he 
being opposed to what he considered the radical measures of the administration. He was an out 
and out Union man, and favored the vigorous prosecution of the war, but thought the emancipa- 
tion proclamation was unnecessary, and that the objects for which it was issued could be attained 
in some other manner. That was Mr. Stuart's opinion then, but we believe that he has since 
come to the conclusion that his old pupil and life-long personal friend, Mr. Lincoln, acted wisely 
and for the best interests of the country. 

Mr. Stuart was defeated for congress in 1864. and since that lime has lived a very ciuiet life, 
78 



8o6 'UNITF.n STATES n/OCRA PfffCA r. DICTrONARY. 

altcTuling lo his law practice with great diligence. Says a writer vvlio has known Mr. Stuart for 
thirty or forty years: " His leading traits are sterling integrity, great forecast and strong will. 
In the management of professional business he seeks first to understand his own side of the case, 
and next to penetrate the designs of his adversary, in which he never fails. He keeps his own 
batteries effectually masked, while those of the opposite side are closely scrutinized. He knows 
their caliber and position completely. It was this quality which made him so eminently success- 
ful as a politician. Such were his adroitness and sagacity, that his adversaries could never com- 
prehend how he could obtain a knowledge of their plans. Therefore they dubbed him 'Jerry 
Sly.' " 

Mr. Stuart has been prominently identified with the railroad interest of Sangamon county from 
their start, and has held various offices in connection with them, and has also served as president 
of the Springfield City Railway Company, the Springfield Watch Company, and the Bettie Stuart 
Board of Trustees. He was likewise one of the commissioners for building the new state house, 
and chairman of , the executive committee of the Lincoln Monument Association, giving a great 
deal of time to these latter enterprises, and also to local educational institutions. His whole heart 
is in any cause which will to any extent benefit the community. In short, he has all the attributes 
of a public-spirited, kind-hearted neighbor. 



OWEN LOVEJOY. 

PRINCE TON. 

OWEN LOVEJOY was of New England stock, the son of a Congregational minister, Rev. 
Daniel Lovejoy, and was born in Albion, Maine, January 7, 181 1. He was a brother of 
Elijah Lovejoy, who was killed at Alton, this state, in 1837, because he was the publisher of an 
anti-slavery newspaper, He entered upon his theological studies at Alton, Illinois, with his 
brother, in 1836; three years afterward, was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church at 
Princeton, and held that charge nearly seventeen years. In 1854 he first entered upon public Irfe 
as a member of the lower house of the general assembly. Two years afterward he was elected to 
congress, and by repeated reelections held a seat in that body until his demise in the city of 
Brooklyn, New York, March 25, 1864, a little more than a year after Mr. Lincoln's proclamation 
of emancipation had declared the slaves of the. land free. Almost the first knowledge we have of 
Mr. Lovejoy in this state, was as a bold and fearless denouncer of slavery, and he never ceased his 
warfare against that infamous system until his strength and breath both gave way. His widow 
is still living. His son, Owen Glendower, is a rising lawyer in Princeton. 



HON. BENJAMIN R. SHELDON. 

ROCKFORD. 

BENJAMIN ROBBINS SHELDON, son of Benjamin and Sarah (Robbins) Sheldon, was 
born in New Marlborough, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, in 1812. Both parents were 
also natives of that state. His father was a lawyer and at one period a member of the legislature 
and of the governor's council. Benjamin prepared for college at Stockbridge and Lenox Acade- 
mies, and was graduated at Williams College in 1830, being only eighteen years of age. He 
read law in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, with Hubbard and Rockwell, and was admitted to practice 
1835, in which year, we believe, he came to Illinois. He practiced at Hennepin and subsequently 
at Galena, until 1848, when he was elected to the old fourth circuit, and has been on the bench 
from that date. The date of his election to the supreme bench was in 1870. Both as a lawyer 
and a judge he is a man of fine discriminating powers; and his sense of fairness and right 
between man and man is keen and truly exalted, as is acknowledged by all with whom he comes 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 807 

in contact. His analytical powers are remarkably clear, and he is entirely dispassionate and 
courageous, and follows his convictions instead of prejudice. No more honorable and strictly 
honest man than Judge Sheldon wears the ermine in lUmois. 



HON. SIMON P. SHOPE. 

LE IVISTON. 
r-IMON P SHOPE is the judge of the judicial circuit which includes Fulton county. He is a 
S Buckeye by birth, and the light of this world first dawned upon him December 3, 1835, h>s 
brents behi Simon P. and Lucinda Shope. They were natives of Pennsylvania and came to 
testate in fhe youth of our subject, who was educated in the schools of Woodford county^ He 
taulht school three winters, commencing at fifteen years of age, each term being six month in 
en^tl In 18SS he commenced the study of law with Judge Powell, of Peoria, and was admitted 
rth'bin 1856 settling in Lewlston in the same year. He made a brilhant record as an 
a ton ev at- aw Ld was sfnt to the legislature by his democratic constituents in 1863 serving 
C consecudve terms. He was elected judge in :8„; was reelected in .8„, and is still serving 
on his second term. His ability as a jurist is unquestioned. 

HON. GRANVILLE BARRERE. 

CANTON. 
r- RANVILLE BARRERE is a son of John M. and Margaret (Morrow) Barrere, -"^ was boni 
G at Hillsboro, Highland county, Ohio, July 11, 1831. His father was a native of ^-tuck>, 
atHiUSDoro g jj^^j^g^g i„ ,880. Granville was educated at Augusta College, 

iliiiilpifes 

home, working very hard in its behalf, and making a truly valuable citizen. 



DANIEL J. AVERY. 

CHIC A GO. 



county, Illinois, in 1849, is John A. Avery, now editor of the Lake u P ^_.^^^^^ 

Daniel was born in Brandon, Vermont, December i, .836. His tathei 



cSo8 VNIZED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

(if education, and would gather his own and his neighbors' cliildren at his own home, and during 
the evenings give them tlieir early instructions. The celebrated Stephen A. Douglas was in those 
da3's one of his pupils, and received his earliest instruction and the necessary flagellation at his 
hands, in Brandon, Vermont. 

In 1843, Ebenezer W. Avery, with his wife and family of seven children, of whom Daniel was 
next the youngest, came west, by way of the Erie canal and the lakes. They landed in Racine, 
Wisconsin, in October, and at once preempted a quarter section of land in which is now Avon, in 
Lake county. Their nearest neighbor was three miles distant, and no schools in the town. Dan- 
iel was present when the first school house was erected in his district. It was a log house, and 
the neighbors each furnished his quota of logs to erect it. Daniel attended school until about 
eighteen years old, working with his father on the farm summers, and going to school winters. 
He studied the higher branches at home evenings, under paternal instruction, and furnished him- 
self with books by selling quails, at twenty-five cents per dozen, which he caught during the 
winter. At the age of eighteen he attended the village academy of Waukegan, then under the 
management of Francis E, Clark, the present county judge of Lake county. There he remained 
for six terms, preparing for college, but abandoned his purpose of pursuing a collegiate course, 
and decided instead to fit himself for the legal profession. At the age of twenty he entered the 
office of Hon. J. B. Bradweil, of Chicago, and became a member of Mr, Bradwell's family, and 
worked for his board and washing. At the end of one year, however, he went to the law office of 
Brown and Runyan, where he pursued his legal studies until June 30, 1859, when he was admitted 
to the bar. His examiners were Judges Beckwith, Judd and Peck. After his admission to the 
bar, he practiced his profession until July i, 1862, w^hen he enlisted as a private, in the 113th reg- 
iment Illinois infantry, and October i, following, was promoted to second sergeant. He was in 
the reserve corps at the battle of Chickasaw Bluff, December 29, 1862; fought in the battle of 
Arkansas Post, January 11, 1863. About January 22, he moved with Sherman's army down to 
Young's Point, opposite Vicksburg, and awaited the cutting of a channel across that point by 
command of General Grant. In December, 1862, he was accidently poisoned while temporarily 
in the regiment's hospital, at Memphis, Tennessee, and in March, 1863, was sent to Lawson, gen- 
eral at Saint Louis, and was honorably discharged from the service October 12, 1863. He imme- 
diately returned to Chicago, and resumed the practice of law. In 1864 the firm of Runyan and 
Avery was formed, which continued until 1867, when Mr. Comstock was admitted to it, and in 
1869 Judge Loomis, who remained till 1873, when he retired and was followed by Mr. Runyan 
soon af1;erward. The firm was then known as Avery and Comstock, which was dissolved in 1877. 

Mr. Avery conducted the extensive chancery business during the whole history of the firm, 
and acquired an enviable reputation in that line of business, and in December, 1880, was appointed 
master in chancery of the superior court of Cook county, which office he now holds. 

He has always been an active republican in politics, and served his party as chairman of the 
Cook county republican central committee, and other useful positions, but has never aspired to 
office, and never been a candidate before the people. 

In 1866 he was made Master Mason, and for three years was master of Hesperia Lodge, No 
411, and for the past eight years has filled the office of district depu*)^ grand master for the sec- 
ond district of Illinois. He was one of the thirteen members who constituted the masonic board 
(.f relief organized after the great fire, and did his fellow citizens efficient service in that capacity. 
In July, 1874, he assisted in the organization of the Northwestern Masonic Aid Association, and 
was elected president, and has been successively elected to that position every year since. This 
is one of the most successful cooperative benefit associations in the country. Its membership has 
now reached more than 15,000, and it has disbursed in the eight years of its existence over $800,- 
000 to beneficiaries. 

In 1867 Mr. Avery married Miss Mary Comstock, of Wilton, Saratoga county. New York, who 
died January 11, 1873, leaving two children. May 29, 1874, he married his present wife, who was 
Miss Kate Ellis, of New York citv. 



U.VTTED STATES BIQGRATHICAL DICTIONARY. 809 

Like many ollitrs, Mr. Avery allowed his better judgment to be controlled by his feelings, and 
became surety for a friend. The venture failed, and in i<S67 he lost everything except the confi- 
dence and esteem of his fellow citizens. 

In person Mr. Avery is substantially built, tall, well proportioned, and of commanding pres- 
ence. In complexion he is a blonde, with a pleasing expression, very approachable, and a genial 
companion. He is very proficient in his profession, and is regarded as a fluent speaker, and a 
close, logical reasoner. 

MYRON A. DECKER. 

CHIC A GO. 

MYRON A. DECKER was born February 21, 1837, in Livingston county. New York. His 
ancestors on the paternal side belonged to an ancient and eminent famil}' in Holland, a 
branch of which, about the middle of the seventeenth century, emigrated from Amsterdam and 
settled in New York, on the Hudson River, from which branch his father, Henry Decker, descend- 
ed. In 1816 his father married, and settled in the Genesee Valley, in western New York, and was 
largely engaged in agriculture, and ranked among the ablest and most high!}' respected citizens 
in Livingston county. His mother, Martha (Mather) Decker, traced her descent through the 
Connecticut branch of the Mather family to the Massachusetts branch, and to Increase and Cotton 
Mather, whose history is a part of the early annals of New England. 

His mother died when Myron was fourteen years of age, and his father removed to Lima, 
where were located the Genesee College and Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, in order that his fam- 
ily, of whom Myron was the youngest, might receive a liberal education at these popular institu- 
tions. Here Myron pursued his studies till he was nineteen years of age, when he resolved, owing 
to some financial embarrassments into which his father had fallen, to rely wholly upon himself, 
and from that time till the completion of his literary and legal studies, he had to encounter and 
overcome difficulties which invariably prove the best school for training a youth to habits of 
sturdy self reliance and confidence so essential to success in after life. 

In the spring of i860, at the age of twenty-three, he was admitted to the pr&ctice of law by 
the supreme court of New York, at the city of Auburn. He at once entered upon the practice of 
law at Lima, and met with flattering success for nearly two years, when the war of the rebellion 
began, and as legal business was generally suspended, he accepted a position which was tendered 
him in the United States treasury at Washington, District of Columbia, where he remained till 
the war closed. When he left the department he held the highest grade, and had charge of a 
division. During this period he pursued, with untiring assiduity, further legal studies, and in 
February, 1865, was, upon motitm of Senator Howe, now postmaster general, admitted to practice 
in the supreme court of the LTnited Stat^ at Washington, District of Columbia. 

At the close of the war, and the general resumption of business, he resigned his position in 
the treasur}', inspired by a laudable ambition to establish himself in the profession of his choice, 
and soon thereafter accepted a retainer to procure the setting aside of fraudulent titles procured 
from the United States to some large and valuable tracts of pine land in northern Wisconsin, and 
his success was such that he received numerous other retainers in the same line of business, which 
•kept him in constant service for more than three years in Wisconsin and Washington. District of 
Columbia, and his success for his clients proved a financial success for himself. 

Mr. Decker was married April 29, 1869, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Miss Kittie L. Knox, 
daughter of Hon. Thomas M. Knox, deceased, formerly judge in the city of Watertown, Wiscon- 
sin. Early in 1870 Mr. Decker removed to Chicago, and entered upon the practice of his profes- 
sion, and soon, by his energy^ and ability, acquired a lucrative practice. In the great fire of 187 1 
his office and his library, with many valuable papers, were consumed. In 1873 Mr. Decker was 
prostrated by the extreme heat while in Baltimore, and shortly after, in New York cit)% met with 
an accident which caused internal injury. From these causes iiis nervous system, already severely 



8 10 UNITED STA'JES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

strained by the cares and anxieties of his large practice, was for the time completely prostrated, 
and he was compelled to take a partner to meet the urgent demands of his increasing business. 
He therefore associated with himself, in Chicago, Henry Decker, then of Lima, New York, and 
the firm, under the name of Decker and Decker, continued for about two years, when Myron 
found that it was absolutely imperative that he should have complete relaxation from all business 
cares, and devote himself to the restoration of his health. He therefore surrendered his entire 
business to Henry Decker, and passed three years in travel and recreation. In 1879 his health 
was sufficiently restored to warrant his resuming the practice of his profession, and he again 
opened his office in Chicago, where his ability and integrity being fully recognized, he at once 
attracted to himself a large and lucrative practice, which he now- enjoys. 

Mr. Decker is an attorney of rare tact and sound judgment, fertile in resources and untiring 
in energy. These qualities, united with marked financial ability, and an unusual skill in delicate 
negotiations, cause his services to be in much request by corporations and large companies, to 
which class of practice his time is mainly devoted. He is the owner of considerable improved 
city property, and with the requisite attention given to its management, and to the interests of 
some eastern capitalists, the care of whose investments is intrusted to him, Mr. Decker finds little 
time for recreation. 

In politics he is a stanch republican, but has ever confined himself strictly to his profession, 
and whenever his name has been mentioned for any office or political preferment, has invariably 
declined. Throughout all his business and professional engagements, involving frequently sums 
of great magnitude, he has ever sustained the highest character for integrity, veracity and un- 
blemished honor. 

COLONEL NATHAN M. KNAPP. 

WINCHESTER. 

NE of the most prominent men in Scott count)^ for many years, was Nathan Morse Knapp, 
who was born in Royalton, Vermont, March 4, 1815, and died at Winchester, October 4, 
1S79. He received an academic education, taught school for his support at the same period, and 
in 1837 came to Naples, in this state. Here he resumed the occupation of teacher, and also 
edited a newspaper. In the autumn of 1838 he moved to Jacksonville, Morgan county, and when 
that county was divided, early in 1839, and the new county of Scott was formed, he settled in 
Winchester, the shire town, and became county clerk. Meantime, he read law, and when the time 
of service in that office had expired, he gave his whole attention to the legal profession, having 
such associates at the bar as McConnell, Douglas and Lincoln. In 1847 he was elected a member 
of the constitutional convention, and in 1850 to the legislature. He was a very active politician 
in the Anti-Nebraska controversy, aided in forming thp republican party, and was a delegate to 
the Chicago convention, which nominated his life-long friend, Abraham Lincoln, for president. 

Says the Winchester •' Independent:" " When the rebellion broke out, his voice and pen were 
conspicuously employed in sustaining the old flag which he loved. Early in 1863 Mr. Lincoln 
appointed him a paymaster in the army, with the rank of major, which position he held till the 
close of the war. He was in 1865 appointed by President Johnson collector of internal revenue 
for this district, and continued in this office until its consolidation with that of United States 
assessor. Millions of money passed through his hands, involving many long-standing accounts 
and intricate calculations, without the loss of one cent. 

Colonel Knapp was a man of superior mind; as a lawyer he was sagacious, discriminating, 
and possessed, to an eminent degree, that faculty called common sense. He knew the law intui- 
tively, and was governed more by general principles than a knowledge of precedents. 

As a politician, he was among the first to aid in establishing the republican party, working 
with Lincoln, Yates, Browning, and all the old leaders when the party first came into power. He 
was not a mere follower of others, but originated his own line of argument in the great cam- 
paigns, which was frequently adopted by his compeers. 



o 



VXfTED STATES BIOGKA PU ICA L DICTIONARY. %\\ 

His ri-li<j;ious convfctions were strong, and a prominent feature in his character. On every 
(|iu'slion that arose in the community he was always found on the side of truth and justice. In 
this direction benevolence was a predominating trait. Although having a membership in a par- 
ticular denomination, the Christian, there is perhaps not a church in town which has not fre- 
quently received the benefit of his contributions and assistance." 

Colonel Knapp married Miss Isabel Pond, and she and two children survive iiim. The mother 
of Mrs. Knapp is also living, and is with her daughter at Winchester. 



T 



CHARLES WHITNEY. 

IVA UKEGAN. 

HE subject of this sketch is a native of this county, and was born at Warren, October 6, 1849. 
His father is Havelia Whitney, a farmer, who came to Lake county from Ohio, and was for 
a period of fourteen years county surveyor. He married Miss Harriet McNitt, who was from 
New York. Charles received an academic ,education in this county, read law with Blodgett, 
ITpton and Williams, Waukegan, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1871. He was in 
the abstract office, Chicago, most of the time from that date until February, 1876, when he 
opened a law office in Waukegan. In the autumn of the same j-ear he was elected state's attor- 
ney for Lake county, and still holds that office, being reelected in 1880. He has a clear and 
sound mind, is an industrious, energetic and growing man, ambitious to excel in his profession, 
and belongs to that class of young men who very rarely fail of success. 



HON. ISAAC L. MORRISON. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

THE subject of these brief notes is a prominent lawyer at the Morgan county bar, and was 
leader on the republican side in the thirty-third general assembly. He was born in Barnes 
county, Kentucky, January 20, 1826. He finished his education at a seminary at La Grange, Ken- 
tucky ; read law with A. M. Gayley ; was admitted to the bar in 1849, and practiced in his native 
state until 1851, when he settled in Jacksonville, which has since been his home. He is one of 
the leading lawyers in central Illinois. 

Mr. Morrison was originally an emancipationist ; linked his fortunes with the republican part}' 
at its organization, and has been a zealous worker in its interest. For the last four years he has 
Ijeen a member of the lower house of the legislature, and in its last session (1883) was the repub- 
lican leader. He is a profound lawyer and a powerful debater. He has a wife and two children. 



T 



REV. ALMER HARPER. 

PORT BYRON. 

HE subject of this sketch has been pastor of the Congregational Church at Port Byron for 
twenty-one years, and has become seemingly a clerical fixture in Rock Island county. He 
has, by divine help, built up a church, from forty to one hundred and forty members, and the 
attachment between pastor and people has become very strong. 

Aimer Harper was born in Rush county, Indiana, May 20, 1826, his father being Edward Har- 
per, a farmer from South Carolina, and his mother. Charity (Reed) Harper, of Yorktown, Vir- 
ginia. He is a graduate of Oberlin College, class of 1850, and of its Theological Seminary, class of 
1853. His first pastorate was in the State Street Congregational Church, Rochester, New York, 
where he spent between one and two years, and in 1855 went to Tabula, Iowa. He removed to 



8l2 UNITED STATES BIOGKAPIUCA t. DICTIONARY. 

La Claire, same state, opposite Port Byron, in i860, and after preaching there one year, changed 
his residence to this place, still supplying the Le Claire pulpit half a day each Sunday, two or 
three years longer. He has been and still is a very active Christian worker, being assiduous in 
pastoral labors, as well as earnest and strong in his pulpit efforts. The steady growth of his 
church has no doubt been a source of great comfort as well as encouragement to him. Through 
his influence an academy was started at Port Byron, in 1881. 

Mr. Harper was married, August 31, 1853, to Miss Eunice Thomson, and they have buried two 
children and have three, all sons, living. Edward T., a graduate with honors, of Oberlin, is prin- 
cipal of the Port Byron Academy ; Robert is a student at Oberlin, and Eugene Howard is a stu- 
dent under his eldest brother. 



HON. GEORGE HUNT. 

PARIS. 

GEORGE HUNT is a son of Richard and Niincy (Colopy) Hunt, and was born in Knox 
county, Ohio, May i, 1841. He received an academic education in Edgar county, this state, 
and was on a farm when the civil war began. In July, 1861, he enlisted as a private in company 
E, 1 2th Illinois infantry, and served four years, being mustered out with the rank of captain. 

On leaving the service, Mr. Hunt read law at Paris, and was admitted to the bar in 1868, since 
which date he has been in practice at Paris. Senator Hunt's strong points as a lawyer consist 
in the most careful and thorough preparation for his case before going to trial, and besides know- 
ing the law, he has a clear and concise way of stating it. He makes his client's case his own, and 
while he enjoys fun as much as any man, he does not indulge in it at the risk of endangering the 
interest of his client. In jury cases he is strong for the reason that he always convinces the jury 
at once of iiis own confidence in his case, and in addressing a jury he uses simple and practical 
words, and at times, when the circumstances demand, rises to the point of most graceful and 
effective eloquence. 

Mr. Hunt was county superintendent of schools from 1865 to 1869, and in 1874 he was elected 
to the state senate; Was reelected in 1878 and 1882, and is now serving his third term. He now 
represents the thirty-first district. During the last three sessions he has been chairman of the 
judiciary committee, the most important committee in that body. He is on the republican side 
of the senate. 

LUTHER LAFLIN MILLS. 

CHICAGO. 

THE doctrine once generally obtained, that if a man did not realize a character, in any pro- 
fession, soon after his first appearance, he hardly ever would attain one. And James Otis 
gave it as his opinion that it was of vast importance that a young man, entering the legal profes- 
sion, should be able to make some eclat at his opening. Whether these opinions be correct, we 
shall not stop to consider here, but certain it is, that Luther Laflin Mills early in his career dis- 
sipated whatever of doubt might then have clouded the hopes and ambitions of those interested 
in his welfare. At the very threshold of his prf)fessional experience, the subject of this sketch 
manifested a knowledge of legal theory, an energy, depth and acuteness of intellect, and a ripeness 
of judgment rarely developed by the majority of men, under forty. 

Mr. Mills was born in North Adams, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, September 3, 1848. 
When but two years of age, his father migrated to Illinois. Locating in Chicago, the elder Mills 
engaged in mercantile pursuits, and it was in the schools of that city that the promising son 
received his early training. " The boy is father of the man," and the precocious Luther soon 
resolved upon the benefits of a liberal education. Having mastered the curriculum fixed by the 



UNI TED S •/■./ TKS B/OUk'A /'///( \A L />/( ' -/-fOX. I A' )'. g I 5 

educational system of his adopted home, he became a matriculate of Michigan University. Re- 
turning to Chicago, in due course of time, he entered as a law student the office of Hon. H. N. 
Hibbard. Admitted to the bar immediately upon the conclusion of the time prescribed for pro- 
fessional study, Mr. Mills was soon distinguished as an advocate of natural power, strengthened 
by judicious culture. It has been said that forensic eloquence demands for its success a union of 
the rarest faculties, " the most varied and dissimilar gifts." The orator, like the poet, is born and 
not made, and his power is the product of both intellectual and physical force. Of the truth of 
this, Mr. Mills is an exemplification. Endowed by nature with a clear perception, force of will, 
a tenacious memory and lively imagination, he lost no opportunity for the cultivation of these 
faculties to the utmost. Combining with these gifts of mind, an erect and supple form, a dark 
and lustrous eye, graceful action, a goodly range of facial expression, and a voice at once melo- 
dious and flexible; is it surprising that Luther Laflin Mills should have been called, at twenty- 
eight years of age, to the responsible position of state's attorney for one of the most populous and 
wealthy counties west of the Alleghany Mountains ? Nominated as a candidate for that position, 
by the Cook county republican convention, of the state of Illinois, in the autumn of 1876, he was 
duly elected. His peculiar gifts were used-with effect, and he became a terror to evil doers. 
They found in him not merely the fluent declaimer, but the inexorable nemesis of the law. It 
has been said that the metaphor is the orator's figure, and the simile that of the poet. In the 
annals of oratory, this was demonstrated by Burke, Curran and Sheridan. Whether Mr. Mills 
has made these great models a study is not known. But if not, he has intuitively assumed a 
rhetorical form best adapted to the orator's art, and herein lies the secret of his influence with the 
popular mind. He flashes, as it were, into the mind of a juror, a vivid succession of imagery. 
To few men is it given to deal successfully with the mind of their fellows, to at once quicken 
the understanding and arouse the emotions. Mr. Mills is one of the few. As an advocate he 
penetrates clearly that vestibule of the human reason, consciousness. This organic facult)' has 
been beautifully described as a chamber of aerial transparency, without roof, without walls, with- 
out bounds, and yet somehow inclosed within us and belonging to us. It is into this wondrous 
chamber that Mr. Mills has so frequently entered as a master of the occult precinct. In logic he 
is an adept, but it is not the formal and repulsive logic of the schools. This is not suited to the 
fervid movement of his mind, neither would it be to the oflice he has filled with such phenom- 
enal ability. The syllogism, in its cold rigidity, is repulsive to the average mind, unaccustomed as 
it is to the aridness of abstraction. Knowing this, Mr. Mills presents his propositions in a series 
of impassioned and articulate exclamations; in each of which are fused into striking unity, major 
premise, minor premise, and conclusion. Illustrative is his method, of what was once said by 
Zeno: "Philosophic argument is like the human hand closed, the oratorical like the same hand 
unfolded." As it were, he enters within the chamber of the mind, through the door of thought, 
and then, with the pencil of imagination, places there a beautiful array of representative forms, 
brilliant of color, and instinct with life. Verily is it true that ''oratory, like painting, is only a 
language; it is painting and sculpture made vocal and visible." Not that we would be understood 
to imply that Mr. Mills' talent is confined to the artful use of oratorical apostrophes; not that we 
would infer his sole pursuit is that of culling garlands of the richest hues and sweetest fragrance, 
wherewith to tickle the fancy and bewitch the judgment. With him ornament is subordinate to 
substance. He employs the flowers of rhetoric, but to relieve the sterility of facts, and soften the 
ruggedness of their outline. From exordium to peroration, his argument clearly indicates the 
points in controversy. The objective point of the argument is kept clearly in mind from first to 
last; and rarely, if ever, does he violate what is so essential to fullness of impression and clear- 
ness of view, that is, unity of purpose, continuity of related parts, and harmony of delineation. 
In the heat of discussion, his effort is a symmetrical confluence of mind, emotion and physiijue. 
With him, neither the precision of logic, nor the rose-hues of fancy are used, but to "speak the 
language of soberness and truth." 

So much for the man as an advocate, and it is in this relation he first invites attention, Mr. 
79 



Sl6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Mills was first elected to his present position in 1876, running four thousand ahead of his ticket. 
He was renominated in 1880, without opposition, and reelected by an increased majority. Ten- 
dered the nomination for congress by an admiring constituency, he declined in order to com- 
plete the unexpired official term to which he had just received an emphatic call. It is to be hoped 
that the republican party of Cook county will ultimately elevate this able, eloquent and honora- 
ble member to a position in the national congress. 

Located in the western metropolis of the United States; surrounded by some of the most ver- 
satile, brilliant, learned and astute lawyers of the Great West; called to one of the most impor- 
tant and responsible offices in the gift of his fellow citizens; at thirty-four years of age Luther 
Laflin Mills has accomplished the work of a lifetime. Respected as a citizen, trusted and efficient 
as a public servant, eminent as a lawyer, conspicuous as an orator, may our genial and noble 
friend garner the success he so well deserves. 

In the autumn of 1876 Mr. Mills was married to the cultivated and amiable Miss Ella M. 
Boies, of Saugerties, New York, by whom- he has had four children. 



HON. CHANCEY L. HIGBEE. 

PITTSFIEI.D. 

CHANCEY LAWSON HIGBEE, judge of the circuit court, and a member of the appellate 
court, is a son of Elias and Sarah (Ward) Higbee, and was born in Clermont county, Ohio, 
September 7, 1821. He received an academic education, came to Illinois at an early day, read law 
with Judge Svlvester Emmens, late of Beardstown, was admitted to practice in 1843, and the ne.xt 
year settled in Pike county, which has been his home for nearly forty years. 

Like most young lawyers. Judge Higbee early became interested in politics, and in 1854 he 
was sent to the legislature. Four years afterward he was elected to the state senate, and while 
serving in that body, was (1861) elected circuit judge, and by successive reelections has been kept 
in that honorable position for more than twenty years. When the appellate court was formed he 
was appointed a member of it, and is serving at .Springfield. Members of the bar who have long 
known Judge Higbee, look upon him as a fatherly friend and guide. They have the utmost con- 
fidence in him, and regard his decisions usually as a finality. As a judge of law he has but few 
peers in the state. He has great executive ability, dispatches business with promptness, and his 
urbanity on the bench wins for him the high respect of all who practice before him, or have any 
business relations with him. 

HON. JAMES M. ALLEN. 

GENESEO. 

JAMES M. ALLEN is a son of John and Nancy (Hodge) Allen, and was born in Sumner county, 
Tennessee, November 23, 1814. James finished his education at Danville College, Kentucky 
came to Carrollton, Greene county, Illinois, in 1835, and the next spring settled in Henry county 
his present home. He was elected the first clerk of the county and circuit courts, when Rich- 
mond was the county seat, at which place he held the office of postmaster. Mr. Allen settled in 
Geneseo in 1839, and was postmaster here for a few years. At an early day after coming to 
Henry county, he commenced farming, and has increased his business in this line from time to 
time until he owns half a dozen farms, all in Henry countJ^ 

In 185 1 and 1852 Mr. Allen was a member of the state legislature, sent there to aid in getting 
a charter for what vv'as then called the Chicago and Rock Island railroad; his efforts being 
crowned with success, and in 1854 the road was completed, and Geneseo was connected by rail 
with Chicago. He was one of the early directors of that road. During the civil war he acted as 
provost marshal of this congressional district, and held at one time the office of county judge. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION A KY. gl/ 

For a score of years he has been interested in the Hennepin canal, spending a good deal of time 
at Springfield, in getting the enterprise under way, and the plans matured for its completion. 
Most of the winter of i8<Si-82 he spent in the city of Washington, working day and night to fur- 
ther this great internal improvement. 



JOHN H. POTTS. 

JACKSONVILLE. 

JOHN HALL POTT.S, one of the leading short-horn cattle breeders in the state, is a native of 
Illinois, being born in Greene county, December 7, 1823, his parents being William and Mar- 
garet (Parker) Potts. John was educated in the district schools, and has been a farmer all his 
life, and a cattle dealer for a score of years or more. Since 1869 he has given a good deal of 
attention to the breeding of short-horn cattle, and has, at the present time, about sixty head of 
thoroughbreds. He has also between forty and fifty Southdown sheep and a few Berkshire swine 
of the best breed. Commencing with the autumn of 1876, Mr. Potts has been showing at the 
State fairs of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Kansas, and has taken nearly 
$30,000 in premiums. His farm consists of 220 acres, all in grass. His son, William T. Potts, 
his only child living, is in partnership with his father. The latter is living with his second wife, 
who was Mrs. Louisa M. (Green) Ransdell. Mr. Potts is a stockholder of the Jacksonville 
National Bank, and a man in very comfortable circumstances. 



HON. NATHANIEL J. PILLSBURY. 

PONTIAC. 

NATHANIEL J. PILLSBURY, judge of the circuit and the appellate courts, is a native of 
York county, Maine, a son of Stephen M. and Susan (Averill) Pillsbury, and dates his birth 
October 21, 1834. His great-grandfatiier participated in the war for independence. Nathaniel 
received an academic education ; was with a manufacturing company at Saco from 1850 to 1855, 
at which latter date his health broke down, and he came to Bureau county, this state. In 1858 
he settled on a farm in Livingston county, there remaining until 1863, when he commenced the 
study of law with Samuel L. Fleming, of Pontiac. He was admitted to the bar in May, 1864, and 
soon established a fine reputation as a lawyer, rising, in a few years, to the head of the bar in 
Livingston county. He was a member of the constitutional convention in 1S67 and 1870. 

In 1873 the subject of these notes was elected judge of the thirteenth judicial circuit; was 
reelected in 1879, and when the appellate court was organized, he was appointed one of the judges 
for the second district. Judge Pillsbury is thoroughly conversant with the law ; has an excellent 
judicial mind, and wears the ermine with credit alike to himself and the commonwealth. His 
politics are republican. He was married to Eliza J. Cole, of Maine, in 1855, and they have two 
sons and two daughters, 

HON. WASHINGTON BUSHNELL. 

OTTAIVA. 

WASHINGTON BUSHNELL, lawyer, and formerly attorney general of the state, had a 
common-school education, read law at home, attended two courses at the State and Na- 
tional Law School, at Ballston Spa, New York, received his diploma at Albany in the early part 
of 1853; settled in Ottawa in the autumn of the same year, and has been in the practice of his 
profession here since that time. Mr. Bushnell was city attorney four years, state's attorney the 
same period, state senator eight years, 1861-1869, and attorney general of the state during the 
first four years of President Grant's administration, 1S69-1873. He attended nearly every state 



SiS UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

convention for twenty years; was a delegate to the national conventions in i860, 1864, and 1868, 
and aided in securing the nominations of the men of his choice, Abraham Lincoln and U. S. 
(jrant, both Illinois men. Mr. Bushnell was an intimate acquaintance and confidential friend of 
the great statesman, and the military chieftain, and gave their administrations his most hearty 
and enthusiastic support. He was one of the first delegates-at-large that ever attended a general 
meeting of the Union League, he being sent on such a mission to the city of Washington in 1861. 
Mr. Bushnell has always strongly identified himself with local interests, and as a citizen has 
made himself very useful. He was president of the Ottawa, Oswego and Fox River railroad from 
its incipiency until it was completed and passed into other hands, and for three years was president 
of the Business Men's Association of Ottawa, an efficient organization, still doing a good work. 
He was a banker for more than twenty years. 



HON. MILTON M. FORD. 

GAL I'A. 

MILTON MORRIS FORD, a leading merchant at Galva, is a son of Dyer and Lovica (Mor- 
ris) Ford, and was born in the town of Milo, Yates county, New York, January 23, 1823. 
Milton received an ordinary English education ; at sixteen years of age, went to Penn Yan, Yates 
county, and was a clerk for six years for Charles C. Sheppard. They then formed a partnership, 
and the firm of Sheppard and Ford continued until i860, when our subject came to this state and 
settled at Galva. Here he has been a dry-goods merchant for twenty-two years. He has also 
been engaged in loaning money for eastern parties. 

Mr. Ford was elected to the lower house of the Illinois legislature in the autumn of 1864, and 
served in the session of the following winter. He was elected to the senate in 1878, and served 
the term of four years, being chairman of the finance committee both sessions. In early life Mr. 
Ford was strongly anti-slaver}', and voted for James G. Birney for president in 1844. He has 
acted with the republican party since it was formed. 

He married, in Januar)-, 1846, at Penn Yan, Miss Laura Spencer, a relative of Hon. Joshua C. 
Spencer, thirty years ago a prominent politician in New York, and they have buried four chil- 
dren in infanc}- and childhood, and have three living. 



WILLIAM NOECKER, M.D. 

MONTICELLO. 

ONE of the ablest physicians in central Illinois is Doctor William Noecker. He was born in 
Northumberland count}', Pennsylvania, in 1825. His father was a native of the same county, 
in which he resided until his death. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was of German 
descent. The subject of this sketch went to Ohio in 1840, and afterward studied medicine at Cir- 
cleville, in that state, with Doctor Hull. He then entered Starling Medical College, at Columbus, 
Ohio, and graduated from that institution in 1853. He then removed to Illinois, and settled in 
Monticello, where he still resides. Numerous persons had before that time emigrated from 
Pickaway county, Ohio, to Piatt county, and the doctor found himself at once among his friends. 
Soon after his arrival in Monticello, he formed a partnership with Doctor Ward, who was the 
only physician in that place, which partnership continued one year; their practice extending 
throughout Piatt county and into portions of Champaign, Douglas and Macon counties. After 
the dissolution of this partnership, Doctor Noecker continued the practice of medicine alone, and 
was soon favored with a very extensive and lucrative business, from which he has amassed a 
handsome fortune. In 1865 he went into the drug business, which, in connection with his prac- 
tice as a physician, he has carried on up to the present time. In 1868 he built the corner brick 
building, a portion of which he now occupies. 




H C r„f.r Jr 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICA I. DICTIONARY. 82 I 

In December, 1861, Doctor Noecker was married to Miss P211a Britton. They iiad one cliilci, 
Willie, who died when but four years old. In 1875, Doctor Noecker built one of the finest brick 
residences in Monticello, which he has fitted up for the enjoyment of himself and wife, both in the 
prime of life. He has been a Mason many years, holding the office of high priest of Markwell 
Chapter, and is recognized as past high priest of that chapter. He is also a charter member of 
the Urbana commandery of Knights Templar, and attended the Knights Templar encampment at 
New Orleans in 1874, and again at Cleveland, in 1877. Doctor Noecker is recognized by the 
members of his profession as eminently well posted in every thing connected with the practice of 
medicine and surgery. He is seldom deceived in the diagnosis of a disease, and he has been first 
and foremost to examine all of the new discoveries in medical science, and pass them under the 
lens of his unerring judgment. He was never known to experiment u|>on his patients, always 
using remedies known to be useful, after due investigation and trial of their merits. In addition 
to his eminent skill as a physician and surgeon, Doctor Noecker is a remarkably efficient business 
man. He not only knows how to make money, but he is expert in placing it where it will 
increase. He is a citizen who has the highest respect of all who are favored with his acquain- 
tance; is social, affable and congenial in his intercourse with mankind, and has a large circle of 
friends who admire him for his true manhood and his moral and intellectual worth. 



HON. BENJAMIN F. BERRIAN. 

QUINCY. 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BERRIAN, judge of the county of Adams, is a native of New York 
city, a son of George W. and Hannah (Brower) Berrian, and dates his birth October 2, 1830. 
Both parents were also born in that city. His father was a land agent. Benjamin came to 
Adams county in 1844; was a farmer here for about fifteen years, then went back to New York, 
and became a druggist ; returned to Adams county; read lawatOuincy; was admitted to the 
bar in 1873, and engaged in probate business mainly. In 1877 he was elected to the office of 
county judge by his democratic constituents, and after serving five years, was reelected, in Novem- 
ber, 1882, making a very faithful officer. He is a Knight Templar, and is the father of three 
children. 

HON. JOHN H. WILLIAMS. 

QUINCY. 

JOHN HAMILTON WILLIAMS, judge of the sixth judicial circuit, is a son of Archibald and 
Nancy (Kemp) William§, and was born in Quincy, April 12, 1833. His great-grandfather, 
Hukey Williams, was a soldier in the revolutionary army. Archibald Williams came to Illinois 
in 1829 from Kentucky, where he was born in 1801. He settled in Quincy. He was an eminent 
lawyer, and associate at the bar with President Lincoln, Judge Douglas, and that class of legal 
lights in central and western Illinois thirty and forty years ago; was a member of the constitu- 
tional convention in 1847; a member of the legislature two or three terms; United States district 
attorney under Presidents Taylor and Fillmore; was appointed United States district judge for 
Kansas, Margh 14, 1S61, by President Lincoln, and died September 21, 1863. 

The subject of this sketch was educated at the Missouri State University, at Columbia, Boone 
county, leaving at the close of his junior year; read law at Quincy with his father and Hon. 
Charles B. Lawrence; was admitted to the bar in February, 1855, and practiced his profession at 
Quincy until he went on the bench, to which he was elected in the autumn of 1879. At the bar 
Judge Williams was known as a sound lawyer and a wise counselor, rather than as a fluent and 
brilliant advocate. He has a good judicial mind; as a jurist is conscientious, clear-headed and 
deliberate; is very kind, particularlv to the younger members of the bar, and is constantly gain- 
ing in popularity. 



82 2 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARY. 

Judge Williams reached his majority in 1854, simidtaneousl)- with the demise of the whig 
party, in which school of politics he had been reared by his father, who was a prominent member 
of it for a score of years or more. His proclivities, like those of his father, were of a free-soil 
tendency, and he promptly linked his fortune with the new-born party of freedom, which came 
into power March 4, 1861, under the leadership of Abraham Lincoln. 



HON. SAMUEL S. GILBERT. 

CARLI.\']-ILLE. 

SAMUEL SAYWARD GILBERT is a son of Jonathan and Mary Sayward Gilbert, and was 
born at Gloucester, Massachusetts, January 27, 1827. He was educated in part in the free 
schools of that state; came to Illinois in 1835; finished his education at Shurtleff College, Upper 
Alton, teaching school meantime in Scott county and at Upper Alton. He came to Carlinville in 
1848; here studied law, and was called to the bar in 1850. He was elected county judge in 1852, 
to fill a vacancy; was reelected in 1853, and had the office in all five years. He has held at differ- 
ent times the office of master of chancery, and was a member of the legislature one term, being 
elected in 1875, and serving as chairman of the committee on insurance. He was a democrat 
until the civil war began, and returned to that party in 1872. He married, in 185 1, Frances Mc- 
Clure, a native of Kentucky, and has three sons living. 



THOMAS J. RUSSELL. 

VERSAILLES. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON RUSSELL, judge of Brown county, is a son of James and Sarah 
(Lincoln) Russell, and was born in Hamilton county, near Cincinnati, Ohio, June 3, 1827. 
His father was a miller, and a native of Vermont. Thomas had only a very ordinary education ; 
came to Fulton county, this state, in 1843 ; farmed until eighteen years of age, and then worked in 
a grist mill ; came to Brown county in 1845, and was here engaged in grist mills and saw mills, 
near Versailles, until about 1861. He then built with others, and ran for several years, a mill of 
his own. 

At twenty-eight years of age he was elected justice of the peace for Elkhorn tow^nship, the 
duties of which office absorbed a portion of his time for many years. In 1870 he was elected 
police magistrate for the corporation of Versailles, and that office he still holds. He is also an 
undertaker and farmer, in company with his brother, William N. Russell. In 1877 Mr. Russell 
was elected county judge, and after serving five years he was reelected in November, 1882. He 
is a republican, living in a strong democratic countj-. 



HON. AUGUST W. BERGGREN. 

GALESBURGH. 

AUGUST WERNER BERGGREN, merchant and state senator, is a native of Sweden, a son 
/a. of John and Catherine (Larson) Berggren, and was born August 17, 1842. He received an 
ordinary business education in the old country; partially learned the tailor's trade there; came 
to this country in 1856, worked a year at tailoring in Victoria, Knox county, and then settled in 
Galesburgh, the seat of justice of that county. Here he worked a few years at his trade of mer- 
chant tailoring; was then elected justice of the peace; served in that capacity till 1872, when he 
was elected sheriff of the county. He was reelected in 1874, 1876 and 1878, serving eight con- 
secutive years, and making a very commendable record in the shrievalty. In 1880 he was nomi- 



UNITED STATES BIOCRAI'HICM. DICTIONARY. 823 

naled by his republican friends in Knox and Mercer counties, for the office of state senator for 
the term of four years, and was elected. He is chairman of the committee on fees and salaries, 
and a member of five or six other committees, being a good practical and industrious worker in 
that body. Mr. Berggren is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order and past grand master of 
the Odd-Fellows of the state. He is also a member of the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church. 



HON. EDWARD L. CRONKRITE. 

FREEPOR T. 

EDWARD LAFONTAINE CRONKRITE, a prominent merchant and an experienced legis- 
lator, is a native of Rensselaer county. New York, a son of Joseph G. and Phebe (Caldwell) 
Cronkrite, and dates his birth June 27, 1832. His father was also born in that state, and his 
mother was a native of Connecticut. He received an academic education at West Poultney, Ver- 
mont; taught school awhile in New York state; went to California in 1855; returned eastward in 
1859; settled in Freeport, his present home, and after holding a clerkship between two and three 
years, engaged in mercantile pursuits. Mr. Cronkrite has been an alderman and mayor of the 
city for four years. He was a member of the legislature from 1873 to 1879; was the democratic 
candidate for state treasurer, 1878; was again elected to the legislature in 1880, and reelected 
in 1882, and is serving his tenth year in a legislative body, his district being the twelfth. He is 
regarded by all parties as a wise law maker. He has always affiliated with the democratic party, 
and is often seen at district and state conventions. 



EDWARD P, BARTON. 

FREEPOR T. 

EDWARD PECK BARTON, one of the leading lawyers in Stephenson county, is a son of 
David L. and Almira (Peck) Barton, and was born at Marshall, Oneida county. New York, 
June 5, 1829. His grandfather, David Barton, was from Massachusetts, where his great-grand- 
father enlisted in the army and fought for independence. 

David L. Barton was a farmer and reared his children in habits of industry. Edward aided 
in tilling the land, attending a district school in the winter term until sixteen years old, when he 
commenced preparing for college. He entered Hamilton College, Clinton, New York, in 1847; 
was graduated in 185 i; read law in the same place with Professor Theodore Dwight, LL.D., now 
at the head of the law department of Columbia College, New York, and was licensed to practice 
in Oswego in 1852. Mr. Barton practiced for three years in New York city and Brooklyn, and in 
the spring of 1856 settled in Freeport. His legal acquirements are above the average, and he is 
an honest and thoroughly trustworthy man, and is regarded as one of the best judges of law in 
Stephenson county. 

JUDGE JOSEPH SIBLEY. 

QUINCY. 

JOSEPH SIBLEY was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, in the year 1818, and is the youngest 
son of Aaron and Tryphena Sibley. His father was a farmer of limited means. The life of 
a farmer was unsuited to the tastes of Joseph, and it was arranged that he should learn the whip- 
making trade. He worked at it for several years with success, and then engaged in merchandis- 
ing till 1842, when he lost by fire all that he had accumulated. He was now appointed deputy 
sheriff of Hampden county, and after serving in this office one year, removed to Schenectady, 
New York, and began the study of law in the office of Page and Patten. In 1846 he was 



824 UNITED STATES BIOCRAPIIICAI. DICTIOXARY. 

admitted to the bar, and removed to the West. Having no definite location in view, after visiting 
several places he finally settled in Nauvoo, Illinois. In 1850 he was elected to the general assem- 
bly, and reelected in 1852. At the opening of his second term he was candidate for the speaker- 
ship of the house, but was defeated by Ex-Governor John Reynolds. During this term, as chairman 
of the committee on banks and corporations, he rendered valuable service. 

In the spring of 1853 he removed to Warsaw, and formed a partnership with J. M. True, and 
continued with him till June, 1855, when he was elected judge of the circuit court. During a 
term of six years he served with such entire satisfaction to the bar and people that he was 
reelected in 1861, without opposition. 

He removed to Ouincy in June, 1865, and has since made it his home. 1867 he was elected 
for another term of six years. Also in 1873, judges' salaries were increased, several candidates 
were brought into the field, and the democratic party thought it advisable to call a convention to 
decide upon the claims of the several aspirants. Judge Sibley was chosen the candidate by a 
decided majority, and after a warm contest was elected over a strong opposition. 

On returning from the bench he resumed the practice of the law, and stands at the head of 
the Adams county bar. 

HON. JOHN M. PEARSON 

GODFRE Y. 

THIS gentleman is a member of the legislature from Madison county, and quite active and 
efficient. He was born about the time the Asiatic cholera came to this country (1832), and 
is the son of a ship carpenter, whose home was at Newburyport, Massachusetts, fifty and sixty 
years ago. Mr. Pearson came to Alton in 1849, and now resides in Godfrey, same county. He 
was engaged fo.r years in the manufacture of agricultural implements, and is now farming. 

Mr. Pearson was a member of the warehouse commission from 1873 to 1877; was elected to 
the lower house of the legislature in 1878, and has been twice reelected. He is one of the most 
painstaking and diligent members of the house on the republican side; is a Knight Templar in 
Freemasonry, and a member of the Congregational church. He has a wife and three children. 



PENNOYER L. SHERMAN. 

CHIC A GO. 

THE subject of this sketch is a native of Pompey (now La Fayette), Onondaga county, New 
York, and is a lineal descendant of Roger Sherman, of Connecticut, one of the signers of 
the declaration of independence. After finishing his primary education, he prepared for college 
at the academies of Homer and Pompey Hill, in his native county, the last named being, in those 
days, a famous school, and one in which many men, who in later years became distinguished, 
received their early training. He entered the freshman class of Hamilton College in 1847, being 
then sixteen years of age, and graduated in 185 1. 

As a boy, he was fond of reading, and in college was known as a thorough student and good 
scholar, and possessing clear perceptive faculties, good reasoning powers, and an ability to express 
himself in clear and forcible language, he was natural!)^ attracted to the legal profession. Hon. 
Daniel Gott, a celebrated lawyer, had his office at Pompey. and under his careful tuition and 
training, many of the most distinguished lawyers of central New York received their legal edu- 
cation. In fact, it came to be regarded in those days that a course of instruction under his able 
tuition was equivalent to a graduation from the best law school in the country. Here young 
Sherman pursued a thorough course of legal study, bringing to his work a mind well stored with 
useful knowledge, and carefully disciplined by his earlier education, and so capable of utilizing 
his superior advantages. 





^u<^^^^ 



UNITED STATES BIOGKA PII ICA I. D/CTIONAKY. 82/ 

In 1853 he decided to make his home in the West, and removing to Chicago, entered the law 
office of Collins and Williams, and continued his legal studies, and in 1855 was admitted to the 
bar of Illinois, at once entering into the active practice of his profession, which has since engaged 
his undivided attention. As a lawyer he is, in the truest sense, an ornament to his profession, 
and as a civil practitioner has few superiors. Careful and thorough in the preparation of his 
cases and briefs, and clear and forcible in their presentation, he seldom fails to impress court or 
jury with the earnestness of his convictions, or the justness of his cause. He is a man of modest 
mien, quiet and unostentatious, and succeeds in his profession through earnest, constant, and 
well directed effort. As a man, he is known and esteemed for his upright and manly dealing, 
and enjoys the fidlest confidence of all with whom he has to do, either professionally, socially, or 
as a business man. 



HON. HENRY B. HOPKINS. 

PEORIA 

HENRY BRIDGEMAN HOPKINS, son of John Turner Hopkins, and Matilda (Hall) Hop- 
kins, was born in Peacham, Caledonia county, Vermont, October 4, 1826. He received a 
common-school and academic education ; taught school during several winters ; learned his 
father's trade, that of a harness maker; read law at Chester, Windsor county; was admitted to 
the bar in that county in 1853 ; practiced at Chester until the spring of 1S54, and in May of that 
year settled in Peoria, where he soon worked his way into a fair practice. He was master in 
chancery from 1856 to 1S62, 

As a pleader he is clear in analysis and statement, happy in arrangement, and exhaustive ; 
and he is successful before a jury, rather because of the lucidness and force of his arguments 
than the persuasiveness of his oratory. In argument before the court he is hardly surpassed for 
exhaustive examination, and concise and logical presentation of the law. His success may be 
fairly attributed to his carefulness, thoroughness, fidelity and untiring industry. 

In March, 1S73, Mr. Hopkins was appointed judge of the sixteenth judicial circuit, to lill a 
vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge T. B. Puterbaugh, and held that office till July of the 
same year. He was the republican candidate for reelection, but it was the year of the granger 
cyclone, and he, with many other worthy men of his party, was defeated. 

The judge is a member of the Reformed Episcopal Church, and a man of sterling moral char- 
acter. He was married in October, 1857, to Miss Emily A. Hough, of Lebanon, New Hampshire, 
and they have seven children. 

HON. WILLIAM THOMAS. 

JACKSONVILLE. 
ILLIAM THOMAS, the oldest lawyer in the state of Illinois, was born in Warren, now 



w 



Allen county, Kentucky, November 22, 1S02. His parents were Walter Thomas and Nancy 
(Pulliam) Thomas, both natives of Virginia. Walter Thomas was sheriff of Warren county, and 
when Allen county was set off he became sheriff of the latter county. His father, William 
Thomas, for whom our subject was named, was wounded in the battle of King's Mountain, Octo- 
ber, 1780, and carried his wound until his death. Nancy Pulliam was a daughter of Captam 
Benjamin Pulliam, who served through the whole successful contest, of the colonies to free them- 
selves from the British yoke. He raised a family of sixteen children, all living to manhood and 
womanhood. 

The subject of this sketch picked up what little education he had in youth liy attending winter 
schools up to his fifteenth year. His teachers were not very learned, all of them being innocent 
of any knowledge of English grammar. Mr. Thomas educated himself after he was old enough 
to appreciate the value of mental discipline. 
80 



828 UN/TF.n STATES BIOGRA PHICAL DICTIO.VA R\ . 

When about eighteen years of age, Mr. Thomas became deputy sheriff of Allen county, under 
his father, filling that post two years; subsequently, was deputy clerk in two different offices, a 
short time in each; was a student at law at the same time at Bowling Green, in the office of Hon. 
James T. Morehead, afterward governor of Kentucky; was licensed to practice July 5, 1823, lack- 
ing a few months of being of age, and for one j-ear he attended to the business of Mr. Morehead 
at Russellville, Kentucky. He then went into practice with Judge Joseph R. Underwood, of 
Bowling Green, until the autumn of 1826, when he came to Jacksonville, reaching this place 
October 12. The first three months that he spent here he was the village schoolmaster. 

Mr. Thomas was in active practice here for fifty-five years, and still has an office, though he 
does no new business. He is the oldest lawyer now in practice in the state, Hon. John T. 
Stuart, of Springfield, being probably the next oldest. For thirty or forty years Mr. Thomas 
stood in the front rank among the lawyers of central Illinois, being a contemporary of Abra- 
ham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, John J. Hardin, Stephen G. Logan, Cyrus Walker, O. H. 
Browning, Archibald Williams, General E. D. Baker, etc. 

Mr. Thomas was in the Winnebago war of 1827, serving as quartermaster's sergeant under 
Colonel Neal, having heavy labors and small pay. 

In 182S a circuit-court district was established north-of the Illinois River, called the fifth circuit, 
and our subject was appointed by Governor Edwards state's attorney of the same, which he 
resigned in the fall of 1829. He was one of three commissioners appointed by the United States 
to fix the location of the public buildings at Ouincy. 

Early in the year 1831 he was appointed a commissioner, with Hon. John T. Stuart, to visit 
Rock Island and other places, on personal testimony to prove to the satisfaction of President 
Jackson that the facts required war with Black Hawk. Their testimony was satisfactory to the 
government. 

In 1831 he was quartermaster of the army under General Duncan, who drove the Sacs and 
Foxes across the Mississippi River, below Rock Island; and on Black Hawk's return to Illinois the 
next spring, our subject served in the same capacity under General Whiteside. 

In 1S34 Mr. Thomas was elected a member of the state senate; was reelected in 1838, and 
after serving for six years in that body, was elected judge of the first judicial circuit. In the first 
session that he was in the legislature, he introduced the bill known as the seven years' limitation 
case (1835) with reference to land, which bill passed and became the first law of the kind in the 
state. Until the meeting of the legislature in December, 1834, no incorporated literary institu- 
tion existed in the state. In that session separate bills had been prepared for incorporating the 
colleges at Jacksonville, Upper Alton, and Lebanon. In order to unite the friends of these insti- 
tutions and secure joint efforts and support. Judge Tliom:is proposed to the friends to unite them 
all in one bill, which being agreed to, he prepared the bill, which was passed, and opposition to 
such act ceased from that time. He also introduced a bill which passed, authorizing religious 
societies to hold property for purposes of education and divine worship, nothing of the kind 
being on the statutes before. 

Judge Thomas was the author of the first bill, which became a law about 1837, authorizing 
the organization of free schools in this state, and he received many high compliments and warm 
congratulations for his work and success in that direction. It was through his influence that part 
of the surplus revenue of the United States belonging to Illinois was set aside for the use of the 
public schools. The amount thus set aside, as appears by the auditor's report, was $335,592.50. 

During the last four years that he was in the senate (i 836-1 840), he was chairman of the com- 
mittee on canals and canal lands, and was the author of all the bills passed during that period on 
that subject. While in the senate, he made a report on canals, recommending the deep cut, and 
his report was adopted and carried out. Judge Thomas sat on the bench for two years, and then 
returned to the practice of his profession. 

In 1846 Judge Thomas was again elected to the general assembly, and introduced a bill for 
the establishment of a hospital for the insane, in which movement he was encouraged by Miss D. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 829 

L. Dix, the noted philanthropist of Boston, Massachusetts, who had visited him and others at 
Jacksonville in the spring of 1846. During the next winter he introduced her to the members of 
the legislature, and a bill was finally drawn up, passed, and become a law in February, 1847, the 
result being the hospital now and for thirty-five years in successful operation at Jackspnville. 
The Jacksonville "Weekly Journal," April 27, 18S1, in a historical sketch of the asylums or hospi- 
tals at Jacksonville, speaking of this matter, and giving a list of the members of the legislature 
who voted for the bill for a hospital for the insane, states that Judge Thomas "was very instru- 
mental in securing the passage of the bill." 

He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1847, and was one of the most indefati- 
gable workers in that body, as lie had been in every session of the legislature while he was a 
member. He went to Vandalia, and later to Springfield, to work for the interest of the state ; 
and the stamp of his strong and molding mind is in many of the laws of the commonwealth. 
He was known in those days as the "dray horse " of the whig party. His last act as a member, 
of the house of representatives was to prepare and introduce a bill providing for condemning 
land for railroad and other road purposes, which bill passed, June 22, 1852. 

About the time of the commencement of the civil war, our subject and Mr. Woodworth, of 
Chicago, and Mr. Lanphier, of Springfield, were appointed an army auditing committee, to audit 
accounts against the state for supplies for the use of the army. The judge acted upon accounts 
for more than two millions. During the tune of his service, he was appointed agent for the state 
with authority to secure from the United States money to be used by the state authorities in the 
service of the country. He went to Washington and procured $450,000, which he safely delivered 
to the state treasurer. Subsequently he was of great service to the state and the country in a 
similar line of duty. No truer patriot or more honest man had the handling of funds in this 
state during the rebellion. 

When more money was required to meet the pressing demands and necessities, Governor 
Yates, with Judge Kellogg, went to Washington to secure this demand. They obtained, as the 
governor understood it, one million of treasury notes, to be used by him in paying war expenses. 
He returned to Illinois b)' Philadelphia and New York, and upon reaching home found a quarter- 
master of the United States army with orders to receive and disburse this money. The governor 
refused to surrender it, insisting that it was paid to him for disbursement. The question was 
here presented as to how this money must be disposed of, and was referred back to the quarter- 
master-general from whose department it was obtained, and who insisted that his last order 
should be obeyed. Judge Thomas, seeing this conflict, proposed to the governor to settle the 
matter, if authorized to do so. The governor gave him the requisite order, and in a week he ob- 
tained the money by selecting of the claims on file for quartermaster's stores, the million dollars, 
and passing to the quartermaster receipts for the same. Thus the question was settled, with many 
thanks to the judge for his timely interference. 

In 1869 Governor Palmer appointed Judge Thomas to the office of commissioner of the State 
Board of Public Charities, and not long afterward, the judge sent the governor the following 
letter, which explains itself: 

Jacrsonvu.i.e, October 2, i86g. 
To HIS Excellency John M. Palmer: 

Dear Sir, — I accepted the office of commissioner of the State Board of Public Charities, with considerable hesita- 
tion, yet with the bona fiile intention of e.xecuting the duties to the best of my ability, and have indulged the hope, 
until recently, that I should be able to carry out that intention, yet the continued bad health of my wife, added to my 
own continued affliction of rheumatism, renders it impossible for me to do so; I therefore resign the office, that some 
one may be appointed, so situated as to be able to perform the duties. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Wm. Thomas. 

Judge Thomas was originally a whig, and still cherishes the principles of that great party 
while acting with the republicans. 

He was first married in 1830 to Miss Cathci-ine Scott, of Jersey Prairie, Morgan county, this 



S30 UNITED STATES BIOGRA PiriCAI. DICTIONARY. 

state. She died in July, 1875, leaving no issue, an only child having died in infancy. His present 
wife was Mrs. Leanah M. (Eads) Orear, widow of Hon William Orear, of Jacksonville. They 
were married in May, 1878. Mrs. Thomas is a cousin of J. B. Eads, the architect and builder of 
the Saint Louis bridge. 

Judge Thomas is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church; has held different offices in 
that Christian body, and has always maintained a high character for integrity and loftiness of 
aims in life. He was a delegate to the first general conference after laymen were admitted. 

Judge Thomas has been a liberal contributor toward the building up and SListaining of the 
religious, educational and benevolent institutions of Jacksonville. To the original buildings, and 
to the rebuilding of the female college after it was burnt, his contributions have amounted to 
over twenty-five thousand dollars. 

HON. WILLIAM M. SMITH. 

LEXINGTON. 

WILLIAM MICHAEL SMITH, a leading merchant and business man at Lexington, was 
born near Frankfort, Kentucky, May 23, 1823. His father, John W. Smith, moved with 
his family to Saint Louis, Missouri, in 11840, and in 1846 to Illinois, settling near Lexington. 
William picked up his education, as best he could, in common schools; in 1849 entered a piece of 
congress land of forty acres, three miles from Lexington, broke it, qnd improved it with his own 
hands until 1857. Mr. Smitli added to this land from time to time, and the homestead now con- 
sists of half a section. 

Many years ago Mr. .Smith served as a coroner of McLean county; was a member of the legis- 
lature from 1867 to 1873, and speaker of the house in 1871 and 1872, the first speaker, as already 
stated, after the adoption of the new constitution (1871). 

Since Governor Cuilom came into the office (1877), Mr. Smith has been chairman of the rail- 
road and warehouse commission, and makes an efficient man for that post. He is a strong re 
publican, and believes that the best interests of the country depend on the continuance in power 
of that party. He is also a blue-lodge Mason. 



I 



G 



HON. GEORGE E. WARREN. 

jer.se yville. 

EORGE E. WARREN, a lawyer and politician of some local note, was born at Worthington, 
Franklin county, Ohio, August i5, 181 7. His father, Thomas Warren, by profession a phy- 
sician, a native of New Hampshire, removed to Bristol, Rhode Island, about 1810, and there 
married Martha, daughter of Charles DeWolf ; she died in 1829. In 1835, the family, then con- 
sisting of a daughter and two sons, of whom Judge Warren is the only survivor, moved west, 
and settled at Alton, Illinois. George received a good education — partly collegiate — having 
entered Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island, at fourteen years of age, and remaining 
till the middle of his senior year. He commenced reading law in the office of Woodson and 
Hodges, of Carrollton, Illinois, and also assisted M. O. Bledsoe, clerk of both the circuit and 
county commissioner's courts. His health having become seriously impaired by close application, 
in the spring of 1837 he made a visit to his former home and friends in Rhode Island for the pur- 
pose of recuperating; and there, the following August, he was married to Miss Hannah S., 
daughter of S. S. Allen, collector for the port of Bristol. He soon thereafter returned to the 
West, and in the spring of 1838 settled in Alton, where he completed his law studies, and was 
admitted to practice in the Illinois courts in 1839. His father having purchased for him a large 
farm near Jerseyville, with money bequeathed by his grandfather, Charles DeWoIf, he removed 
thither in the spring of 1840 and engaged in farming. If he did not acquire wealth at his new 



UNITED STATES BIOGKAPIIJCAL DICTIONARY. 83 I 

pursuit, he gained a vigorous constitution and a practical knowledge of hard work. In 1841 he 
was elected justice of the peace, and he continued in that capacity till 1849, when he was elected 
the first judge of Jersey county, under the state constitution of 1848. He performed the duties 
of that office to the satisfaction of the people for eight years. In January, 1862, he renewed the 
practice of law, in connection with his son-in-law, William H. Pogue, in Jerseyville. In March, 
1875, he was elected mayor of the city of Jerseyville, on the anti-license ticket. In 1878 he was 
elected to the general assembly to represent Macoupin and Jersey counties. 

In politics he was a whig till the expiration of that party, after which he joined his fortunes 
with the republicans, and is still ardently attached to their principles. 



HON. JOHN A. ARENZ. 

BEARDSTOWN. 

THIS gentleman was born in Cologne, a province of the Rhine, October 28, 181 1, and before 
coming to this country was engaged in a government engineer corps, in mapping out Prus- 
sia. In 1835 he came to the United States, and settled in Cass, then a part of Morgan county. 
He was elected justice of the peace in 1843 ; edited a whig campaign paper, in 1844, at Spring- 
field ; returned to Beardstown in 1846, and in the course of twenty-five 3'ears held the offices of 
town trustee, town treasurer, school director, mayor (the first in Beardstown), and judge of the 
county court, which last office he held for eight years. Latterly Judge Arenz has had a private 
office adjoining his house, and is attending mainly to his own matters. Few men living at 
Beardstown are more highly esteemed than Judge Arenz. 



HON. NATHANIEL W. BRANSON. 

PETERSBURGH. 

NATHANIEL WILLIAM BRANSON, lawyer, is a son of William and Jane (Cooledge) 
Branson, and was born in Jacksonville, Illinois, May 29, 1837. He is a graduate of Illinois 
College, class of 1857; read law at Jacksonville; was called to the bar in January, i860, and opened 
an office in Petersburgh. He rose steadily, and has held for fifteen years a highl}' creditable posi- 
tion at the county bar. He was appointed register in bankruptcy in 1867, and made Springfield 
his home for three or four years. 

Mr. Branson was elected to the legislature in 1872, and reelected in 1874. In 1876 he was a 
delegate to the republican national convention, which met at Cincinnati, and nominated Hayes 
and Wheeler. 

Mr. Branson was married, in 1861, to Miss Fannie D. Regnier, daughter of Doctor Francis 
Regnier, of Petersburgh, and they have two children. 



HON. PINKNEY H. WALKER. 

RUSHVILLE. 

JUDGE WALKER has been on the bench fur thirty years, and a judge of the supreme court 
for twenty-five )''ears. He is one of those eminent jurists of whom Illinois may well be proud^ 
He is a native of Adair county, Kentucky, his birth being dated June 18, 1815 — a day memorable 
in the annals of Europe for the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. His parents were Joseph G. 
Walker and Martha (Scott) Walker, his father being a lawyer of considerable note. Until seven- 
teen years of age he spent his summers on his father's farm, and his winters at school. From the 
spring of 1832 to the spring of 1834, he was in a store, leaving Kentucky in April of the latter 



832 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

year, and settling at Rushville, Schuyler county, his present home. His first four years in this 
state, he was a merchant's clerk ; in March, 1838, went to MaComb; gave a few months to study 
there in an academy, and in the autumn of that year commenced the study of law with his uncle, 
Cyrus Walker. This gentleman was an able lawyer, and an excellent tutor; Pinkney made rapid 
progress under him, and late in the 3'ear 1839, was admitted to the bar. 

Our subject practiced at Macomb until 1S48, when he returned to Rushville, where he practiced 
until 1853, when he was elected judge of the fifth, afterward eleventh judicial circuit, to fill a 
vacancy. In 1855 he was elected without opposition, and continued on the bench of the circuit 
court until April, 1858, when Governor Bissell appointed him to the supreme bench, also to fill a 
vacancy. In June, 1858, he was elected for the regular term of nine years; was reelected in 1867 
and 1876, and April 19, 1883, had been on the supreme bench for twenty-five years. He is a 
democrat, and his partj^ is in the minority in his district, but the people, recognizing his eminent 
fitness, have had the good sense to keep him in the high position for which he is so admirably 
qualified. 

Judge Walker served as chief-justice from January, 1864, to June 1867; again from June, 1874, 
to June, 1875, and again from June, 1879, to June i, 1880, making three terms. Few men in the 
state have, in this respect, been so much honored. 

The judge has long been a diligent student, and has a mind stored with legal lore as well as 
general knowledge; he has a tenacious memory, quick to furnish rich and abundant material at 
the opportune moment, and a natural love for literary and scientific studies, which make him an in- 
teresting converser on a great variety of subjects. He is not only a profound lawyer and an emi- 
nent jurist, but he has a well trained judgment, an investigative disposition, led on by a strong 
desire to go to the bottom of a subject, whether pertaining to jurisprudence or any other branch 
of knowledge. His published opinions, now covering a period of twenty-five years, indicate a 
constant, not to say remarkable, growth of intellect. At the same time he is modest, unassum- 
ing, sympathetic, kindly, and possessed of the simplicity almost of a child. 

For the period during which Judge Walker has adorned the supreme bench, the most import- 
ant questions in the history of the state have, many of them for the first time, come up for judi- 
cial determination. Notable among the cases of this character are those asserting the power of 
the state over railway and other corporations and individuals, to restrict them to reasonable rates 
and charges in their dealings with the public. Of this class is the case of Munn vs. People, 69 
Illinois, decided in 1S73, and afterward, on appeal, affirmed by the supreme court of the United 
States, followed by Ruggles vs. People, known as the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad 
passenger case, where Judge Walker delivered the opinion of the court in favor of the power of 
the state to regulate rates of toll, which was lately on appeal, affirmed by the supreme court of 
the United States. These and other cases already decided by our supreme court will hereafter be 
referred to as among the very first to place a limitation on the broad rule of corporate omnipo- 
tence, supposed by many to have been established by the famous Dartmouth College case. 

While the courts of other states may have hcM to some extent, the doctrine of state control 
over corporations, still, the power to do so had, in such states, been preserved to them, either by 
a reservation in the charters granted, or by general laws, or by constitutional restrictions, which, 
excepting in special cases, did not exist in Illinois as to charters granted prior to 1870. In dealing 
with questions of a public character, when properly arising. Judge Walker has displayed the 
qualities not only of a jurist, but also of a statesman. 

To the judges of the supreme court of this state, and to none more than Judge Walker, be- 
longs the distinguished honor of preserving, in their purity, the best and most useful elements of 
the common law, as established and illuminated by its great jurists and commentators, with 
whose works the judge has a wide acquaintance, and from which he has acquired a profound 
knowledge of the science of the law in all its departments. His course upon the bench has been 
characterized by a desire to administer, in a wise and liberal spirit, the rules and principles of the 
common law, ever seeking a remedy for wrong, and never turning a suiter away, unless obliged, 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 833 

by the strict rules of law, to do so. To this spirit can justly be ascribed the stability which our 
laws for the protection of person and property have attained, and the absence from our statute 
book of very many of those pernicious, careless or unskillful changes which, but too often, afford 
opportunity for the triumph of injustice over right and equity. 

Judge Walker has a wife and several children, the former being Susan (McCrosky) Walker, a 
native of Adair county, Kentucky. They were married at Rushville, June 2, 1840, His wife is 
in full sympathy with him in all his arpirations, and in his generous and benevolent traits of 
character. 

HON. THOMAS M. SHAW. 

LA CON. 

THOMAS MANKINS SHAW, one of the prominent members of the state senate, was born 
in that part of Putnam county now included in Marshall county, this state, August 20, 1836. 
His parents were George H. Shaw and Penelope (Edwards) Shaw, both natives of Kentucky. 
Thomas finished his education in the Rock River Seminary, at Mount Morris, and farmed more 
or less with his father until he went into the law office of William D. Edwards, of Lacon, his 
present home. He was admitted to the bar in 1857; practiced four years at Hennepin, and then 
returned to Lacon. 

A gentleman who knows Mr. Shaw intimately, and has often heard him plead, states that he 
has an excellent understanding as a lawyer; is a wise counselor; a candid and clear reasoner, 
and is eminently successful in his profession. He is regarded as one of the ablest lawyers in his 
judicial circuit. 

Mr. Shaw has been mayor of Lacon two terms; was the democratic nominee for congress in 
his district in 1878, and in 1880 was elected to the state senate. He was assigned to the judiciary 
committee, and the committees on corporations, banks and banking, canals and rivers, agriculture 
and drainage, etc. 

In 1863 Mr. Shaw was married to Miss Nellie F. Hirsch, of Woodford county, and they have 
one adopted child. 

HON. JOHN W. MOORE. 

MO UND S TA TION. 

JOHN WILLIAM MOORE, shipper, breeder of short-horn cattle, farmer and legislator, hails 
from the state of Indiana, he being born near Bloomington, Monroe county, August 15, 1847. 
His parents are Samuel A. Moore, farmer, of Irish lineage, born in Iredell county. North Carolina, 
and Sarah M. (Goodnight) Moore, who is of German descent. The family came to Illinois in 
1849, settled in Adams county, and our subject finished his education at Abingdon College, Knox 
county, Illinois, being graduated at the head of his class in the scientific department, receiving 
the degree of bachelor of science in 1873. He taught school before going to, college; taught in 
the college nearly a year, and in other places after receiving his diploma. He was a teacher and 
commercial traveler until 1876, when he settled at Mound Station, Brown county, where he has 
since been engaged as a general shipper, a breeder of short horns and a farmer. He has 240 
acres of excellent land, largely devoted to grazing purposes, and is a prosperous business man. 
Mr. Moore is considerably interested in the cause of education, and has done some good work as 
a member of the local school board. In 1882 he was elected to represent in part the thirty-sixth 
district in the thirty-third general assembly, the district being composed Brown, Pike and Cal- 
houn counties. He was placed on the commitree on labor and manufactures, science and 
geology, education and retrenchment. He is a new member and on the minority (democratic) 
side, but keen-sighted and independent, going for high licenses and thus taking issue with the 
majority of his party in the legislature. He is a member of the Christian or Disciple church, an 



834 UNITED STATES BfOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

advocate of the cause of temperance, on the platform as well as in private conventions, and a 
conscientious man who would vote right though the heavens on his party should fall. In the 
church Mr. Moore holds the offices of clerk and treasurer, and he is a man in whom not only his 
Christian associates, but the people generally of his county have great confidence. His moral 
and social instincts are all in the right direction. Mr. Moore is the director of the Brown County 
Agricultural Society and the reporter for Brown county to the State Board of Agriculture. 
He also writes for the county newspapers, and is one of those thoroughly live and sensible men 
who can have three or four irons in the fire simultaneously without jeopardizing the temper of 
any of them. 

The wife of Mr. Moore was Miss Margaret Ada Byram of Abingdon, their union taking place 
January 11, 1879. They have three children, named Carrie Elva, Samuel Edward and Mary. 



DUNCAN MACKAY. 

MORRISON. 

DUNCAN MACKAY is of Highland Scotch parentage, and was born in Sutherlandshire, 
Scotland, in 1812. His parents were James Mackay and Anna (McDonald) Mackay, and 
were both descended from families famous in the annals of Scotland. His father was, however, 
a man of peace, and famous only for his fine cattle, horses and sheep, of which he was a very suc- 
cessful breeder. Duncan was reared to the same gentle occupation, and assisted his parents on 
the Highland farm until he was fifteen years of age. His education was only such as boys in his 
station usually got in Scotland at that time, except a term or two at high school. In 1833, when 
twenty-one years of age, he came to Nova Scotia, with an elder brother and a sister, but not 
meeting with the proper encouragement in that country, in 1835 they moved just across the line, 
and established themselves in Milton, Maine, in 'the business of fine carriage making, a business 
they had successfully followed for some years in Scotland. Here they met with better success, 
until the panic of 1837. This was the first financial revulsion of which they had ever heard, and 
it was a surprise indeed; the greater part of their goods had been sold on credit, and it was a 
new experience when their debtors refused to pay or return the goods. The crisis prostrated 
tlieir business and they were compelled to close it up. 

His brother William came west at once, while Duncan remained to settle up the affairs of the 
firm, and collect what he could. It took over two years to do this, but he had the satisfaction in 
1840 of bringing with him west the greater part of the amount due them, aggregating about $4,- 
000. The elder brother had originallv started for the Pacific coast, intending to embark on busi- 
ness once more, at Vancouver's Island, or somewhere in the vicinity of Puget Sound, but passing 
over the matchless prairies of the West, he received a new revelation, and could get no further 
than Carroll county, Illinois. Thither Duncan followed, and they invested every dollar they 
could raise in the fine prairie soil of what is now Salem township, and stock of various kinds to 
grow upon it. The visions of possible wealth to be realized in stock raising upon Illinois prairies 
where the soil was inexhaustible, and hay and pasturage free, must have been dazzling in the 
extreme, to the young Scotch herdsmen; yet as the events proved, fully capable of realization. 
The land had not yet been surveyed or come into market, and the brothers bought out the claims 
of seven squatters, amounting to about 1,120 acres. Of this amount Mr. Mackay still owns about 
600 acres in a body. 

Duncan had married Jessie Mackay, his cousin, while still in Nova Scotia. His parents and 
the rest of his father's family had come over, and to the new home in the Far West they all came. 
A small three-story log-house at first gave shelter for a time to the entire company, numbering 
twenty-four grown persons, besides children, until houses could be built, and homes provided for 
all. In this original home, sanctified by religion, guarded by integrity, and supported by indus- 
try, such peace, happiness and contentment reigned, as rarely falls to the lot of man. For several 





''wm 




U.V/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 8^7 

j^ears the family carried on the business of fanning and stock raising, and grew ricii, yet no mem- 
ber of the prosperous and happy community being able at any time to say " this is mine, and 
that is thine." 

Mr. Mackay's first attempt at turning his hand to any other field of enterprise since coming 
west, was in connection with John H. Manny, the inventor of the Manny reaper, and this was 
prompted originally rather by his natural willingness to help a worthy enterprise in need, than 
an expectation of realizing a fortune b)' it. However, he was not the loser in the end. In 1843 
a couple of Germans had built a flouring mill at Mount Carroll. Their names were Halderman 
and Rhinwalt, and Mackay, a couple of years later, entered into copartnership with them, and 
organized the Hydraulic Company. The design was to utilize the water power of Plum River in 
the establishment of a grand series of factories of all sorts. The company was established, a 
charter obtained, and business began. However, the venture was an unfortunate one from the 
start. The original projectors were in the majority, and carried everything according to their 
own will. Mr. Mackay did not approve of their plans or methods of business, but could only 
enter his protest from time to time, and place it upon record. As he foresaw, the enterprise 
failed, an assignment was made, their affairs got into the courts, and after several years of costly 
litigation, in which the most talented lawyers in the West were engaged, the whole business was 
wound up at a loss to all concerned. 

Mr. Mackay had been from youth an anti-slavery man, and took a keen interest in the growing 
contest between t^e two gigantic forces of freedom and slavery. He was opposed to the doctrine 
of squatter sovereignty advocated by Douglas, while a great admirer of the abilities of that great 
man. When the war cloud burst upon the countr}' he was an enthusiastic and very efficient sup- 
porter of the government. He was at all times ready with his counsel and his cash to aid the 
good cause, and when the National Bank Set was passed, was among the first to aid the govern- 
ment by applying for a charter. Uniting with Mr. Mills, Mr. Mark, Mr. Green, his brother-in-law, 
and others, the First National Bank of Mount Carroll was established, with a capital of |lso,ooo. 
Confederate bonds and currency at that time were bearing a higher price than those of the gov- 
ernment, and the outlook for the National cause was very grave, yet from purely patriotic motives 
these gentlemen came to the assistance of the government in her darkest hour, as fortunately did 
thousands of others, and with a rescued nation they have their reward. James Mark was the first 
president of this bank. He was succeeded the year following by Mr. Mackay, who has remained 
the chief officer till the present time. It has since doubled its capital, and continues one of the 
soundest and most successful banks in that part of the state. 

Doctor Leander Smith, of Morrison, Illinois, solicited Mr. Mackay to join him in a private 
bank, at the latter place. He consented to do so, and the bank was formed, with a cash capital 
of $60,000. June 26, 1882, he joined Henry Ashway, George Hay, his brother John Mackay, and 
others, in the bank established at Savannah. He has thus an interest in three banks, in the 
establishment of every one of which, higher motives than usually prevail in such matters were the 
ruling element. But with all his banking business on his hands, he has never relinquished his 
interests in farming. He at one time owned twelve farms, all of which he either worked or rented, 
but for various reasons has sold off six of them, and will still further reduce their number to 
relieve himself of the burden of their care. 

Without solicitation on his part he received from Governor Beveridge appointment as one of 
the United States commissioners to the Vienna E.xposition. Without any expense to the govern- 
ment he attended to his duties there, and afterward made the tour of Europe. Subsequently, he 
made two successive trips to Colorado for his health, which with his excessive labors and advanc- 
ing years, is at times somewhat precarious. Mr. Mackay, as might be supposed, is a stanch 
temperance man. The death of one of his workmen while in Maine, from exposure while under 
the influence of liquor, opened his eyes while yet a young man, to the awful character of the 
liquor traffic, and he solemnly took a pledge, and put it into writing, thereafter neither to use it 
himself nor furnish it to his men. To that pledge he has sacredly adhered through a long life, 

a? 



S^8 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

and to it ascribes much of his prosperity. The danger of freely signing his name to other men's 
paper, early caused him to make it a rule never to do so except in cases of necessity or charity, 
and although ready at all times with a helping hand for the needy or deserving, he has found 
other means to aid them without violating a very wise and useful pledge. 

In religion, Mr. Mackay is a Presbyterian, in politics a republican, and everywhere a gentle- 
man. He has never sought office, but always discouraged any effort to force it upon him, yet 
when elected has faithfully discharged its duties. 

March 23, 1882, he had the misfortune to lose by fire his elegant stone mansion, with the 
greater part of its contents, at Oakville, where he had resided since first coining to Illinois. He 
has since rebuilt of the same material, but is now making his home at Morrison, whither he re- 
moved when his house was destroved. 



HON. JOSEPH GILLESPIE. 

ED WARDSVILLE. 

JOSEPH GILLESPIE, one of the legal and judicial landmarks of southwestern Illinois, is a 
son of David and Sarah Gillespie, and was born in the city of New York, August 22, 1809. 
His parents were born and married in Ireland, and came to the United States in 1807. In 1819 
the family came to Madison county, when Illinois was little more than a wiWerness, and here 
Joseph grew to manhood, and has spent more than three-score years of his life. He went to 
school in all, perhaps one year, farmed in his youth; read law with Cyrus Edwards in Madison 
county; practiced law awhile, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He was soon afterward 
elected judge of probate, and held the office four year?. In 1840 he was elected to the legislature 
on the whig ticket, serving one term, and was subsequently (1847) sent to the state senate, 
serving two terms. In 1845 he was married at Greenville, Illinois, to Miss Mary E. Smith, who 
has had eight children, only five of them now living. Long prior to this period, in 1832, he was 
in the Black Hawk war, where he made the acquaintance of Abraham Lincoln, whose political 
track our subject followed. He early imbibed anti-slavery views and did all he could to prevent 
Illinois from becoming a slave state. Mr. Gillespie was elected circuit judge in i86i, and held 
that office for twelve consecutive years. On leaving the bench in 1873, Judge Gillespie resumed 
the practice of law to a limited extent, doing a little business for his old clients. He is clear- 
headed and active for a man seventy-four years old. He was born six months after Abraham 
Lincoln, and they were life-long personal as well as political friends. Some years ago the judge 
wrote an interesting sketch of Mr. Lincoln, which was printed in a pamphlet with an address 
written by Hon. Isaac N. Arnold of Chicago. 



HON. JOHN H. ADDAMS. 

CEDARVILLE. 

JOHN HUY ADDAMS. president of the Second National Bank of Freeport, for many years 
prior to his death, August 17, 1881, was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, July 12, 1822. 
He received an academic education at Trappe, Pennsylvania, and was then apprenticed to the 
milling business at Upper Dublin, Pennsylvania. In 1844 he came to this state, settled where 
Cedarville now stands; there built a flouring mill and was engaged in manufacturing flour and 
dealing in grain until his death, he being one of the leading business men in Stephenson county. 
He also purchased a farm at an early day, and eventually became a large owner of land, now 
divided into four farms. He early saw the need of a railroad to connect this part of the state with 
Chicago, thus furnishing an outlet for the produce of northwestern Illinois, and was one of the 
foremost men in initiating steps for completing what was at first known as the Galena and Chi- 
cago LTnion railroad. 



UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 839 

In 1854 Mr. Addams was elected to the state senate, and held that seat for sixteen consecutive 
years, his politics being republican. He was a political leader of great force of character, and of 
more influence than any other man in the county. He was often urged to become a candidate 
for congress, but steadfastly declined to let his name go before a convention. Mr. Addams was 
a true patriot and an enthusiastic worker for the Union during the four years of the civil war, 
cheerfully giving time, energies and money to help on that cause. He was a man of good social 
qualities, and enjoyed in all respects the highest confidence and the warm esteem of his neigh- 
bors and of the people generally. His death was a sad loss to the county, and is still felt. 



HON. EDWIN S. LELAND. 

OTTAWA. 

EDWIN SHERMAN LELAND was born in Dennysville, Maine, August 28, 1812. His 
father, Sherman Leland, was a prominent lawyer, and at one time president of the senate of 
Massachusetts. For the last twenty-three years of his life he was probate judge of Norfolk county, 
that state. When Edwin was two years of age the family removed to Roxbury, where he enjoyed 
what advantages the common schools afforded, and when twenty years of age, began reading law 
in his father's office. He made rapid progress, and, September 15, 1834, was admitted to the bar 
at Dedham, Massachusetts. In 1835 he came to Ottawa, where he engaged in the practice of his 
profession, being admitted to the bar of Illinois January 16, 1836. In 1839 he went to Oregon, 
Ogle county, where he practiced for four years with marked success. He was married April 20. 
1840, to Margaret B. Miles, of Boston. He returned to Ottawa in 1843, and entered into profes- 
sional duties, winning a high reputation as an advocate, and being prominent in the trial of all 
the more important cases which claimed the attention of the bench until 1852, when he was 
chosen judge of the ninth judicial circuit of Illinois, comprising si.x counties, to fill the unexpired 
term of Judge Dickey, resigned. He filled this station until the expiration of the term, and then 
resumed his practice. 

In 1866 he was appointed by the governor to fill the unexpired term of Judge Hollister, as 
judge of the ninth judicial circuit, and when the period for which he was appointed expired he 
was, in June, 1867, elected by the people to the same bench for the full term of six years. He 
was chosen by popular vote in 1873 as judge of the sixth judicial circuit, which position he held 
till he was transferred to the appellate court, in which he held a seat for three years. In 1856 he 
was elected mayor of Ottawa, being the first republican in that position, and was treasurer, for 
one term, of Ogle county. He has been president of the board of education of Ottawa, and has 
been very prominently identified with the development of educational interests in that city for . 
years. He was chosen president of the judicial convention held in Chicagi) when Judge Charles 
B. Lawrence received his nomination. 

Judge Leland's name is very closely linked with the origin and formation of the republican 
party, if indeed he was not the actual projector of that organization. In June, 1854, he drafted a 
call for a mass meeting to be held in Ottawa August i, following. At this assemblage he pre- 
sided, and a platform of principles which had been drawn up by him was adopted. A new party 
was organized, taking its name, republican, from one of the resolutions adopted at this meeting. 
He has graced the bench for many years, and his decisions, which cover the entire range of the 
law, are models of both logic and rhetoric. He is a profoundly read jurist, and is ready and 
accurate, when estimated from a purely legal standpoint, in all his rulings. His record is one of 
ceaseless civil and professional activity, and his name is held in the greatest respect for his con- 
scientious and able exercise of his judicial functions, and for his public spirit and usefulness as a 
citizen. 

Mr. Leland has been instructed from early youth in the I'nitarian faith, and still adheres to that 
belief. He has been favored with three children: two sons and one daughter. The elder son, 



§4° UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

George Miles, is engaged in the practice of law in Ottawa. The second son, Sherman, is also 
located in Ottawa, engaged in real-estate and loan brokerage. Their daughter, Georgianna Julia, 
is the wife of Hiram T. Gilbert, who is practicing law in company with his father-in-law. 

Judge Leland's family have contributed their share of patriotism during the late war, his two 
sons havii.g been actively engaged during the entire struggle— George in the cavalry and Sher- 
man in infantry — accompanying General Sherman in his march to the sea. 



HON. ARTHUR A. SMITH. 

GALESBURGII. 
ARTHUR ARNOLD SMITH, one of the judges of the tenth judicial district, is a son of 
lr\ Erasmus and Martha (Herlick) Smith, and was born in Batavia, Clermont county, Ohio, 
May 9, 1829. In the autumn of 1840 he came into Knox county, this state, with his parents, and 
at the proper age entered Knox College, Galesburgh, from which institution he was graduated in 
1853. He finished his legal studies with Hon. Julius Manning, of Peoria; commenced the prac- 
tice of his profession in Galesburgh in 1855, and in a very few years became distinguished as a 
lawyer. 

In i860 he was elected to the legislature, and attended two sessions in the following year. In 
August, 1862, he entered the service as lieutenant-colonel of the 83d Illinois infantry, and was 
subsequently commissioned colonel and brevet-brigadier-general. His regiment starved most of 
the time in the Army of the Cumberland. It was in the battle of Fort Donelson, and did a good 
deal of post duty in Tennessee, our subject acting a short time as military governor. 

General Smith was mustered out at Chicago in 1865 returned to Galesburgh and resumed the 
practice of the law, soon building up a large business. 

In 1866 Governor Oglesby appointed him to fill a vacancy in the eighth judicial circuit, com- 
posed of Knox, Warren, Mercer and Henderson counties; the next year he was the republican 
nominee for the same office, and was elected, and was reelected in 1873 and 1879. He is now in 
the tenth circuit, which is composed of Knox, Rock Island, Warren, Mercer, Henderson and 
Henry counties. He is a clear-headed, sound lawyer, and a cool, dispassionate and impartial 
judge, doing honor to the ermine. 

JUDGE HENRY S. BAKER. 

ALTON. 

HENRY SOUTHARD BAKER, a native of the old French village of Kaskaskia, Illinois, was 
born November 10, 1824, and is the oldest son of the late Hon. David Baker and Sarah T. 
(Fairchild) Baker. His father, a graduate of Hamilton College, was an accomplished scholar and 
profound lawyer. Henry received his preparatory education at Shurtleff College, and in 1843 
entered Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island. After his graduation in 1847 he began 
the study of law in his father's office at Alton, whither his family had removed in 1844. He was 
admitted to the bar in 1849, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession. In 1854 he 
was elected as an anti-Nebraska democrat, from Madison county, to the legislature, and was one 
of five members whose influence in that body defeated for the office of United States senator both 
Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the opposition, and Joel A. Matteson, the democratic candi- 
date, and elected to that position the Hon. Lyman Trumbull. In 1S56 he was secretary of the 
celebrated "Bloomington convention," over which General Palmer presided; the first state repub- 
lican convention ever held in Illinois, and which resulted in the nomination of the late Colonel 
William H. Bissell for governor, and the defeat of the democratic party in the state. In 1864 he 
was the republican presidential elector for his congressional district. From this time he in a 
measure withdrew from all political organizations, and devoted himself to his profession and his 
familv. 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 84I 

He was elected judge of the city court of Alton in T865, and held that office till 1881. He was 
president of the republican state convention in 1876, and delegate that year to the national conven- 
tion which nominated Mr. Hayes. He was also candidate that year for congress. 

Judge Baker is a man of more than ordinary talents. As a judge he has an accurate mind, 
and readily grasps the point of the case argued before him, and his decisions, based upon a sound 
interpretation of law and equity, are generally accepted as final. 



GEORGE A. FOLLANSBEE. 

CHICAGO. 

GEORGE A. FOLLANSBEE, of the firm of Schuyler and FoUansbee, was born in Cook 
county, Illinois, near Chicago, February 26, 1843. His father, Horatio N. FoUansbee, a 
farmer, was a native of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, and came to Cook county in 1835. His mother 
was Emeline Sherman, who came from Whitesboro, Oneida county, New York, to Cook county, 
this state, in 1833, the year after the Black Hawk war, and when Chicago had less than one 
thousand inhabitants. 

Mr. FoUansbee finished his literary education at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, 
being of the class of 1865; took his course of legal studies at Harvard Law School, Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, whence he was graduated in February, 1867, and commenced the practice of law in 
Chicago on the seventeenth day of the following month. He became a member of the firm of 
Schuyler and FoUansbee on the withdrawal of Hon. George Gardner from the firm of Gardner and 
Schuyler, Mr. Gardner having been elected judge of the superior court of Cook county. The 
firm of Schuyler and FoUansbee practices law in all its branches, and probably there is no firm 
of two members in Chicago doing a larger business than it. 

The residence of Mr. FoUansbee is on Indiana avenue, just beyond the city limits, in the town- 
ship of Hyde Park, and he has held several important offices in that village. He is also at pres- 
ent a trustee of the Illinois Industrial University, at Champaign. In politics he is a republican; 
in religious belief a Unitarian, and attends the Church of the Messiah. 

April 14, 1869, Mr. FoUansbee married Susie D., daughter of Doctor M. M. Davis, of Baraboo, 
Wisconsin, and they liave six children. 



GENERAL ALLEN C. FULLER. 

BEL VIDERE. 

AMONG the most distinguished men who have ever lived in Boone county, Illinois, is he whose 
/A. name heads this sketch. He is a son of Lucius Fuller, and was born in Farmington, Hart- 
ford county, Connecticut, September 24, 1822. He received an academic education; studied law 
at Warsaw, New York, with Hon. James R. Doolittle, since United States senator from Wiscon- 
sin, and was admitted to practice in the supreme court of New York, in 1845. Says a writer in 
the " Boone County Directory " (part of the history of the county), speaking of Mr. Fuller: " He 
came to Belvidere in 1846, a young lawyer, with nothing but industry, integrity and capacity to 
recommend him to the people, how well these qualities have served him, his present enviable rep- 
utation shows. He has been elected judge of the circuit court, and discharged the duties of that 
high office with marked ability. On the breaking out of the rebellion he was still on the bench. 
He was tendered the position of adjutant-general, but the members of the bar opposed his resig- 
nation, and urged him to accept the appointment temporarily. He entered upon its duties No- 
vember II, 1861, and in July following, resigned his seat on the bench." 

General Fuller served until near the end of the war, how efficiently and with what satisfaction 
to the legislature and to Governor Yates, the records will show. The legislative committee 



842 UA'/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

appointed to inspect the adjutant-general's office, declared, in their report, that in their judgment 
"the thanks of every patriotic citizen of the state are due to General Fuller for the able and 
efficient manner in which he has discharged the duties of the office, and for his indefatigable 
efforts in collecting and preserving the glorious record of a glorious state." The testimony of 
Governor Yates to his invaluable services was no less strong. 

In 1864 General Fuller was elected to represent Boone county in the general assembly, and in 
January following resigned the office of adjutant-general, and was chosen speaker of the house. 
He has since (1876 and 1880) filled the office of state senator with credit to his constituency and 
with honor to himself. 



T 



HON. THOMAS F. TIPTON. 

BLOOMING TON. 

HOMAS FOSTER TIPTON, lawyer and late judge of the circuit court for the eighth cir- 
cuit, was born near the town of Harrisburgh, Franklin county, Ohio, August 29, 1833. His 
parents were Hiram and Deborah (Ogden) Tipton. His grandfather, Sylvester Tipton, was a 
native of Maryland, and settled in Ohio about the time the state was admitted into the Union. 
In 1844 Hiram Tipton came with his family to McLean county, Illinois, and settled on a farm in 
Money Creek township, where Towanda now stands, and died in 1845, leaving three children. 
His widow died in March, 1875. 

Our subject was the youngest of the three children. He received most of his literary educa- 
tion at Lexington, in this county, under that excellent scholar and worthy man. Colonel William 
N. Coler, and after the first year, while thus pursuing his studies, devoted his mornings and even- 
ings to the reading of law, in which he took great delight. Subsequently he studied in the office 
of H. N. Keightly, of Knoxville, was admitted to the bar at Bloomington, in 1854, commenced 
practice at Lexington, and while a resident of that place married, in 1856, Mary J., daughter of 
Nicholas and Esther Strayer, of Bloomington, and they have five children. 

In 1862 our subject settled in Bloomington, and had an extensive and lucrative practice. In 
1870 Mr. Tipton was elected judge of the circuit court, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation 
of Judge Scott, who was elected to the supreme bench. Judge Tipton was reelected in June, 
1873, and served until March, 1877, when he resigned to take a seat in congress, in which he 
served one term. 

Judge Tipton has fine qualities for a jurist, coolness, impartiality, and self possession, broad 
legal attainments, an analytical mind, and clear judgment, and these qualities were shown to the 
best advantage during the nine years that he was on the bench. The judge is now quietly prac- 
ticing his profession in company with Norman H. Ryan, and their business extends into all the 
state and United States courts. • 



HON. NEWTON BATEMAN, LL.D. 

GALESBURGII. 

ONE of the best educators in the state of Illinois is Newton Bateman, president of Knox Col- 
lege. His birth is dated July 27, 1822, in Cumberland county. New Jersey, but he became a 
resident of this state in 1833. His early opportunities for disciplining his mind were very much 
limited, but at thirteen years of age he resolved that he would deliver an oration some day in a 
graduating college class, which he did at twenty-one years of age (June, 1843). He had a hard 
struggle, in a pecuniary sense, to fit himself for matriculation and still harder to get through col- 
lege, succeeding by the strictest economy, and being willing to do anything to which he could 
put his hands. His board during the years he w'as in college did not average fifty cents a week. 
What he lived on tradition states not. 

Mr. Bateman studied a short time in Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati; then traveled 



UNITED STATUS /l/OCU.l r/f/iA/ D/CT/O.VARV. 843 

awhile and sold a historical chart, and in 1845 commenced teaching a private school in Saint 
Louis, Missouri. Two years later he was appointed to the chair of mathematics in Saint Charles 
College, that state, holding that post until 185 i. when he returned to Illinois and became princi- 
pal of the public schools of Jacksonville. Soon afterward he held the office of county superin- 
tendent of schools for two terms. He assisted in organizing the State Teachers' Association 
(1854) and in establishing the " Illinois Teacher." Of that paper he became editor-in-chief in 
1858, and at the same time principal of the Jacksonville Fi-male Academy. 

Five times after 1858 Mr. Bateman was elected state superintendent of schools by the repub- 
lican party, and his biennial reports while in that office showed him to be the right man for 
that important place. During that period he gave some time to the preparation of different 
works on education and cognate subjects, and a little later he gave almost his entire time to 
authorship. The number of volumes with his imprint as author presses hard on a score, and 
they show the master workman in his peculiar vein. In 1874 he was elected president of Knox 
College, where his solid attainments and his splendid talents as a disciplinarian shine to the best 
advantage. 

HON. ALFRED M. CRAIG. 

GALESBUKGH. 

THIS gentleman is one of the judges of the supreme court of Illinois, and quite eminent in 
his profession. He was born in Edgar county, this state, January 15, 1831, being the son 
of David and Minta (Ramey) Craig. He is a graduate of Knox College, Galesburgh; read law 
with Weed and Goudy, Chicago; was admitted to the bar in February, 1854, and practiced his 
profession at Knoxville, Knox county, until 1873, achieving a high reputation for his thorough 
knowledge of the law, and his great ability as an advocate. He was retained in a great many 
cases of much importance, and was highly successful. While in practice at the bar he held the 
offices of state's attorney, county judge and member of the constitutional convention (1869-70). 
In June, 1873, he was elected to the supreme bench of the state, and that exalted position he still 
holds, doing decided honor to the ermine. 

The residence of Judge Craig is at Galesburgh. Of late years he has given considerable 
attention to agriculture, and for some time resided on his farm. 

His wife was Elizabeth P. Harvey, of Knox county, they being married in 1857. 



EDMUND BURKE. 

CT/ICAGO. 

EDMUND BURKE, lawyer, is a grandson of James Burke, a wealthy manufacturer in the 
North of Ireland, who came to this country in the early part of this century, and son of Pat- 
rick Burke, a farmer, who at the time of Edmund's birth, September 22, 1S47, lived at Byron, Ogle 
county, Illinois. Patrick Burke was married June 25, 1846, to Nancy Whitney, of Wilkesbarre, 
Wyoming county, Pennsylvania. She was the mother of four children, of whom Edmund is the 
eldest child. His parents are still living. Edmund prepared for college at Rock River Seminary, 
Mount Morris, Illinois, and was graduated at the Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 
class of 1868, and in the law department of the University of Michigan, class of 1869. 

He taught two years in the institution at Mount Morris, being principal the latter year, and in 
1871, immediately after the great fire, settled in Chicago. For three or four years he held a situ- 
ation in the postoffice, performing its duties at night, and practicing his profession during the 
day. Since 1874 he has given his time exclusively to the law, and is doing a general and large 
business, criminal as well as civil. 

For the first four or five years Thomas B. Brown, now justice of the peace, was his partner. 



844 UNITED STATES BfOCRAPHICA L DICTIONARY. 

Since that time lie has practiced alone. He has a remarkably clear mind, an excellent judgment 
and fine logical faculties, and discusses a question very candidly, without prejudice or bias. He 
is an indefatigable worker, and thoroughh- honest, and no lawyer, young or old, in the city of 
Chicago is more trustworthy. 

Mr. Burke is also a good classical scholar, keeps well read up in the sciences, and is an elegant 
writer on literary and philosophical subjects. In short, has a well fed and growing mind, and is a 
rising man. Mr. Burke affiliates with the republican party, and takes some interest in local poli- 
tics, not enough, however, to lead him to neglect his professional pursuits. 

Mr. Burke was married December 5, 1878, to Miss Myra Webster, daughter of William V. Web- 
ster, of Rockford, Illinois, and they have one child. 



WILLARD SCOTT. 

NAPERVILLE. 

AUGUST 26, 1826, the schooner Sheldon, Captain Sherwood, was riding at anchor upon the 
. ([uiet waters of Lake Michigan, ten miles north of Chicago, off Gross' Point, as the place 
was then called, and with the small boat called a yawl the family of Stephen J. Scott were then 
and there landed. The crew of the vessel went ashore and assisted in the erection of a rude 
habitation with posts, poles and blankets, after which they sailed away, leaving the Scotts resi- 
dents of the state of Illinois, and occupying the first house built at what is now Evanston. 

This incident is mentioned thus prominently that the future historian, in his search for facts 
and dates, may pause as he turns these leaves, and exclaim, " Here we have a pioneer indeed! " 
The father, mother, two sons (of whom the subject of this sketch was the eldest) and four daugh- 
ters constituted the family. The father, Stephen J. Scott, was in early life a seafaring man, having 
been the owner and master of a schooner bearing his own name, engaged in the coast trade along 
the eastern shore of our country. The mother, whose maiden name was Hadassah Trask, was a 
relative of General Israel Putnam, of revolutionary fame. They were married in Connecticut, 
and moved from Hartford, in that state, to Unadilla, Otsego county. New York, where Willard 
was born, April 20, 1808: and when he was eight years old the family removed to Maryland, where 
they remained ten years, during which time he attended school. His opportunities for education 
were limited, being confined to the district school, except for a short time when under private 
tuition in mathematics, by the liberality of Alanson Webb, a wealth)^ Baltimore merchant, who 
was attracted toward the promising youth, and solicited the privilege of adopting and educating 
him for any business he might desire to follow. 

Willard was anxious to become a sailor, and command a vessel, as his father had done before 
him, and his studies under the private tutor were in this direction; but to his credit it may be 
stated that the entreaties of his mother, to whom a sailor's life seemed full of peril, induced him 
to abandon this idea. In the year 1825 his father determined to seek a new home in the West, 
and in pursuance of this determination he left Maryland with his family, stopping awhile in New 
York, and then starting for Saint Joseph, Michigan. 

Arriving at Buffalo, the father shipped the household goods, going with them by sail vessel to 
Detroit, while the family, under charge of Willard, started overland through Canada for the same 
place. The old gentleman, arriving before the family, sent his goods forward by a schooner, and 
awaited the arrival of his wife and children, who joined him there in a few days. Boats not 
being numerous, or reliable as to time, it was necessary that some one should cross the country 
to meet the goods at Saint Joseph. 

This perilous journey was undertaken by Willard, then eighteen years of age, in company with 
a man from Ohio. There was not an inhabited house upon the route, they had no guide, and 
with the exception of blazed trees and Indian trails leading in various directions, they had no 
pathway through the dense Michigan forests. With a horse upon which to pack their camp 



\ 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 847 

equipage, tliey made the march (fo'raging hugely on mother Nature), in two weeks, arriving ten 
days ahead of the boat, during which time they hved entirely on corn and potatoes obtained 
from a Frenciiman upon an island in the river. ^ 

About ten days after Wiilard left Detroit, the remainder of the family made the trip around 
the lake in the Sheldon, going first to Chicago and then crossing to Saint Joseph. While passing 
Gross' Point, before reaching Chicago, old Mr. Scott was much attracted by the beauty of the 
place, and was quite enthusiastic in his praise; and afterward being less pleased with the east 
side, the captain of the vessel offered to, and did, recross the lake and land the family as stated 
at the commencement of this sketch. 

At that time the inhabitants were principally Indians. There was an Indian agent. Doctor Alex- 
ander Walcott, at Chicago. John Kenzie, agent of the American Fur Company, David McKee, a 
government blacksmith, and a few others, mostly French or half breeds in the employ of the 
American Fur Company, were also there. The prevailing languages were French and Indian, 
and with these Wiilard became very familiar under a tutelage that might well be denominated a 
free school in the largest sense. His life for the next ten or twelve years was made up of those 
incidents which pertain to the freedom, fun and frolic, as well as the perils and privations, of the 
wildest kind of frontier life. 

He was a renowned hunter, being counted the second-best shot in all the Pottawattomie tribe 
of Indians, by whom he was greatly respected. Indeed, he had a way of compelling their respect 
l)y the utter fearlessness which he manifested in his intercourse with them, eluding their wily 
tricks, beating them at their own games, and proving himself more than a match for them in all 
the cunning of their peculiar life. They gave him the appellation of Kish-Wash, by which name 
he became well known throughout the entire region. The title signifies a species of eagle, and 
was, by those conferring it, considered a highly honorable one. 

During the hunting excursions of these days (and here is an unwritten volume of romantic 
frontier life) he made the acquaintance of Caroline Hawley, at Holderman's Grove, to whom he 
was married Jidy 21, 1829, at her father's house. Her father. Pierce Hawley, moved from Ver- 
mont, in 1818, toVincennes, Indiana, when she was six or seven years of age, and when she was 
ten years old he removed to Illinois, where he lived at various places, settling at Holderman's 
Grove in 1825, where Wiilard was married. 

In the fall of 1830, Wiilard, with his father, father-in-law and their families, settled at tiie 
junction of the two branches of the Du Page River, three miles south of Naperville, where they 
remained, engaged in agriculture, eight years or thereabouts. These families are entitled to the 
distinction of being the pioneers of the settlement which soon extended several miles along the 
river into what has since become Will and Du Page counties. At that time Cook county included 
the present counties of Lake, McHenry, Du Page and Will, and Chicago was the voting place for 
the whole county. At the election of 1830 there were thirty-two votes polled in the county, and 
old Mr. Scott's name heads the poll list of that year. 

In 1832 the Black Hawk war broke out, and the whole settlement v\'as compelled to remove to 
Fort Dearborn, Chicago, for safety, where the\' remained until after July, when General Scott 
moved on to Dixon, putting the government troops between the settlers and their foes. Wil- 
lard's knowledge of the habits and wiles of the Indians, and frontier craft generally, made him 
an exceedingly useful man to the settlers during those perilous months, full of incidents of thrill- 
ing interest, which cannot well be given here. 

In the spring of 1838 Wiilard removed to the village of Naperville, where his father had pre- 
ceded him the previous year. He built the Naperville Hotel, keeping the same eight years, in those 
days when to keep a hotel was to have a constituency covering more territory than several congres- 
sional districts do now. He then commenced merchandising, and for nearly twenty years, most 
of the time with his eldest son, Thaddeus (since deceased, leaving one son, Willie H.), continued 
the business by which the firm name of Wiilard Scott and Company has been made historical. 

Immediately after the close of the late war he retired from active business life as a merchant, 
83 



848 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

in which, however, he has been succeeded by his son, Willard Scott, jr., who continues the busi- 
ness under the same firm name, to this day. 

During the time of his residence in Naperville he has been president, first of the Du Page 
Count)' Bank, and afterward of the Bank of Naperville; and since he retired from mercantile life 
has been doing business as a private banker; and the banking house of Willard Scott and Com- 
pany is considered one of the absolutely safe institutions of its class in northern Illinois. 

Mr. Scott is a regular attendant upon, though not a member of the Congregationalist Church 
at Naperville, which is the oldest church organization in the region, dating back to 1833, In his 
religious views he may be classed as orthodox, except for a strong leaning toward the belief in 
the final future salvation of all men through the infinite atonement of the Saviour of mankind. 

In politics he is a democrat. He voted for General Jackson, and would like to continue to do 
so as long as he lives, and all the more because he believes that the remains of the old hero could 
hardly refrain from exclaiming, " B\' the Eternal!" when the rebel soldiery was tramping over 
his tomb. Stephen A. Douglas was his model politician, and with him he believes in "obeying 
the laws and supporting the constitution." 

He had the heart of a loving father, as well as of an American patriot, in the late war of the 
rebellion, for his son who bears his name marched with Sherman to the sea, and through 
Georgia, most of the time in command of the company of the losth Illinois regiment, of which 
he was lieutenant; and his comrades all say he was bravery exemplified, and as nobly good and 
truly kind as he was brave. 

Mr. and Mrs. Scott have both been residents of Illinois for half a century, and all that time 
have lived near Chicago. They have seen and helped to produce the remarkable progress of this 
section, that challenges parallel in all histor\'; and now at his fine residence in Naperville, built 
upon the very spot where his father lived fifty years ago, Mr. Scott, with his whitened locks, 
passes his declining years, and moves around amid his children, grandchildren and neighbors, 
enjoying the confidence, esteem and respect of everybody. 

Mr. Scott's life has been a continuous exhibition of sterling integrity and manliness. He has 
acquired a fortune. He has been in the best sense successful. He has helped to build up his 
town. He has made his mark upon the region in which he has lived, given to those who may 
succeed him an example of good habits and stern, manly honesty, and with the calm dignity and 
restful confidence of the evening of such a life he awaits the message, "Come up higher." 



DANIEL J. SCHUYLER. 

CHICAGO. 

DANIEL J. SCHUYLER was born in the town of Florida, Montgomery county. New York, 
February 16, 1839. His father, Jacob D. Schuyler, was a farmer, and was a descendant of 
one of the oldest and best-known Knickerbocker families, so prominent in the lustory of the state 
of New York. General Philip Schuyler, of revolutionary fame, was of the same family. The 
subject of this mention was educated in the schools of the section where he was born, and finally 
in Union College. Soon after leaving college, and in 1861, he entered the law office of Hon. 
Francis Kernan, Utica, New York, the late United States senator from that state. After com- 
pleting his course of study, he was admitted to the bar in January, 1864, and came to Chicago 
the same month, and has been engaged in practice here since. He was alone in practice until 
January, 1873, when he formed a partnership with Hon. George Gardner, which continued until 
the latter was elected to the bench of the superior court in 1880, when he formed a partnership 
with George A. Follansbee, which firm, Schuyler and Follansbee, is now doing a successful law 
business, and is one of the most reliable in this city. As a lawyer he is thorough and painstak- 
ing. He is especially accurate in the preparation of his case, and never goes into court without 
knowing all about it, and makes so clear a presentation that judge and jury understand it as well 



UNITED STATES BFOGRA PIIICAI. DICTIONARY. 849 

as himself. His success in his practice is the result of fine mental endowments, literary acquire- 
ments, industry, application and the most scrupulous honor and integrity. He has niceness of 
perception, breadth of comprehension ; is energetic, pers'evering, practical, and has none of the' 
meteoric in his composition ; he is progressive, but conservative and well balanced. 

As an advocate before a jury he is one of the most effective speakers at this bar. In manner 
he is pleasing, in matter logical and convincing. He is candid, sincere and fair, and his integrity 
and honor being known, he carries conviction to the minds of an honest jury. He is quiet, dig- 
nified, decided, and has great firmness of character. He has the mien, bearing and make-up of 
the educated and well bred gentleman that he is. He is in the front rank in the profession, and 
has the respect and esteem of his brother lawyers. Mr. Schuyler was united in marriage, in Sep- 
tember, 1865, with Mary, daughter of William H. Byford, a well known physician of this city. 
They have had four children, two of whom survive. 



WILLIAM HEATH BYFORD, M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

Wn.LIAM HEATH BYFORD was born March 20, 1817, in the village of Eaton, Ohio, and 
is the son of Henry T. and Hannah Byford. During his infancy his parents removed 
to the falls of the Ohio River, now New Albany, whence in 1821 the family changed its place of 
residence to Hindostan, Martin county, Indiana. Here, while William was in his ninth year, his 
father died, and, through stress of circumstances, he was compelled to abandon the course of ele- 
mentary studies which he had been pursuing in the neighboring country school. Five years 
later he was apprenticed to a tailor in Palestine, Illinois, with whom he remained two years, and 
then entered the employ of another tailor at Vincennes, Indiana, where, during the ensuing four 
years, he not only worked diligently at his trade, but, with the aid of books, bought and bor- 
rowed, mastered the structure of his native tongue, acquired a knowledge of the Latin, Greek 
and French languages, and studied with especial care physiology, chemistry and natural history. 
About eighteen months prior to the expiration of his term of apprenticeship, he decided to devote 
his life and energies to the stud}"^ of medicine, and subsequently placed himself under the profes- 
sional guidance and guardianship of Doctor Joseph Maddox, of Vincennes, Indiana. After a suf- 
ficent length of time consumed in arduous and incessant study, he passed the required examina- 
tion, and began the practice of his profession in Owensville, Gibson county, Indiana, August 8, 
1838. In 1840 he removed to Mount Vernon, Indiana, and in 1845, after having attended lectures, 
applied for and received a regular graduation and accredited diploma from the Ohio Medical 
College. In 1847, after resuming his practice, which had been temporarily interrupted by his 
studies, he performed and published an account of that surgical operation denominated the 
" Caesarean section." This was followed by contributions to medical journals which attracted the 
attention of the medical community, and gave their author a respectable reputation for literary 
acquirements, intellectual penetration and scientific knowledge. In October, 1850, he was elected 
to the chair of Anatomy in the Evansville, Indiana, Medical College, which he filled with ability 
for two years, when he was transferred to the chair of Theory and Practice in the same institu- 
tion, in which responsible capacity he acted until the extinction of the institution in 1854. Dur- 
ing his professorship at Evansville he was one of the editors of a medical journal of acknowledged 
merit, and, until its publication was discontinued, contributed valuable articles to its columns. 

In May, 1857, he was elected vice-president of the American Medical Asssociation, then assem- 
bled at Nashville, Tennessee, and in the following autumn was called to the chair of Obstetrics 
and Diseases of Women and Children, in the Rush Medical College at Chicago, vacated by Doc- 
tor John Evans, ^he talented physician, who has since been United States senator from Colorado. 
This position he occupied for two years, when, in conjunction with several medical associates, he 
assisted in establishing and organizing the Chicago Medical College, in which he occupied the 



850 UNITED STATES filOGRAFinCAL DICTIONARY. 

same position which he had previously held in the Rush Medical College — chair of Obstetrics 
and Diseases of Women and Children. During a term of years he was associated with Professor 
N. S. Davis in the editorial managemenTof the "Chicago Medical Journal." In 1864 he published 
the first medical work attributable to a Chicago author; its title is "Chronic Inflammation and 
Displacements of the Unimpregnated Uterus." In 1866 appeared his " Practice of Medicine and 
Surgery, Applied to the Diseases and Accidents Incident to Women," which is extensively used as 
a text-book and frequently quoted as a valuable authority. In 1866 was published the second 
edition of his "Practice," and in 1871 the second edition, also, of his work on the "Unimpregnated 
Uterus." In 1872 his "Obstetrics" was issued, and in the following year a second edition of the 
same volume appeared. He has twice performed the "Caesarean section," and as a lecturer on 
medical and scientific subjects, and a writer on kindred topics, has secured a widely extended and 
honorable reputation throughout the Noi'thwest and elsewhere. 



HON. HUGH PARISH BEACH. 

PIPER CITY. 

JUDGE BEACH traces his paternal ancestry back to Hon. Daniel D. Thompkins, one of 
the early governors of New York state, and subsequently vice president of the United States 
for two terms consecutively, under James Monroe as president, and on his mother's side to high 
official position, in Connecticut. 

The eyes of our subject first opened to the light of this world about forty years ago, in a 
humble log cabin in the then pioneer wilderness of Northern Ohio, near what is now the beautiful 
city of Cleveland. He received such education as the scant facilities of that early day offered to 
farmer boys, until about the age of fourteen, when, upon the death of his mother, he started out 
to breast the fortunes of life and carve out a career for himself, unaided and alone. His first 
venture was in a printing office, and his first promotion to that position which bears the euphoni- 
ous title of "printer's devil," and in that capacity, and from that position, thrciugh all the inter- 
mediate grades up to the writer of locals for a country journal, he served for several succeeding 
years, during which period he received his first substantial scholarship in the history of the 
political affairs of his country and the world. Time and an increase of knowledge awakened 
within him a desire to enter the legal profession, and a favorable opportunity presenting itself, he 
changed hi,s occupation, and spent the next succeeding years in the offices of two prominent law- 
yers, successive!}', during which time he laid the foundation of his legal education. Here he was 
found at the breaking out of the late rebellion. At the firing on Fort Sumter he at once volun- 
teered as a private for three years, or during the war. The first company he joined (such was the 
patriotic rush to the defense of the country) failed to be accepted by the official authorities. He 
did not have to wait long, however, for Father Abraham's call for three hundred thousand more 
gave him opportunit)' for entering the service, which he did as a private, and remained for over 
four years and a half, in constant service, and though but comparatively a boy, he served through 
all the various grades up to the command of a compan}', and in both infantrv and artillery, and 
holding commissions about half the entire term of service. This took him through campaigns 
and engagements from the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico, the Red River expedition, and the 
movement against Mobile and the attendant conflicts which resulted in its capture; in which lat- 
ter operations in the field he was in command of his own company. He also afterward rendered 
service in the gulf coast defenses, at the mouth of the Mississippi. During his term of service 
he was from time to time under the command of Generals Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Banks, 
Canby, Smith, and other distinguished commanders. Fortunately two slight wounds onl)' attest 
the many perils of this long and arduous service. After the assassination of President Lincoln 
he raised a contribution in his company of over $700 for the national Lincoln monument at 
Springfield, and received an autograph letter of thanks from Governor Oglesby, president of the 
monument association. 



UNITED STATES BIOGKATHJCAL DICTIONARY. 85 I 

Near the close of his term of service he married the daughter of the late Captain Henry Lyon 
Smith, of the engineer corps of the old regular arm)', who was a graduate of West Point, and 
subsequently a professor at that post. Captain Smith was of New England birth, and after he 
graduated at West Point he was sent by the United States government to Louisiana, where he 
married the sister of a classmate, and thus became connected with one of the first families of 
Louisiana, among whom were a governor of the state and several generals, and distinguished 
political leaders. One member (aunt to the wife of our subject) has, since the close of the war, 
filled the position of librarian, first at the patent-office, and next at the agricultural department at 
Washington. 

On returning from the arm)' Judge Beach brought his young wife with him, and moved 
directly to Pord county, Illinois, where he has since resided. Here he at once resumed the study 
of law, in connection with other branches of professional business, and was admitted to the bar 
about 1870, and during the three succeeding years he was engaged in private practice. 

In the spring of 1S73 his fellow townsmen elected him to the county board of supervisors, 
where, by his vigilance and advocacy of economy, retrenchment, and reform in the management 
of the affairs of the county, he immediately attracted general attention, and very unexpectedly 
to himself was taken up by the people and overwhelmingly elected the same fall to the office of 
county judge of Ford county, to which position he has been reelected for three successive terms, 
and which he now fills. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and of Saint Paul's Com- 
mandery No. 34, of Knights Templar, Fairbury, Illinois. He is also a member of the Odd-Fel- 
lows, both subordinate and encampment, and has been representative to the grand lodge of the 
state. He has also been president of the board of trustees in the village where he resides, and 
has held numerous other subordinate offices. 

In politics he is a republican, but is not hide-bound. In religion, he believes God reigns 
supreme. 

Judge Beach is counted one of the best orators of eastern Illinois, and is pronounced by those 
who know him most intimately, to be a faithful, upright and just judge. 



HON. ISAAC G. WILSON. 

CHIC A GO. 

THK subject of this sketch, the present presiding justice of the appellate court, was born in 
the town of Middiebury, New York, April 26, 1817. At the age of twelve he was sent to 
the Academy at Wyoming, and remained in school and as a clerk in a store until 1834, when he 
entered Brown University, at Providence, Rhode Island. Upon graduating, in 1838, Mr. Wilson 
came to Illinois, where his father's family had preceded him, three years before, and became a stu- 
dent in the office of Butterfield and Collins, then the leading law firm of Chicago. In the spring 
of iS4ohe again went east, and entered the Cambridge Law School, and graduated the follow- 
ing year with the degree of bachelor of laws. He was admitted to the Massacliusetts bar at Con- 
cord, July, 1841. 

On returning the following month to Chicago, where he had intended to locate, he found that 
instead of there being room for more lawyers, many of those already there were leaving for other 
places, in consequence of the extreme depression in business, which followed the financial crisis 
of 1837 and 1838. He thereupon determined to go into the country, and in August, 1841, opened 
a law office in Elgin. There he continued in the ])ractice, doing a good business, riding the cir- 
cuit with his books in his saddle bags, as was then the custom, for ten years, when, in 1851, he 
was elected circuit judge. 

Upon leaving the bench in 1867, Judge Wilson opened an office in Chicago with Colonel H. F. 
V^allette and General Benjamin J. Sweet, of Camp Douglas fame, and upon the dissolution of 
hat firm, he formed a partnership with Hon. Emery A. Storrs, and subsequently with Sanford 



852 UNITED STATES B/0GR4PHfCAL D/CTIO.VARY. 

B. Perry, with whom he continued, his practice being confined mostly to the federal courts, until 
1879, when he was again elected circuit judge, and immediately thereafter was designated as a 
member of the appellate court at Chicago, of which two years later he was made chief-justice. 

Judge Wilson has grown rapidly in the estimation of the bar since his elevation to the appel- 
late bench. His education is varied, broad and liberal, and his published opinions are models of 
judicial writings, being logical, clear and polished. His associates on the appellate bench are 
Hon. W. K. McAllister and Hon. Joseph N. Bailey. 



REUBEN LUDLAM, M.D. 

CHICAGO. 

THE subject of this sketch was born in Camden, New Jersey, October 7, 1831. He was the 
eldest son of the late Doctor Jacob W. Ludlam, who for more than thirty years was a most 
worthy and useful member of the medical profession. Doctor Ludlam received by far the best 
part of his early education at home. His school duties, however, were not neglected. After 
taking the honors of the old academy at Bridgeport, New Jersey, he began the study of medicine, 
with his father for preceptor, at the early age of sixteen. 

Possessing naturally a vigorous constitution, he laid the>foundation for his future good health, 
by active exercise and work in the open air, while pursuing his studies; for his father owned a 
beautiful farm, of which the son took a nominal charge, and upon which he did considerable 
manual labor. The consequence was a well-balanced development of body and mind. In due 
time his father's maxim — "if you wish your boy to be a man, treat him like a man — was applied 
to the experiences of the sick room. He left the farm for the bedside. The latter years of his 
pupilage were characterized by an almost perpetual conference between the old and the young 
doctor as to the nature, tendency and treatment of cases which were under their united observa- 
tion and care. This early drill and discipline gave a practical bias to Dr. Ludlam's professional 
mind, and not only explains his well-known aversion to theoretical and trivial questions in medi- 
cine, but also affords the key to his remarkable success as a clinical teacher and practitioner. 
After hearing three full courses of lectures of six months each in the University of Pennsylvania, 
and of clinics in the Pennsylvania Hospital, Doctor Ludlam graduated with honor in the former 
institution, in April, 1852. In October of the same year he came to Illinois, and, after spending 
some months in visiting and prospecting, finally settled in Chicago, where he still resides. 

When he came to Chicago, Doctor Ludlam was what is called an old school physician: but 
careful study and bedside observation convinced him of the superior efficacy of the homoeopathic 
system of treatment, when it is aided by good judgment and liberality. He has since become a 
leading and influential member of the new school of medical practice. For six years he was an 
associate editor of the " North American Journal of Homoeopathy," a cjuarterly, pulilished in 
New York; and for nine years obstetrical editor of the "United States Medical and Surgical 
Journal," another quarterly, published in Chicago. 

He was the author of the first strictly medical work ever issued in the Northwest. It was en- 
titled "A Course of Clinical Lectures on Diphtheria," and bore the imprint of C. S. Halseyi 
Chicago, March, 1863. 

In 1862 he presented the profession with a large octavo volume of six hundred and twelve 
pages, entitled " Clinical and Didactic Lectures on the Diseases of Women." This work embodies 
the labor and experience of many years, and is very popular with the profession, both at home 
and abroad. It is the recognized text book in all the homoeopathic medical colleges, and is con- 
spicuous among works of its kind for the clearness of its diction, the faithfulness of its descrip- 
tions of disease, and for the almost unlimited fund of resource which it places at the command 
of those who consult it. It is the intention to extend this work to several volumes. 

In 1868 he was tendered a position in the Home Infirmary for the Diseases of Women, in the 



UNITED STATES lUOURAPIIlCA I DIC IIOXARY. 853 

city of New York; and in 1870 was unanimously elected professor of obstetrics and the diseases of 
women and children in the Homoeopathic Medical College of the same city. Both these honors 
were, however, most respectfully declined. 

In 1869 he was chosen president of the American Institute of Homoeopath}^ and presided 
over its deliberations in Boston, on which occasion he delivered the annual oration entitled "The 
Relations of Woman to Homoeopathy." 

Beside these positions of trust, he has also been the president of the Chicago Academy of 
Medicine, of the Western Institute of Homoeopathy, and of the Illinois Homoeopathic Medical 
Society, and is an honorary member of several learned societies, both home and foreign. 

After the great fire in Chicago, in October, 1871, he served with fidelity as a member of the 
medical board of the Relief and Aid Society, which was in charge of the health of fifteen thousand 
families, or about sixty thousand persons, who were roofless and wretched in consequence of that 
terrible calamity. In this capacity, being the only physician of his school on the board, he did 
very much to create a proper state of feeling among the doctors themselves. 

For many years Doctor Ludlam's attention has been especially and almost exclusively devoted 
to the study of the diseases of women, in which department of practice his experience has been 
very large. In rare and difficult cases he is consulted by physicians all over the Northwest. In 
performing the very delicate operations pertaining to this branch, his skill and success are remark- 
able. 

He has frequently operated for the removal of ovarian tumors, and credits the flattering re- 
sults obtained, largely to the proper use of homoeopathic remedies, both before and after the 
operation. His contributions to medical literature, which are frequent and acceptable, are always 
written upon his favorite theme. After having lectured for twelve years on obstetrics and the 
diseases of women and children, in the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, the title of his 
chair was so changed in 1874 as to allow him to teach his branch in a more practical way. 

Doctor Ludlam has been twice married; first to Miss Anna M. Porter, of Greenwich, New 
Jersey — a lovely Christian woman, who died of consumption three years after; and secondly to 
his present wife, Miss Harriet G. Parvin, of New York City. By the latter he has one child — a 
promising boy, who bears his father's name. 



HON. JOSEPH M. BAILEY. 

FREEPOR T. 

JOSEPH MEAD BAILEY was born in the town of Middleburj', Wyoming county, New York, 
June 22, 1S33. Judge Bailey spent his boyhood on his father's farm, at the place of his birth, 
an<l attended the district school near his father's residence until he was about thirteen or fourteen 
years old. He then entered Middleburj' Academy, in the village of Wyoming, Wyoming county, 
New York, and there fitted for college. He stood well in his studies, doing his work, as has been 
his practice ever since, faithfully, conscientiously and accurately. During his preparation for 
college he was out of school for one year by reason of severe sickness, but in September, 1851, at 
the age of eighteen years, he entered the sophomore class of the University of Rochester. For 
the means of pursuing his studies he was obliged to rely entirely upon his own exertions, with 
the exception of a small sum of mone}' borrowed from a friend, which was repaid after gradua- 
tion. In 1854 he graduated, among the highest in his class, and entered the law office of Ethan 
A. Hopkins, of Rochester, New York, a preceptor of whom he often speaks in the highest terms. 
He was admitted to the bar in November, 1855, and remained in Rochester until the following 
August, when he came to Freeport, Stephenson county, Illinois, where he has since resided. He 
took a prominent position among the lawyers who constituted the early bar of Stephenson county, 
and established a profitable practice. 

In 1866 Judge Bailey was elected a member of the house of representatives of the general 



S54 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAr DICTIONARY. 

assembly of the state of Illinois. He was chairman of the joint select committee which investi- 
gated the affairs of the penitentiary, after it was thrown by the lessees upon the hands of the 
state, and drew the bill which afterward became a law, and which is substantially the one upon 
which the institution has run ever since. During this term he also took a prominent part in ad- 
vocating restrictive legislation upon railroads. He was reelected in 1868, continued his war upon 
railroad abuses, and was made chairman of the committee on railroads. In 1876 he was one of 
the presidential electors for the state of Illinois, In 1877 he was elected one of the judges of the 
thirteenth judicial circuit of the state of Illinois, which circuit included the county of Stephenson. 
In January following, upon the death of Judge Heaton, he was assigned by the supreme court to 
duty as a member of the appellate court of the first district, sitting in Chicago. In 1879 he was 
reelected circuit judge, without opposition, and in that year, and again in 1881, was reassigned to 
duty upon the appellate court, in Chicago. He was presiding justice of that court for the year 
beginning June i, 1879, and again for the year beginning June i, 1882. In the summer of 1S79 
he received the degree of doctor of laws from the universities of both Rochester and Chicago. 



A^ 



WILLIAM WATKINS. 

JOLIET. 
S a iiriiminent, influential and thorough-going business man, the subject of this sketch is 



worthy of honorable mention. He is a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, and was born 
October 16, 1826. His father died when William was scarcely able to remember. He was a 
farmer, energetic, enterprising, and of good repute. The maiden name of his mother was Mary 
Elizabeth Kelsey. William attended school at the place of his birth in Montgomery county, and 
subsequently at Crawfordsville, Indiana, until about nineteen years of age. In 1847 he enlisted 
in the Mexican war, where he continued until its close, 1848, fighting hard and doing good service 
for the country. 

On returning from the war Mr Watkins did what all wise men should do at an early age, 
and married Miss Elizabeth Van Scoyoc, of Crawfordsville, Indiana, and immediately afterward 
removed to Momence, Will count}*, Illinois, where he engaged in farming and stock raising 
until October 3, 1861, when he entered the civil war, serving in the 8th United States cavalry, 
and stood the storm of many hard battles. September 10, 1862, he was honorably discharged for 
disability, resulting from e.xposure and a severe cold which he contracted. He again returned to 
his agricultural pursuits, which he continued to follow more or less until the spring of 1870, 
when he engaged in the barbed-wire enterprise. His efforts at first were ridiculed on all sides, 
both by farmers and other practical-minded men. He first began working on the patent of a Mr. 
Rose, of De Kalb county, a rude construction consisting of a wooden rod, rectangular, with iron 
points driven through it. 

Mr. Watkins commenced to manufacture in 1874, under Mr. Rose's license, in which he put 
all his time, energy and money, which he judiciously used, traveling throughout Illinois, Indiana, 
and Iowa, pushing his work under much opposition, at the same time contriving for the improve- 
ment of the principle which was as yet in its infancy of development, and in December, of the 
same year, he invented and procured a patent for a barbed iron strip, which he commenced to 
manufacture in Joliet, in March, 1875, taking into partnership with him, H. B. Scott. They 
entered enthusiastically into the business, exerting themselves to their utmost, as to means and 
ability, which excited many others, and gave rise to many new patents, which have since been 
brought prominently before the public. 

The partnership business was carried on very successfully in Joliet, for two years, after which 
Mr. Watkins continued alone, making great improvements in the barbed wire, and applied for a 
patent, which was granted in November, 1876. He has continued to manufacture until June i, 
1882, and others are still manufacturing the wire successfully under his license, and we may here 



UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 855 

say this is the only patent we are able to find in the state, under which barbed wire is now being 
manufactured without paying the Washburn license. 

Mr. Watkins has also invented and improved and patented a complete set of machinery for 
manufacturing barbed wire, which others are also using under his license. 



HON. OWEN T. REEVES, LL.D. 

BLOOMINGTON. 

OWEN THORNTON REEVES, judge of the circuit court, hails from Ross county, Ohio, 
where he was born December 18, 1829. He is a graduate of the class of 1850, Wesleyan Uni- 
versity, Delaware, Ohio, and on receiving the degree of bachelor of arts, was appointed a tutor in 
the same institution. A little later he was principal of the Chillicothe high school, filling that 
position for four years. During that period, as we learn from a Bloomington newspaper, "he en- 
grafted upon the schools of that city many important changes in study and system, which remain 
to this day." 

Mr. Reeves read law in Chillicothe, while engaged in teaching; was admitted to the bar in 
1854, and, leaving Ohio, came directly to Bloomington, and soon rose to an honorable position at 
the McLean county bar. His fame as an educator had preceded him to this state, and he was 
soon called upon to serve as a member of the Bloomington board of education, filling that post 
for five consecutive years. It was he who in 1857 drew up the charter of the union school sys- 
tem, of Bloomington, and he has never ceased to take a deep interest in the cause of education 
in this city. 

From the Bloomington "Leader," from which we have already quoted, we learn that in 1S61 
Mr. Reeves was elected a member of the board of supervisors for Bloomington township, and in 
1862 was appointed city attorney. In 1862, when the country was struggling in the throes of 
civil war, Mr. Reeves responded to the call for troops, and organized the 70th Illinois infantry, 
a three months' regiment, which he commanded, serving si.x months, the regiment being detailed 
for guard duty. 

In 1867 he procured the charter for the Lafayette, Bloomington and Mississippi railroad, and 
took a prominent part in the organization of the company, and the construction of the road. 
This varied and important business occupied all his time. When the road was leased to the 
Wabash, Mr. Reeves became general solicitor of the leased line, and continued such so long as 
the road remained in the hands of the Wabash. 

In 1874, Colonel Reeves joined Judge Benjamin in the organization of the Bloomington Law 
School, and he occupies the chair of contracts. During all this time he has enjoyed a large and 
important law practice. In the month of March, 1877, he was elected to the bench, as already 
mentioned, and there he finds, in the estimation of the people, a most fitting place. They like the 
systematic and rapid manner in which he discharges his duties. 



HON. JOHN G. ROGERS. 

CHIC A GO. 

AMONG our Chicago men who have achieved eminence solely by excellence of character, with- 
L out any of the modern appliances by which unworthy persons seek an undeserved and 
transient popularity, the subject of this sketch occupies a conspicuous place. Modest and unas- 
suming in disposition, courteous and suave in manners, self-poised and dignified in demeanor, 
thoughtful of the feelings and respectful toward the opinions of others, honorable in the highest 
and best sense, possessing those delicate instincts which characterize the true gentleman, he 
affords a fine example of a successful career, as deserved as it is conspicuous. 
83 



gc6 UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. 

Judge Rogers was born at Glasgow, Kentucky. December 28, 1818. He is descended from an 
old Virginia family, whose ancestry left England about two hundred years ago. His father, Doc- 
tor George Rogers, was a physician of eminence, and was widely and very favorably known. 
Judge Rogers acquired his education in the schools of his native country, and graduated as 
bachelor of laws from Transylvania University, Kentucky, in 1841. Commencing immediately 
his professional career in his native town, he soon acquired a large and lucrative practice, and 
won an honorable place in his profession. • 

Desiring a wider field of influence, he removed, in 1857, to Chicago, where he continued the 
practice of law, and was at once accorded a prominent position among the ablest lawyers of this 
city. In July, 1870, he was elected judge of the circuit court of Cook county, and in the general 
election of 1873 was reelected for six years, and in 1879 was again reelected. 

While not a violent partisan, Mr. Rogers has decided political views. In early life he affiliated 
with the whigs of the old time, but since i860 he has identified himself with the democratic party. 

Nature designed him for a judge. His mind is of the judicial order, and he would in any 
place have been certain to have been sought out and placed upon the bench. The high esteem 
which he unquestionably possesses as a jurist among the entire profession is the result of a rare 
combination of fine legal ability and culture and incorruptible integrity, with that dignified pres- 
ence and graceful urbanity which characterizes all his official acts. 

Like the poet, the judge is born, not made. To wear the ermine worthily, it is not enough 
that one possesses legal acumen, is learned in the principles of jurisprudence, familiar with prece- 
dents and thoroughly honest. Most men are unable wholly to divest themselves of prejudice, 
even when acting uprightly, and are unconsciously warped in their judgments by their own 
mental characteristics or the peculiarities of their education. This unconscious influence is a dis- 
turbing force, a variable factor, which more or less enters into the final judgments of all men. In 
the ideal jurist this factor becoming so small as not to be discriminable in the result, the disturb- 
ing force practically ceases. There has never been on the bench in Chicago a man better adapted 
in this respect to adorn and dignify this high and responsible place than Judge John G. Rogers. 



INDEX. 



Abbott, Daniel Canton 581 

Adair, Capt, J. M Springfield 246 

Adams, Augustus Sandwich 353 

Adams, Hon. G. E Chicago 800 

Adams, W. H. H., D.D Bloomington 368 

Addams, Hon. J. H Cedarville 838 

Aldrich, D. C Chicago 615 

Aldrich, Hon, Wm Chicago 58 

Allen, E. C Ottawa • 48 

Allen, Hon. E. R Aurora 774 

Allen, Hon. J. C Olney 775 

Allen, Hon. J. M Geneseo 816 

Anderson, Hon. W. B Mount Vernon ... 539 

Anthony, J. P., M.D Sterling 62 

Antle, F. P.. M.D Petersburgh 443 

Arenz, Hon. J. A Beardstovvn 831 

Armstrong, A. W, , M.D Kirkwood 265 

Armstrong, Hon. G. W Seneca 57 

Arnold, Hon. I. N Chicago 221 

Asay, E. G Chicago 3 

Atkins, Major-Gen. S. D Freeport 473 

Avery, D. J Chicago 807 

Ayer, E. G Harvard 311 

Bailey, Hon. J. M • ■ • • Freeport 853 

Bailey, Hon. J. S Macomb 235 

Baker, Hon. J. H Macomb 125 

Baker, Hon. H . S Alton 840 

Ballou, N. E., M.D Sandwich 108 

Bangs, Hon. Mark Chicago 138 

Bannister, T. O., M.D Odell 697 

Barrere, Hon. Granville Canton 807 

Barrett, J. P Chicago 420 

Barrett, O. W Chicago 22S 

Barton, E. P Freeport 823 

Bateman, Hon. Newton Galesburgh 842 

Bates, Thomas Chicago 781 

Bavne, W. F., M.D Macomb 289 

Beach, Hon. H. P Piper City 850 

Beadles, W. T., M.D Bushnell.' 341 

Beaumont, J. H., M.D Freeport 116 

Bell, Hon. A.J Peoria 702 

Benjamin, Hon. R. M Bloomington 66 

Bennett, H. L Geneva 117 

Bennett, J. I Chicago 616 

Berggren, Hon. A. W Galesburgh 822 

Berrian, Hon. B. F Quincy 821 

Berry, O. F Carthage 256 

Bisbee, Hon. L. H Chicago 648 

Bishopp, Barton Sheldon 553 

Bivens, Capt. Samuel... Havana 585 

Black Family Virginia 550 

Black, Hon. T. G., M.D Clayton 412 

Black, W. P Chicago 782 

Blackman, F. H., M.D Geneva 135 

Blackstock, Robert Paxton 574 

Blaisdell, Hon. E. W Rockford 92 

Blane, S. H Petersburgh 512 

Blish, C. C Kewanee 97 

Blodgett, Hon. H. W Chicago 716 

Blount, Asher Macomb 310 

Bond, Hon. L. L Chicago 748 

Bond, Maj. W. G Monmouth 147 

Bonney, C. C Chicago 743 

Boyd, T. B Chicago 591 



Bradley, R. D., M.D Pekin 630 

Bradshaw, C. G Bloomington 77 

Bragg, Maj. F. A Chicago 142 

Branson, Hon. N. W Petersburgh 831 

Brewer, Hon. Thomas Toledo .... 594 

Brookins, Arba Chicago 183 

Brown, Ira Chicago 344 

Brown, J. B Galena 63 

Brown, Hon. Wm Rockford 75 

Browne, E. S Mendota 445 

Bruce, Alexander Marseilles 116 

Bruen, J. N Monmouth 93 

Bruster, \V. L Toledo 655 

Bryant, Hon. F. E Bement 722 

Bryant, Hon. J. H Princeton 789 

Bulkley, A. W Chicago 174 

Bull, E. F Ottawa 234 

Bullock, J. R., M.D Waukegan . 97 

Burge, Samuel Toulon . . 560 

Burke, Edmund Chicago 843 

Burns, Hon. John Lacon 708 

Burr, Hon. A. G Carrollton 95 

Burroughs, B. R Edwardsville 205 

Burroughs, L. M., M.D Batavia 94 

Bushnell, Hon. Washington Ottawa 817 

Byford, W. H., M.D Chicago 849 

Cabeen, Hon. T. B Keithsburg 45 

Caldwell, W. S., M.D Freeport 233 

Gallon, Hon. W. P Jacksonville 555 

Campbell, J. D.. . . Polo 155 

Campbell, J. L Chicago 127 

Campbell, Hon. J. M Macomb 136 

Campbell, J. Y., M.D Paxton 426 

Carlin, Hon. W. E Jerseyville 685 

Caruthers, Hon. J. P Chicago 653 

Casal, F. M., M.D Pittsfield, 445 

Case, Gen . Henry Winchester 457 

Case, H . C Galesburgh 703 

Casey, Hon. T. S Mount Vernon . . . 788 

Castle, Alfred, M.D Wyoming 569 

Castle, Philo Mendota 490 

Caton, Hon. J. D Chicago 566 

Chadsey, Benjamin Rushville 545 

Chandler, Col. Chas Macomb 329 

Chandler, ]. E Bushnell 338 

Chappell, W. H., M.D Oregon 690 

Chard, T. S Chicago 321 

Chase, M. J., M.D Galesburgh 46 

Cherry, W. S Streator 128 

Chicago Steel Works Chicago 238 

Childs, A. B Keithsburg 64 

Church, Malachi Woodstock 167 

Clark, Hon. Dennis Abingdon 126 

Clark, Hon. H. S Mattoon 774 

Clark, Rev. Ichabod Rockford 592 

Clark, Hon. John Somonauk 121 

Clark, Rev. W. D Carrollton 430 

Clarke, Hon. F. E Waukegan 172 

Clarke, Rev. John Rushville 785 

Clay pool, L. W Morris 72 

Claypool, P. A Morris 633 

Clement, Jesse Chicago 681 

Cloonan, Hon. Thomas Chicago 467 

Cody, Hon. H. H Naperville 284 



858 



INDEX. 



Cole, A. H Mount Carroll ... 68 

Cole, Frederick, M . D El Paso 497 

Cole, W. H., M.D Kewanee 102 

Collins, Joshua and Jeremiah . . . .Saratoga 5g8 

Collins, Hon. L. C. Jr Chicago 634 

Comstock. H. .S Colona 182 

Condee, Hon. L. D Chicago 674 

Connolly, Hon. J. A Springfield 65 

Cook, J . W ... Normal 610 

Cook, W. E Lacon 475 

Cooper, Thomas Pekin 583 

Covell, Rev. Chester Buda 56 

Craig, Hon. A. M Galesburgh 843 

Craig, J. W Mattoon 503 

Crawford. S. P Rockford 81 

Crews, J. L Wheeler 657 

Crews, Hon. S. F Mount Vernon . . . 625 

Cronkrite, Hon. E. L Freeport 823 

Crummer, B. F., M.D Warren 144 

Crummer, W. F Galena 614 

CuUom, Hon. S. M Springfield 25 

Culver, W. I Chicago 2 

Cummings, J. B Bushnell 322 

Cummings, J. S Huntley 183 

Cummings, L. F Chicago 664 

Cunning, Hugh Chicago 730 

Curtiss.R. J.. M.D. Joliet 710 

Danforth, A. H Washington 512 

Darst, John .Eureka 513 

Davidson, M. R Monticello 708 

Davis, Hon. David Bloomington .... 16 

Davis, L. H., M.D Woodstock 282 

Davis, O. L Danville 255 

Davis, W. H., M.D Springfield 692 

Davison. J. B., M.D Moline 264 

Deaderich, D. F Quincy 339 

Dean, C. B Belvidere 290 

Decker, Henry Chicago 719 

Decker, M. A Chicago 809 

Deere, John .... Moline 268 

Delany, Michael Olney 590 

Dement, Hon. H. D Springfield 21 

Dement, Col. John Dixon 780 

Deriam, D. D Quincy 281 

DeSteiger Glass Co La Salle 622 

DeWolf, Calvin Chicago 164 

Dickey, Hon. T. L Chicago 76S 

Dieffe'nbacher, P. L., M.D Havana 609 

Disosway, E. T Henry 553 

Dodge, Hon. W. B Waukegan 273 

Donaldson, H. C, M.D Morrison 261 

Doolittle. J. R., Jr . .Chicago 436 

Douglas, Hon. S. A Chicago 4 

Douglas, S. A Chicago 669 

Driggs, George Chicago 752 

Drummond, Hon. Thomas Chicago 22 

Drury, William New Boston 454 

Dudley, E. C, M.D Chicago 720 

Duncan, J. W Ottawa 339 

Dunham, Charles Geneseo 331 

Dunlap, Irwin , Jacksonville . . . . 544 

Dunlap, Merton Paxton 563 

Dupee, C. A Chicago 679 

Durley, Williamson Hennepin 469 

Dustin, Gen. Daniel Sycamore 272 

Dut^her, E. F Oregon 236 

Earle, L. C Chicago 266 

Eddy, R. M Chicago 470 

Edgarton, R. E., M.D Altona 185 

Edrington, D. E .... Creston 581 

Edwards, Hon. B. S Springfield 786 

Elliott, Gen. I. H Springfield 413 

Ellwood, I. L De Kalb 39 

EUwood, Hon. Reuben Sycamore ...... 48 

Emerson, Hon. Jesse Buda 692 



English, J. G Danville 480 

English, J. W Carrollton 565 

Ennis, James Chicago 752 

Epler, Hon. Cyrus Jacksonville 800 

Ervvin, Hon. L. D RushviUe 541 

Erwin, Hon. Milo Marion 492 

Etherid.ge, J. H., M.D Chicago 358 

Eustace, Hon. J. V Dixon 787 

Evans, Edwin, M.D Streator 148 

Everhart, W. S Toledo . . 560 

Farwell, Hon. C. B Chicago 779 

Farwell, J. V Chicago 789 

Firebaugh, I. L., M.D Robinson 655 

Firman L. B . . . Chicago 488 

Fleming, T. H., M.D Canton 350 

Fleming, Wilson, M.D Port Byron 343 

Flower, H. D., M.D Fulton City 349 

Flower, J. M Chicago 703 

FoUansbee, G. A - Chicago S41 

Foote, D. E., M.D Belvidere 333 

Foote, Hon. |. J .Belvidere 675 

Ford, Hon. M. M Galva 818 

Forrest, W. S Chicago 747 

Fort, Hon. G. L Lacon 791 

Foster, H. T Beardstown 574 

Franke, J. G., M.D Newton 400 

Eraser, \V. H., M.D La Salle 332 

Freeman, N. .S Springfield 363 

Frew, Hon. C. H Paxton 432 

Fulkerson, Col. H. W Jerseyville 267 

Fuller, Hon. C. E Belvidere 173 

Fuller, William Clinton 709 

Fuller, Gen. A. C Belvidere 841 

Gallagher, A. J . . Decatur 476 

Gardner, B. F., M.D- Atlanta 227 

Garland, J. M Springfield 257 

Garvin, I. W., M.D Sycamore 254 

Gayle, Wm Keithsburg igy 

Gilbert, Hon. S. S Carlinville 822 

Gill, S. L ...... . Peoria 508 

Gillespie, Hon. Joseph Edwardsville 838 

Glass, E. B Edwardsville 397 

Glenn, Hon. J.J Monmouth 175 

Glidden, J. E De Kalb 438 

Glover, J. O Chicago 670 

Goodrich, A. A Jerseyville 202 

Goodrich, Grant . Chicago 297 

Goodrich, H. C Chicago 448 

Gould, N. B Cambridge 253 

Gradle. Henry, M.D Chicago 204 

Grant, Gen. U. S Galena 10 

Greathouse, Hon. F. M Hardin . . 523 

Green, Hon. L. L Odell 410 

Greene, H. S Springfield 271 

Griffith, A. A., A. M Chicago, 198 

Griffith, O. K., M.D Huntley 235 

Griggs, C. W Chicago 265 

Griggs, E. Y Ottawa 213 

Grinnell, J. S Chicago 645 

Grisvvold, C. A., M.D ... Fulton City 216 

Hadley, W. F. L Edwardsville 603 

Haish, Jacob De Kalb 118 

Halderman, Nathaniel Mount Carroll. .. . 152 

Halsted, M. A., M.D Jacksonville 796 

Hamer, Col. Thomas Vermont 562 

Hamilton, J. L., M.D Peoria 634 

Hamilton, J. L Watseka 1S4 

Hamilton, Hon. J. M Bloomington 15 

Hammer. D. H Chicago 596 

Hammond, Hon. A. G Wyoming 296 

Hance, F. W., M.D Freeport 143 

Hanchett, S. F Chicago 384 

Hanna, E. B Chicago 369 

Hanna, R. J Kankakee 481 

Hanna, Hon. R. P Fairfield 652 



INDEX. 



859 



Hanna, \Vm Monmoulh 178 

Hansen, Doctor F. E Winchester 237 

Hardy, I. E., M.D Alton 232 

Harper, Rev. Aimer Port Byron Sii 

Harper, Hon. W. H Chicago 4c)i 

Harpham, E. B., M.D Havana 582 

Harris, D. L Mendota 501 

Harris, Capt. D. L Galena 156 

Harris, J. H Mendota 466 

Harris, J. O., M.D Ottawa 91 

Harris, J. V., M.D Canton 343 

Harris, Hon. J. W Tiskilvva G05 

Hasselquist, T. N., D.D Rock Island 145 

Hathaway, M. D Rochelle 145 

Hawes, David Rock Island 1 76 

Hawk. Hon. R. M. A Mount Carroll 504 

Haworth, G. D Decatur 726 

Hay, Charles, M.D Warsaw 263 

Helm, Clinton, M.D Rockford 237 

Hemenway , L. E Moline 146 

Henderson, Hon. J. G Winchester 603 

Henderson, Hon. T. J Princeton 521 

Henry, Hon. M. S Sterling . 105 

Herbert, George Chicago 725 

Hervey, Robert Chicago 635 

Hewett, E. C, LL.D Normal 163 

Hicks, Col. D. D. T Pittsfield 425 

Higbee, Hon. C. L Pittsfield 816 

Higgins, Hon. V. H Chicago. jgg 

Hinds, Hon. Andrew Lena 154 

Hinman, H. S.,M.D Newton 623 



Hobbs, F. M YorkviUe 



231 



Hog« Family Morris 524 

Holbrook, E. S Chicago 686 

Holderman, Abram Seneca 275 

Holderman, Samuel Morris 420 

Holgate, Hon. James Wyoming 362 

Hopkins, Hon. H. B Peoria 827 

Hoyne, Hon. Thomas Chicago 312 

Hudson, Hon. H. S Yorkville 124 

Hull, Alexander, M.D Lewiston 572 

Hull, W. H Ottawa 175 

Hummel, J. M Sandwich 306 

Hunt, Hon. George Paris S12 

Hunter, Hon. J. M Mount Carroll 233 

Huntley, T. S Huntley 177 

Hurd, Hon. H. B Chicago 636 

Ingals, E. F., A.M., M.D Chicago 153 

Ives, F. B., M.D Chicago 247 

Ives, W. E Amboy 218 

Jenkins, R. E Chicago iSi 

Johnston, Hon. E. H Port Byron 402 

Johnston, J. E Warsaw 601 

Jones. Hon. A. M Warren 283 

Jones, H. K. and C. G., M.D Jacksonville 676 

Jones, J. A Springfield 274 

Jones, Hon. J. H Henry 801 

Jones, Hon. J. R Chicago 354 

Jordan, W. A Morris 403 

kalb, J. C, M.D Henry 517 

Kales, F. H Chicago 318 

Karr, A. G Bloomington 254 

Kellum, Hon. Charles Sycamore 668 

Kendig, J. A.J Chicago 243 

Kerns, Wm Moline 241; 

Kettelle, G. H Chicago 654 

King, J. L Chicago 688 

Kinnear, J. R Paxton 534 

Kirk, Hon. George Waukegan 296 

Kirkland, Joseph Chicago 256 

Knapp, Col. N. M Winchester 810 

Knickerbocker, Hon. J. C Chicago 278 

Kretzinger, G. W Chicago 802 

Lacey , Hon. Lyman Havana 754 

Lake, L. L., M.D Belvidere 605 



Landon, Nelson Waukegan 104 

Langley, Hon. J. W Champaign ... .. 641 

Launtz, Hon. W. P East St. Louis. . . . 226 

Law Jr. , Wm Chicago 334 

Lawrence, Hon. C. B Chicago 776 

Lawrence, M. A Chicago 732 

Lee, F. W., M.D Tiskilvva 242 

Leeds, L. L., M.D Lincoln 87 

Leland, Hon. E. S Ottawa 839 

Leland, H. S Springfield 123 

Lewis, Aaron., M.D Waukegan 76 

Lincoln, Hon. Abraham i 

Lincoln, Hon. R. T Chicago 779 

Lindblom, Robert Chicago 290 

Little, George Rushville 552 

Locey, Hon. G. H La Salle 44 

Lodge, W. E Monticello 723 

Logan, John, M.D Carlinville 460 

Logan, Hon. J. A Chicago 797 

Logan, R. E Morrison 295 

Long, J. T., LL.D Quincy 158 

Longhurst, Wm Chicago 197 

Lott, L. P Morris 214 

Lovejoy, Owen Princeton 806 

Ludlam. Reuben, M.D Chicago 852 

Luppen, Luppe Pekin ... 364 

■ Lyman, D. B Chicago 770 

Lyman, N. E Rockford 115 

Lvman, Prof. W. C Chicago 724 

NtecArthur, R. M., M.D Ottawa 368 

MacKay, Duncan Morrison 834 

Mc.'VUister Hon. W. K Waukegan 20 

McCartney, James Springfield 14 

McCartney, Hon. R. W Metropolis 663 

McClaughry, R. W Joliet 459 

McClellan, Hon. R. H Galena 378 

McCoy, Alexander Chicago 492 

McCoy, Hon. James Fulton City 25S 

McCulloch, Hon. David Peoria 442 

McFadden, Col. R. H Mattoon 507 

McFerren, J. S Hoopeston 359 

McGeoch, Peter Chicago 704 

McGlumphy, A. J., D.D Lincoln, 212 

McGrath, Capt. Patrick Chicago 424 

McKindley, William Chicago 171 

McKinley, J. B Champaign 496 

McMahan, L. W Griggsville 593 

McMichael, J. B., D.D Monmouth 407 

McNeely, Hon. T. W Petersburgh 44 

McPherran, J. E Sterling 354 

Manier, W. H Carthage 388 

Marlett, Isaac Aurora 383 

Marshall, E. L., M.D Keithsburgh 401 

Martin, G. W Winchester 207 

Mason, Carlile Chicago 414 

Mason, R. B Chicago 248 

Mason, Hon. W. E Chicago 486 

Mastin, Jethro, M.D Shannon 338 

Maxwell, J. H,, M.D Newton 543 

May, Ezra Belvidere 373 

Mayborne, Hon. J. H Geneva 379 

Meacham , U . D Freeport 411 

Means, Archibald Peru 381 

Meech, G. A Chicago 626 

Meriam, D. D Quincy 281 

Mershon, Joab Vermont 544 

Miles, O. P Mt. Carroll 723 

Miller, Rev. R.D Petersburgh 487 

Mills, Col. C. F Springfield 446 

Mills, L. L Chicago 812 

Miner, E. G Winchester 203 

Mix, H. A., M.D Oregon 380 

Monroe, H . S Chicago 8 

Montgomery, James, M.D Marseilles 378 

Moore, C. H Clinton 714 



86o 



INDEX. 



Moore, Hon. J. W Mound Station ... S33 

Moore, Hon. Nathaniel Wenona 520 

Moore, Hon. S. M Cliicago 467 

Morrison, Hon. I. S Jacksonville 811 

Munroe, Thomas, M.D Rushville 542 

Murphy, Hon. T. D Woodstock 631 

Nance, Hiram, M.D Kewanee 767 

Nance, W. H., M.D Vermont 62g 

Neece, Hon. W. H Macomb 137 

Nelson, Hon. W. E Decatur 73S 

Nesbitt, G. W., M.D Sycamore 546 

Newberry, Gen. W. C Chicago 447 

Newell, Dorris, M.D Pecatonica 430 

Nish, Capt. James Carv Station 444 

Noble, Rev. J. H Lincoln 458 

Noecker, William, M.D Monticello 81S 

North, Hon. Levi Kewanee 42 

O'Conor, A.J La Salle 147 

Ogle, Wm Toulon 327 

Olney, John Chicago 759 

Osman , William Ottawa 801 

Otman, Hon. S. F Wyoming 309 

Palmer, J. M Springfield 8 

Palmer, Gen. J. M Springfield 7 

Park, Roswell, M.D Chicago 361 

Parlin and Orendoff Canton 801 

Partridge, Gen. F. W Sycamore 370 

Patterson, W. A . Carthage 340 

Patton, Hon. D. H Paxton 773 

Patrick, Elias Marengo 662 

Pearce, W. S Waukegan 305 

Pearson, Hon. J. M Godfrey 824 

Pearsons, D. K Chicago 300 

Peltzer, Otto Chicago 620 

Pepper, J. C Aledo 799 

Petefish, S. H Virginia 328 

Peters, Hon. M. H Watseka 374 

Phillips, E. L., M.D Galesburgh 367 

Pierce, J. H Kewanee 352 

Pierce, T. P Kewanee 352 

Pillsbury, Hon. N. J Pontiac 817 

Plant, H. B La Salle 122 

Pleasants, Hon. G. W Rock Island 206 

Plumb, Hon. Fawcett Streator 619 

Plumb, Col. Ralph Streator 168 

Plummer, S. C, M.D Rock Island 382 

Pollock, S. D., M.D Galesburgh 389 

Porter, Hon. John Monmouth 371 

Potter, E. S., M.D Oregon 409 

Potts, J. H Jacksonville 817 

Powell, John F W'aukegan 372 

Pratt, L. G . . Chicago 576 

Prentiss, Wm Macomb 294 

Pressly, W. P Monmouth 34S 

Prettyman, B. S Pekin . 595 

Raab, Hon. Henry Springfield 413 

Randall, G. P Chicago 394 

Randall, Hon. I. V De Kalb 86 

Ravmond, S. W Ottawa 46 

Read, Rev. F. A ... Polo 418 

Rearick, Hon. J. W Beardstown 570 

Reat, J. L., M.D Tuscola 535 

Reed, Henry, M.D Rochelle 87 

Reed, Rev. N. A Sandwich 41 

Reed, S. R Monticello 715 

Reeves, Hon. O. T Bloomington 855 

Reise, Augustus Atlanta 204 

Rice, Hon. Isaac, M.D Mount Morris .... 82 

Richards, A. V Freeport 658 

Richardson, R. K Chicago 564 

Richings, C. H., M.D Rockford 404 

Riggs, Hon. J. M Winchester 206 

Robinson, Hon. G. S Sycamore 63 

Robinson. Hon. J. C Springfield 217 

Rogers, Hon. J. G Chicago 855 



Rogers, Timothy Quincy . . 

Ross, Hon. L. W Lewiston 

Rowley, Gen. W. R Galena . . 

Royer, M. M., M.D Sterling. . 

Russell, T. J Versailles . 



••■ 323 
... 56t 
... 788 
... 90 
... 822 

Rutz, Hon. Edward Springfield 792 

Ryon, Hon. George, M.D Amboy 83 

Sage, Rev. N. S ... Aurora 71 

Sample, Alfred Paxton 554 

Sawin, George Chicago 646 

Scates, Hon. W. B Chicago 690 

Schenck, W. E., M.D Pekin 610 

Scholfield, Hon. John Marshall 767 

Schuyler, D. J Chicago 848 

Scott, Charles, M.D Belvidere 411 

Scott, G. W Wyoming 342 

Scott, Hon. J. M Bloomington 40 

Scott, Willard Naperville 844 

Scranton, N. L Toledo 688 

Sedgwick, W. W Sandwich 88 

Seipp, W. C Chicago 429 

Sharp, Hon. T. C Carthage 262 

Shaw, Hon. Aaron Olney 786 

Shaw, Hon. James .... Mount Carroll .... 799 

Shaw, Hon. T. M Lacon 833 

Sheets, Col. B. F Oregon 54 

Sheldon, Hon. B. R Rockford 806 

Sheldon, D. H Chicago 51 

Shephard, J. A Jerseyville 217 

Sherman, Hon. E. B Chicago 760 

Sherman, P. L Chicago 824 

Sherwin, Hon. J. C Aurora 104 

Shimer, Henry, M.D Mount Carroll. .. . 208 

Shope, Hon. L. P Lewiston 807 

Shorey, D. L Chicago 696 

Shreve, L. M Chicago 764 

Shutt, Hon. W. E Springfield 74 

Sibley, Hon. Joseph Quincy 823 

Smith, Hon. A. A Galesburgh 840 

Smith, B. N Woodstock 103 

Smith, Hon. D. C Pekin 580 

Smith, Frederick Pekin 556 

Smith, J. I., M.D Shannon 47 

Smith, P. B ...Chicago 613 

Smith, P. H Chicago 350 

Smith, P. H., Jr Chicago 398 

Smith, U. P Chicago 441 

Smith, Hon. W. H Chicago 67 

Smith, Hon. W. M Lexington 830 

Snyder, Hon. W. C Fulton 393 

Spears, Charles and Son Morrison 215 

Springer, Hon. W. M Springfield 790 

Stephens, Geo Moline 85 

Stevens, Edmund, D.D.S Bloomington 74 

Stevens, Justus Princeton 536 

Stevens, Doctor W. A Chicago 540 

Steward, Lewis Piano 84 

Stewart, C. W., M.D Kirkwood 125 

Stewart, Hon. J. M Monmouth 55 

Stimming, Hon. Theodore Chicago 508 

Stipp, Hon. G. W Princeton 559 

Stoner, E. R., M.D Griggsville 419 

Storrs, E. A Chicago 792 

Stout, Joseph, M.D Ottawa 53 

Stuart, Hon. J. T Springfield 805 

Sullivan, Hon. M. A East Saint Louis. . 648 

Sutherland, R. V Peru loi 

Swan, R. K Moline 78 

Swanbrough, J. W Waukegan 56 

Swenie, D. J Chicago 735 

Swett, Hon. Leonard Chicago 710 

Swigert, C. P Springfield 98 

Talliaferro, Hon. B. C Aledo 360 

Taylor, Hon. J A Chicago 503 

Taylor, J. J., M.D Streator 624 



INDEX. 



86i 



Terrell, A. A Sterling 600 

Thatcher. W. H Morrison 123 

Thomas, G. D Thomasville 738 

Thomas, Rev. H. W Chicago 128 

Thomas, Isaac. Wyoming 337 

Thomas, Hon. J. W. E Chicago 673 

Thomas, Hon, William Jacksonville S27 

Thompson, A. C Paxton 579 

Thompson, J. S Chicago 769 

Thurston. E. H., M.D Chicago 437 

Tickland. Hon. O. B Charleston 7S7 

Tipton. Hon. T. F Bloomington 842 

Titus. J. B Sullivan 555 

Todd, Rev. R. K Woodstock 186 

Townsend, Hon. H. S Warren 161 

Treat, Hon. S. H Springfield 775 

Trogdon, Hon. A. Y Paris 573 

Trumbull. Hon. L\'man Chicago 759 

Tryon. Hon. C. H Richmond 632 

Turner, Benjamin Toulon 331 

Tuthill, R. S Chicago 6S2 

Upham. B. R Jacksonville 796 

Van Arman, John Chicago 324 

Van Buren, Augustus Chicago 40S 

Van Buren, Hon. Evert Chicago 766 

Van Schaack, Peter Chicago i ir 

Van Valkenburg, Geo Huntley 630 

Volk, J. H Chicago 5S3 

Volk, L. W Chicago 509 

Volk, S. A. D New York 642 

Vosburgh, D. M., M.D Earlville 522 

Wait, H. L Chicago 674 

Walker, B. F Chicago 452 

Walker, E. S Chicago 143 

Walker, Hon. P. H RushviUe 831 

Wallace, J. H., M.D Monmouth 151 

Wallace, Gen. M. R. M Chicago 3go 

Waller, Hon. Henry Chicago 188 

Waller, J. B Chicago 28 



Wann, Daniel Galena 601 

Warner, Col. John Peoria 611 

Warner, Major Vespasian Clinton 731 

Warren. Hon. G. E Jerseyville 830 

Waterman, A. N Chicago 758 

Watkins, William Joliet 854 

Webber. Hon. J. D Minonk 802 

Wells, Major H. W Peoria 463 

Wells, W. H Chicago 518 

Whaples, W. D Neponset 173 

Wheelock, L. W . Moline 399 

Whitaker, Oliver Toulon 571 

White, Miles Lena 389 

Whiteside, T. C Chicago 514 

Whiting, Hon. L. D Tiskilwa 166 

Whitney, Charles Waukegan 811 

Wier, W. S Monmouth 187 

Wilcox, E. A., M.D Minonk 502 

Wilcox, Hon. L. S., M.D Champaign 549 

Wilkinson, Hon. I. O Rock Island 614 

Willard, George Chicago 482 

Willcoxen, J. C Lewiston 585 

Willett, Hon. C. H Chicago 757 

Willett, Wm Keithsburg 599 

Williams, Abram Chicago 656 

Williams, C. K Polo 162 

Williams, Hon. J. H Quincy 821 

Willits, Thomas, M.D New Boston ig6 

Wilson, Hon. I. G Chicago 851 

Windmayer, C. H Jacksonville 551 

Winslow, R. F Chicago 498 

Winston, Thomas, M.D Forreston 602 

Woodruff, O. F Morrison 606 

Wright, Hon. J. G Naperville 612 

Wright, Hon. W. W Toulon 330 

Wylie, S. M., M.D Paxton 647 

Wynn, W. W., M.D Dixon 157 

Yancey, Hon. A. N Bunker Hill 633 



^t^ 



i < 



H 17. ,88 ^^g 



,sy^ ^^^ 



-^^9"^' ' 




t~ .n 









'bV" 



-|*^ . » • o. 







3^ ^i» ,*5» ♦ 




o *'T: 







,4*\'^v.% ./^i-^'."- ..^^V^^^'X t°^>-B>%°- .^ 










» - * ''if. » 




<:*-d* 



/% 






Vxb^ 























.-1°^ 











>- .. °^ ••• 4° '^'u "^ ««^ 



V^'^^ 





























• ,^'> 











: ^Ao^ 










1*^ .» • 





Ao^ 






C) 'o. , 

















^ '•---,/ %'*^'/ ^^^*^-'\/ %'-^*/ ■*-^/* 




v^ .*'^'* o. 











4 >' * • * * 




* 1^^ % '. 




0^ 'o,. '0,7 




"o^'i^ 



























i*^ -1 






.<q* 



,/ V""^*'/' X'*^"-\/ %''''.^'*/ ^'^''-''y' "°^^''-. 












lH°«. 



'' r. • 




















*bV* 













^-'^■>- /\ '"^1^* /% '\ .. 







,0^ ..-!^.'^o 









